The Upgraded Tuna Salad

This version of tuna salad is flavorful and exciting…and will change how you feel about homemade tuna!

At some point, a reader (or perhaps it was many of you!), asked us for a tuna salad recipe. One of you specifically asked us for “bagel store-style tuna.” While we were all for discovering and featuring a great tuna salad here on Between Carpools, we knew that you wouldn’t be happy to discover what’s really in most bagel store tunas.

So we left the topic on the side for a while. That doesn’t mean we haven’t devoted any attention to canned tuna in the past. This tuna salad “salad” on Between Carpools is a great one (definitely a shalosh seudos go-to), but you can use any prepared tuna salad that you like. There’s also a popular Kale Tuna Salad in Dinner Done 2, but again–it’s about the salad. There’s some tuna salad tips courtesy of The Cookie Corner (i.e. use the pouches vs. the cans for creamier results), but in that one as well, you can use any prepared tuna.

Then Renee tasted this one by Yocheved Shvarzblat, the creator of TastynSimple. And she told the rest of the team, “I think we found our tuna.” Yocheved is a very talented recipe developer with really approachable recipes–some of you might be familiar with her column in Whisk by Ami. And Yocheved was happy to share the recipe with you!

Top View of a plastic cutting board with whole and diced celery and gherkn pickles, and an open jar of B&G Kosher Baby Dill Gherkins nearby.

Renee felt that this was the recipe that really upgrades tuna into something more special. Tuna can have a reputation for being boring…that kind of thing that you eat because you want to be healthy and tuna is always reliably there to provide a nice amount of protein. But it doesn’t have to be that way! Tuna can be something you really, really enjoy.

Top view of a package of Solid Light Yellowfin Tuna by Tuscanini plus one can almost fully open.

The #1 secret to this tuna, Yocheved tells us, is starting with good quality tuna. This solid yellowfin tuna by Tuscanini is a better tuna and you’ll taste the difference.

Finely diced gherkin pickles celery and shallot on a plastic cutting board.

Once you have your tuna, you do have to do some dicing, but it’s worth it.

Adding finely diced gherkin pickles celery and shallot into a bowl with drained tuna from cans.

The flavor and texture here is spot-on.

Adding plain breadcrumbs to the side of a bowl with tuna, diced gherkin pickles celery and shallot.

This will turn your tuna salad into something you look forward to…something you’re excited to have for lunch, bring along to the pool, or serve for shalosh seudos.