Features of the choice of fish and the preparation of salads with tuna. TOP 8 best recipes with different ingredients, seasonings and sauces. Video recipes.
Tuna salad is a cold dish, the main ingredients of which are fish from the Mackerel family, a boiled egg, and a dressing. Used as canned food in its own juice or olive oil, and fresh carcass. Additionally, vegetables, legumes, rice or corn are added to the dish. The dressing is mayonnaise, mustard and any vegetable oil. Due to the high content of vitamins and minerals, such dishes are often used in dietary meals. Read on for how to make your own tuna salad and 8 delicious recipes.
Features of cooking salads with tuna
Tuna is a fish of the Mackerel family. It lives in warm tropical and temperate waters, so it gets to the shelves of our stores and markets from afar. Since the main fish is caught in the waters of the Pacific Ocean, the prices for it are quite high, and in our country it is a delicacy.
Tuna meat is rightfully considered a storehouse of vitamins, phosphorus, omega 3 fats, selenium, sodium and potassium. Eating fish helps to improve the functions of the cardiovascular system, normalizes blood pressure and increases the body's immune defenses.
The tuna has excellent taste, the fillet has an excellent structure, while the characteristic fishy smell is absent. Therefore, dishes based on it are incredibly popular, especially in the USA, Great Britain, France and Germany, and the number of ways to prepare tuna salad is comparable only to the number of recipes we all know "Olivier".
If you decide to take fresh fish for your tuna salad, it is important to choose the right fish in the store. Most suitable for this dish is meat, which is located in the abdomen. It is quite bold and has a darker color. The abdominal fillet can be of several categories: the fattest part is near the head, in the middle - medium fat, in the tail area - bold. The fatter the fish, the paler its color, thus, you need to choose dark meat, moderate fat content.
If a fresh carcass is used, it must be boiled, baked in the oven or grilled before adding to the appetizer with the addition of various spices and oils, but canned food is most often used in tuna salad recipes.
Fish goes well with vegetables and fruits. Cucumbers, tomatoes, boiled potatoes, cabbage, carrots, asparagus, bell peppers are added to it. Pineapples, citrus fruits and avocados will add an original taste.
An indispensable ingredient in a classic tuna salad is a boiled chicken or quail egg - the usual hard-boiled or poached egg. Also, fish goes well with various cheeses (cheddar, edam, parmesan, mozzarella, feta, etc.), with different types of salads, olives, olives, rice, mushrooms and various herbs.
The dish is dressed with mayonnaise, olive or sesame oil, soy sauce or teriyaki is used in traditional Japanese dishes. Salsa will give the original flavor. Basil, caraway seeds, pepper, ginger are suitable seasonings for this fish.
The dish is served in a salad bowl, in portions, in tartlets, baskets of dough, halves of a boiled chicken egg, and fruit versions look original in halves of canned peaches.
TOP 8 recipes for tuna salad
Due to the fact that tuna meat is very nutritious, salads with it can serve both as an independent dish and as a basis for making sandwiches. In cooking, there are almost no restrictions on the selection of ingredients that can complement this fish, therefore, knowing how to make a tuna salad according to the classic recipe, you will be able to create your own culinary masterpiece.
Nicoise salad with tuna
Translated from French, "Nicoise" means "originally from Nice", but the Ligurians, the ancient inhabitants of the Mediterranean, are considered the inventors of this delicious tuna salad. It contains quite a lot of different components, however, the dish is placed on the table without stirring, so each guest can take into his plate exactly those ingredients that will suit his taste. And there really will be plenty to choose from! It is not for nothing that because of its extensive composition, this dish is sometimes called “culinary constructor”.
- Caloric content per 100 g - 131 kcal.
- Servings - 6
- Cooking time - 1 hour
Ingredients:
- Lettuce leaves - 200 g
- Canned tuna - 160 g
- Cherry tomatoes - 6 pcs.
- Quail eggs - 3 pcs.
