Tangy Tuna Salad
Recipe and photos updated August 19, 2024
Growing up, my mom would make “tuna fish” that consisted of draining the small cans of tuna (usually over the cat’s food bowl) and using a fork to sift through the tuna to pick out bones or scales. (That was just not appetizing to a kid.) She would add only diced celery and mayo. (This is only going downhill, isn’t it?) I would add so much extra salt and pepper to help, but now that I’m older, and a little wiser in the kitchen, I see there is a whole plethora of ingredients to cheer up plain tuna salad.
This is also delicious on whole wheat bread or in a pita pocket with lettuce, avocado, and tomato. But, my absolute favorite way to enjoy this is toasting buttered sourdough bread under the broiler, then topping with the Tangy Tuna Salad and fresh tomato. Holy Shmoly.
When I shop for the cherry peppers, I look for jars that contain the most red peppers, mainly for aesthetics, but the green ones taste the same. That’s just my personal preference. If you find jars of all red peppers, rejoice!, you’ve hit the jackpot. I also buy “mild,” but you can buy hot cherry peppers for tanginess and heat!
Seeding and chopping the cherry peppers, plus the veggies, is a little bit time-consuming. But that’s the biggest of the prep work. Even though the cherry peppers are not hot, I still use disposable gloves when I take the stems off and the seeds out of the peppers. The brine is pretty strong stuff with the brand I purchase.
Enjoy!
Tangy Tuna Salad
Ingredients
- 11-ounce pouch of tuna, water-packed, drained
- 1/2 cup mayonnaise
- 1/2 cup celery, small dice
- 1/4 cup red onion, small dice
- 1/3 cup brined cherry peppers, seeded, chopped and packed
- 1 1/2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
- 3 tablespoons green onions, green and white parts, thinly sliced
- 3 tablespoons Italian parsley, finely chopped
- 1/8 teaspoon sea salt
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1 avocado, sliced, optional
- 1 tomato, sliced, optional
- lettuce leaves, optional
- pita pockets or other bread, optional
Instructions
- Stir all the ingredients together in a medium bowl. Go easy on adding the salt. You can add it last, if any at all. The salt in the mayo, mustard, and peppers may be enough for your tastes.
- This is fantastic with avocado, lettuce and/or tomato in pita pockets, on croissants or other artisan bread. Or, eat over lettuce as a salad.
