A classic tuna salad recipe is an easy lunch and can be made ahead of time for meals throughout the week.
This recipe combines flaky canned tuna with celery, onions, pickles, and mayonnaise for a refreshing and satisfying lunch!
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Tuna Salad Is a Favorite Because…
- It’s quick and easy to prepare.
- Tuna salad is versatile, add in any of your favorite ingredients.
- A good source of protein and omega-3 fatty acids.
- It’s great to make ahead and serve for lunches or with crackers as a snack.
Ingredients for Tuna Salad
I love an easy lunch sandwich, from chicken salad to ham and cheese, and this tuna salad recipe is no exception.
- Tuna: I prefer water-packed tuna over oil-packed tuna as it’s lighter, but you can use any variety. Solid tuna has larger pieces, while chunk tuna has smaller pieces.
- Dressing: The dressing for this tuna salad recipe is really simple and uses mayonnaise as the base. Lemon juice and a bit of Dijon mustard are added for some tang.
- Add-Ins: Diced celery, chopped pickles, and sliced green onion add flavor and crunch.
Variations
Vary this salad by adding different flavors and textures. Here are some favorites:
- Add fresh herbs (like flat-leaf parsley or dill).
- For extra crunch, try diced red bell pepper or red onion.
- Elevate this salad with capers, chopped olives, or chives.
- To stretch the salad further, add chopped hard-boiled egg.
How to Make Tuna Salad
Tuna salad is so easy and requires very little prep.
- Drain the tuna well (recipe below).
- In a medium bowl, combine drained tuna, mayo, dill pickles, celery, green onion, Dijon, and lemon juice.
- Gently stir them together. Taste and season with salt and pepper.
Serving Suggestions
- I like to serve tuna salad sandwiches with lettuce leaves and tomato on whole wheat bread or rye.
- This tuna salad recipe is also great tucked into large tortillas as a wrap.
- We love to serve it with potato chips on the side (and I usually sneak a few into my sandwich too)!
Storage
If it doesn’t get eaten up first because it IS that good, tuna fish salad can be stored in the fridge for up to 2 days.
More Tuna Favorites
Did you love this Tuna Salad recipe? Be sure to leave a rating and a comment below!
Ingredients
- 2 (5 ounce each) can tuna well-drained
- ¾ cup mayonnaise
- 3 tablespoons chopped dill pickles or sweet pickles, or 2 tablespoons sweet pickle relish
- 1 rib celery finely diced
- 1 green onion thinly sliced
- 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard or prepared mustard
- 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
- salt and black pepper to taste
Instructions
- Drain the tuna well.
- In a medium bowl, combine mayonnaise, dill pickles, celery, green onion, Dijon, and lemon juice. And mix to combine.
- Add the tuna and gently break it up with a fork. Stir to combine and season with salt and pepper to taste.
- Use to top a salad, in sandwiches, or to add to pasta salads.
Notes
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Course Fish, Lunch, Snack
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I love the recipes I have seen so far.
Thanks Brandy! Glad you are enjoying them.
Love this recipe!
Great recipes
Hoping to make a Tasty Tuna Salad for my daughter baby Shower.
Hello!
This is terrific thanks!
I have two questions:
How much is one serving size about?
Is the nutrition information ( calories and such) the total batch or one serving size?
Hi Terry, a serving is about ½ cup for this recipe and the nutrition information is per serving. Hope you enjoy it!
Great
I didn’t add pepper or salt, but it was soooOOooo good! I also used toasted potato bread.
New lunch favorite. Thank you.
I am so glad you enjoyed the tuna salad Selena!
delicious!
Thanks Chris!
Great basic recipe. I’ve never added mustard! I had it rolled up in romaine leaves.
What a delicious way to enjoy this tuna salad Jana!
What type of bread do you buy.
I buy whatever looks the tastiest at the time Joe! Feel free to use your favorite variety!
Perfect, as usual, another recipe worthy of 10 stars. I however use tuna in oil, and info for viewers, if you use tuna packed in oil, drain it really well, like in a strainer and reduce the mayo to 1/2 cup.
I used Japanese Kewpie mayo and was out of pickles so I chopped some capers, perfect and did not distract from the intent of the recipe. I made sandwiches on plain bread, with a layer of lettuce.
Thank you for a great recipe, Holly :)
Those sound like delicious variations Lee! Thanks for sharing!
i live alone and would like to take this for lunch, but how long will it still be good in refrig?
3 days is a safe bet for Tuna Connie. I hope you enjoy the tuna salad when you try it!
Chopped apple is also an excellent addition to tuna salad…not to big or small. I usually chop the apple and gently toss it with a little lemon juice to keep it from turning brown. I also use sweet relish a just a tiny bit of grated onion… sometimes with and sometime without the dijon mustard.
Apple sounds like a tasty addition to tuna salad Cheryl! I will have to try it!
Tuna salad is a go to for my lunches! I can’t wait to try out this recipe!
I hope you love it Mikayla!
Yum! Tuna salad is always a favourite for us, especially for picnics and boating, and I love your addition of pickles.
So glad you loved the pickles Colleen! We did too! Next time you’re taking tuna salad on a picnic and boating can we come too!!
I haven’t had a good tuna salad in so long that I actually forgot there were pickles in a classic version. Definitely making this next week for lunches!
Mmmm! Your lunches are going to be dill-icious Lauren!!
I’ve made a lot of varieties of chicken salad but I always stick with a classic tuna salad recipe. Now I’m craving tuna salad!
You can never wrong with a classic Jill! We don’t blame you for craving it!
I haven’t made tuna salad in a while. Your recipe is simple and it sounds delicious. Adding it to our menu. :)
We are glad to be able to bring you and tuna salad back together! Enjoy Lizet!
A slice of Swiss Cheese and iceberg lettuce completes a great sandwich on crusty rye bread for us.
I do love the crunch of iceberg!!
We’ve always loved a good Tuna Salad – be it in a sandwich or in lettuce cups. Once again, WHY the mustard? Don’t get me wrong, I love mustard, but seafood and mustard are not compatible. Mustard definitely has it’s place, since it’s a very tasty condiment, but NOT in any type of dish which contains seafood. Is the use of mustard in (almost) all cold salad recipes a southern tradition? (I ask this with the utmost respect).
You can certainly leave it out if you’d prefer. I’m sharing the recipe the way I make it! Enjoy! :)
I’ve always added mustard to my tuna salad, as well, but I usually use yellow mustard. It adds a bit of tang, and it makes it a bit less sweet. Also, mustard contains tumeric, which is a great antioxidant, so even healthier. It still tastes great without it, so make it how you like it. Definitely do not omit the pickles and celery though. They give it the crunch needed.
Mustard is great on fish! Love it in tuna salad and its wonderful on fried catfish ! And it is a southern thing !
Hi Angelina, I brush a marinade of dijon mustard, honey, and cracked pepper on salmon fillets and cook on the grill and the adition of dijon mustard to this salmon marinade is absolutely delicious !!
That sounds so tasty Barbara. Yum.