- Green beans - 100 g
- Young potatoes - 100 g
- Olives - 8 pcs.
- Onions - 1/4 pcs.
- Olive oil - 4 tablespoons (for the sauce)
- Dijon mustard - 1/2 tsp (for the sauce)
- Balsamic vinegar - 1 tsp (for the sauce)
- Anchovies - 0.5 pcs. (for the sauce)
Step-by-step preparation of Nicoise salad with tuna:
- Wash small potato tubers, brush if necessary and boil in their uniform. When ready, pour cold water over them, and when they have cooled, peel and cut them into quarters.
- Wash the green beans, cut off the ends on each pod. Cut each of them into 3-4 pieces. Put the beans in boiling salted water, bring to a boil, cook for 3-4 minutes, then put them in a colander and place them under running cold water. Place the blanched pods on a paper towel and pat dry.
- Wash the tomatoes, dry, cut into large slices.
- Peel the onion, cut into half rings.
- Cut the olives and anchovy in half.
- Boil the eggs hard-boiled, after cooling, peel them from the shell and cut them in half.
- Rinse the lettuce leaves, dry, chop and put on a large dish, place the beans on top.
- Open the canned food, drain the juice or oil, put them in the center of the dish.
- Alternate between halves of eggs and quarters of potatoes on the sides of the tuna.
- Place onion half rings, cherry and olive halves on top.
- Prepare the sauce, for this, pour vegetable oil, vinegar, mustard into the blender bowl and add anchovy. Beat everything until smooth and pour the salad over the top with the resulting sauce.
Despite the large number of ingredients, Nicoise is a fairly simple salad with tuna and vegetables, since the ingredients can only be boiled or used raw. If desired, the dish can be sprinkled with chopped parsley leaves, and balsamic vinegar can be replaced with apple cider vinegar. There is no need to salt the salad thanks to the addition of the anchovy.
Tuna, arugula and cherry salad
There is nothing superfluous in this dish, all the ingredients, except for fish, are of plant origin, so a salad with arugula and tuna, decorated with slices of cherry tomatoes, has taken pride of place in the diet.
Ingredients:
- Fresh tuna - 350 g
- Cherry tomatoes - 300 g
- Arugula - 100 g
- Lemon juice - 2 tablespoons (for the sauce)
- Vegetable oil - 3 tablespoons (for the sauce)
- Mustard - 1 tablespoon (for the sauce)
- Salt, pepper - to taste (for the sauce)
Step by step preparation of tuna, arugula and cherry salad:
- Preheat the skillet well.
- Cut the tuna steak into 1.5 cm thick portions. Fry each piece on both sides. It takes about 2 minutes to fry 1 side. Cool the finished steak and cut into thin slices.
- Wash the tomatoes, cut into quarters.
- Prepare the sauce by mixing the butter with lemon juice and mustard. Salt and pepper the mass.
- Rinse the arugula, dry it, place in a deep glass salad bowl and mix with cherry.
- Pour the sauce into the arugula with tomatoes, mix everything and place on a flat large dish.
- Arrange the tuna slices evenly on the salad and serve.
Diet salad with tuna, arugula and cherry tomatoes can be complemented with cucumbers, green peas or finely chopped parsley.
Layered salad with tuna and rice
Delicious salad with canned tuna and boiled rice. To make it lighter, use low-fat yogurt instead of mayonnaise. The dish is perfect for a festive table.
Ingredients:
- Rice - 350 g
- Canned tuna - 2 cans
- Carrots - 2 pcs.
- Hard cheese - 150-200 g
- Mayonnaise to taste
- Salt to taste
Step by step preparation of puff tuna and rice salad:
- Rinse the groats, boil until tender, cool.
- Wash the carrots, brush if necessary, boil until tender. Cool vegetables, peel.
- Put the boiled rice in an even layer in a container for making puff salad. Lightly salt if necessary. Lubricate the top thoroughly with mayonnaise.
- Mash canned fish with a fork along with the juice or olive oil inside the jar. Put the resulting mass on the rice layer. If the tuna is dry, brush this layer with mayonnaise.
- Chop the boiled carrots on a coarse grater and spread evenly over the fish mass, carefully grease the top with mayonnaise.
- Grind the hard cheese on a coarse grater and sprinkle on the carrots. Lubricate everything with a thick layer of mayonnaise.
Top with a puff salad with tuna and rice can be garnished with slices of fresh cucumber and finely chopped herbs. If you wish, you can make boats from halves of boiled chicken eggs and slices of fresh cucumber, strung on toothpicks in the form of a sail.
Tuna and Chinese cabbage salad
This is not just a salad, but a real vitamin bomb. It combines the benefits of sea fish and plenty of fresh vegetables. It takes only 10 minutes to cook, and the specified amount of ingredients is enough to feed 4 people to their fill. This is a universal PP dish for every day, which will easily become a real decoration of the festive table. To prepare a salad with tuna and cabbage, it is recommended to buy a young head of cabbage with the densest maximum crispy leaves. Shallots, if desired, can be replaced with white salad onions or a bunch of green ones.
Ingredients:
- Peking cabbage - 100 g
- Tomatoes - 1 pc.
- Cucumbers - 1 pc.
- Canned beans - 5 tablespoons
- Shallots - 1 pc.
- Canned tuna - 80 g
- Eggs - 2 pcs.
- Bulgarian pepper - 1 pc.
- Greens to taste
- Salt to taste
- Vegetable oil - 5 tablespoons
- Allspice - to taste
Step by step preparation of tuna and Chinese cabbage salad:
- Dry the washed vegetables thoroughly.
- Peel the onion.
- Chop the cabbage finely and place in a salad bowl.
- Cut the tomatoes into wedges and add them to the cabbage. If using small cherries, they can be thrown whole into the dish.
- Cut the cucumber into slices or slices, add it to the salad.
- Peel the bell peppers from the seeds, remove the stalk and, together with the shallots, cut into thin feathers. Throw the chopped vegetables into a salad bowl.
- Open a jar of beans, drain the marinade from it, add to the salad.
- Divide the canned fish into pieces, send everything to the salad bowl.
- Sprinkle the vegetable salad with herbs. Dill and basil go well with the ingredients used.
- Salt and pepper the dish, pour over with vegetable oil.
This is a versatile salad in which you can increase and decrease the amount of ingredients to your liking. Vegetable lovers can add more cucumbers, tomatoes, and Chinese cabbage. If you want to make the dish more satisfying, you can increase the amount of fish and beans in it. As a dressing, not only sunflower oil, but also olive, linseed or rapeseed oil is suitable.
Italian salad with tuna and mozzarella
A light salad with tuna and Mozzarella cheese will appeal to lovers of Mediterranean cuisine. In addition to finely chopped basil, you can add arugula or any other chopped herbs to it. This dish can be called a variation of the famous Italian salad "Caprese", to which canned fish is added to add satiety.
Ingredients:
- Tuna (canned) - 240 g
- Mozzarella - 125 g
- Tomatoes - 2 pcs.
- Basil - 40 g
- Garlic - 1 clove
- Olive oil - 1 tablespoon
- Lemon juice - 1 tablespoon
- Ground black pepper - to taste
- Salt to taste
Step by step preparation of Italian tuna and mozzarella salad:
- Cut the washed tomatoes in half, remove the pulp and seeds.
- Cut the tomato pulp into small cubes.
- Wash basil leaves, dry, chop finely.
- Peel the garlic and squeeze through the garlic.
- Combine basil with garlic.
- Add lemon juice to them.
- Pour in olive oil. Salt the mixture and let it brew.
- Cut the brine mozzarella into thin circles.
- Remove the tuna from the oil and mash using a fork.
- Combine canned food with basil garlic dressing.
- A serving ring is used in the cooking process. We begin to assemble the dish, laying out the ingredients in layers. The first layer is 1/2 tomatoes, the second is fish, the third is 1/2 basil, the fourth is cheese, the fifth is the remaining greens, the sixth is the remaining tomato pulp. Remember to tamp each layer tightly.
- Remove the serving rings.
Before serving, each salad can be garnished with basil.
Salad with tuna, avocado and pears
The combination of fruit and hearty fish will satisfy even the most pampered gourmets. Pine nuts give a special zest to the dish.
Ingredients:
- Avocado - 1 pc.
- Pear - 1 pc.
- Tomatoes - 1 pc.
- Chicken eggs - 4 pcs.
- Canned tuna - 450 g
- Lemon juice - 2 tablespoons
- Pine nuts - 20 g
- Ground black pepper - to taste
- Salt to taste
Step by step preparation of tuna, avocado and pear salad:
- Cut the boiled and peeled eggs into cubes.
- Separate the fish from the bones and mash with a fork.
- Add lemon juice to the fish marinade, salt and pepper it.
- Wash the tomatoes, dry them, cut them into small cubes.
- Wash the fruits, cut the flesh of the avocado and pear into small cubes, sprinkle them with lemon juice.
- Place eggs on a dish in the first layer.
- Then the pear and fish are located.
- Lay the avocado on top.
- The final layer will be tomatoes.
- Top the salad with the fish marinade dressing.
After you have made the tuna, avocado and pear salad step by step, garnish it with quarters of a boiled chicken egg and sprinkle with pine nuts. Garnish with parsley leaves or any other herbs before serving.
Tuna and corn salad
This is a hearty dish that takes a few minutes to cook. It will help you out when unexpected guests arrive or you need to prepare a quick but hearty snack. The main ingredients of the dish are used in canned form, so they can be purchased in advance and stored in a cold place for unforeseen situations. Cucumbers can be used pickled or pickled. If desired, add onions or salad onions to the dish, cut into thin half rings.
Ingredients:
- Canned tuna - 170 g
- Canned corn - 200 g
- Pickled cucumbers - 4 pcs.
- Eggs - 2 pcs.
- Dill - 15 g
- Mayonnaise - 2 tablespoons
- Salt - 1/4 tsp
- Ground black pepper - to taste
Step by step preparation of tuna and corn salad:
- Boil the eggs, cool, peel them.
- Pour the corn into a deep container, with which you first drain the marinade.
- Cut the cucumbers into cubes and add to the corn.
- Grind eggs in the same way and add to canned vegetables.
- Open a can of canned food, drain the oil or brine, divide the fish into pieces, add it to the rest of the ingredients.
- Rinse the greens, dry, chop finely, add to the salad.
- Salt the dish, add pepper, mayonnaise and knead it well.
As a salad dressing, instead of mayonnaise, you can take fish marinade or low-fat sour cream.
Salad with tuna, cucumber and eggs
Despite its simplicity and the fact that the cooking process takes no more than 10 minutes, it turns out to be very tasty. Try it yourself, and this salad will become one of your favorites.
Ingredients:
- Canned tuna - 100 g
- Fresh cucumbers - 2 pcs.
- Boiled eggs - 2 pcs.
- Olive oil - 2 tablespoons
- Dijon mustard - 1 tsp
- Lemon juice to taste
- Spices (herbal mixture) - to taste
- Salt to taste
Step by step preparation of salad with tuna, cucumber and eggs:
- Hard boil the eggs and wait until they cool.
- After cooling, wipe them dry, and after peeling, cut into cubes.
- Wash cucumbers, dry, cut off the ends and cut them into small cubes.
- Mash canned fish thoroughly with a fork.
- Prepare the sauce, for this, pour Dijon mustard, lemon juice into the oil, salt and season with herbs.
- Place a serving ring on a flat plate, pour cucumbers inside, pour sauce over them.
- Put canned food on the cucumbers, pour over the dressing.
- The final layer is eggs.
Before serving, remove the serving ring and garnish the salad with fresh herbs. You can also put tomato slices on top.
