What does Martha Stewart put in her tuna salad?

Combine tuna, celery, apple, mayonnaise, basil, and lemon juice ; mix well. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Can you eat mixed bean salad straight from the tin?

You probably don't need to cook it (it should say ready to eat somewhere on the tin) , but mixed beans and pasta together on their own might be a bit bland so maybe try adding some tabasco, or garlic, or both! Empty the tin into a sieve/colander and rinse well under the cold tap.

Tuna is a healthy food . But when folks make tuna salad, they tend to go overboard on the mayo adding tons of extra calories and fat. One cup of mayo has a whopping 1440 calories, 160 grams fat, and 24 grams saturated fat. It'll also tack on almost 50 percent of your daily recommended amount of sodium.

How do you make Paula Deen's tuna salad?

Directions. In a mixing bowl, combine the tuna, eggs, mayonnaise, lemon juice, chives, celery, relish, and onion. Season the salad with a big pinch of salt and pepper and stir to combine. Serve on a bed of salad greens or on toasted bread, if you like.

What can you put in tuna to make it better?

In a medium bowl, combine tuna, mayonnaise, celery, onion, relish, lemon juice, and garlic . Season to taste with salt and pepper (I like ½ teaspoons salt and ¼ teaspoon pepper). Serve immediately or cover and chill until serving.

What spices enhance tuna?

Best Organic Individual Spices for Making Tuna Organic Dill Weed : Adds a fresh, tangy kick, perfect for tuna salads. Organic Garlic Powder: A universal flavor enhancer for a savory touch. Organic Paprika (Sweet or Smoked): For a subtle warmth and color, excellent in rubs. Use smoked paprika for a more grilled flavor.

Are canned white beans cooked?

They're already cooked ! Unlike dried beans, there is no soaking required. Dried beans tend to soak up the flavor of the dish while cooking, which is why some people think beans from a can tend to be bland. But they don't have to be!

Can I eat canned white beans raw?

The reason that beans are safe to eat straight from the can is pretty simple: They're already cooked . Per Epicurious, beans are blanched before being canned with water, salt, and other additives, and then sealed and cooked under steam pressure at a high temperature before landing at your local grocery store.

What kind of beans are in mixed beans?

Mixed Beans ( Black Eyed Beans, Chick Peas, Haricot Beans, Pinto Beans, Red Kidney Beans, Adzuki Beans ), Water, Firming Agent: Calcium Chloride.

When should you not eat canned tuna?

The FDA recommends that women who are pregnant or breastfeeding avoid fish high in mercury. Intake of albacore canned tuna should be no more than 4 ounces (113 grams) per week ( 22 ).

Why is restaurant tuna salad so good?

The highest-quality tuna is bought fresh from the market or fishmonger , so some restaurants process and cook fresh tuna before incorporating it into the tuna salad. Although time-consuming and expensive, many chefs prefer this approach.

Why should you not eat canned tuna every day?

Certain types of tuna are high in mercury, which can have harmful effects on health in high amounts or in certain populations . For most healthy adults, it's recommended to consume at least 2 servings of fish per week, which can include tuna.

How do you make Martha Stewart tuna sandwiches?

To make it, mix 2 cans of oil-packed tuna in a bowl with thinly sliced celery, a finely chopped apple (we're talking 1/4-inch pieces), mayonnaise, fresh basil, lemon juice, salt, and pepper . Martha serves hers on toasted sourdough but you can enjoy your tuna salad however you prefer.

White Bean and Tuna Salad Recipe (2024)

Recipes
Recipes by World Cuisine
Europe
Southern European

The perfect protein-packed light meal for when you don't want to do any cooking.

Sasha Marx

Senior Culinary Editor

Sasha is a senior culinary editor at Serious Eats. He has over a decade of professional cooking experience, having worked his way up through a number of highly regarded and award-winning restaurant kitchens, followed by years spent in test kitchens for food publications.

Learn about Serious Eats'Editorial Process

Updated December 09, 2022

Why It Works

A small amount of bean cooking liquid in the dressing helps form a strong emulsion that complements the flavor of the beans in the salad.
Briefly soaking sliced red onion in ice water helps soften its pungent bite.
Marinating the onion slices briefly in vinegar and salt pickles them a little.
This salad is delicious when served at cool room temperature, making it great way to use pantry ingredients like canned tuna and dried beans in the spring and summer.

This classic Italian salad marries cooked white beans and oil-packed tuna for a protein-packed, pantry-friendly, light meal that's perfect for warm weather. With a lot of people stocked up on dried beans these days, we've been working on a number of recipes to put a batch o' beans to good use. With spring finally here, and summer just around the corner, we're moving away from heartier stews, and leaning into bean dishes like this one, which requires little to no additional cooking, and can be served at room temperature.

Along with creamy, cooked white beans and rich, flaky oil-packed ventresca (tuna belly), this salad features bright and crisp sliced red onions, which are first soaked in ice water for a few minutes to temper their pungent bite and then quickly marinated with vinegar and salt to give them a quick-pickle pop of acidity. The vinegar used to marinate the onions and the juice that the onions release in the process together form the base of the dressing for the salad. We round it out with a little bean cooking liquid, which acts as a flavorful emulsifier for the vinaigrette (if we haven't successfully converted you to cooking dried beans, we have also provided instructions for making this recipe with canned beans, too), fruity olive oil, chopped fresh parsley, and plenty of freshly ground black pepper.

The salad is hearty but light (if you want to add extra greenery to the mix, it also pairs well with additions like peppery arugula or watercress), and requires only about five minutes of work, making it the perfect no-cook, quarantine-pantry, warm-weather meal.

Recipe Details

White Bean and Tuna Salad Recipe

Prep40 mins

Active5 mins

Total40 mins

Serves4 servings

Ingredients

1/2 red onion (about 4 ounces; 116g), cut into 1/8-inch thick slices
1 tablespoon (15ml) Champagne, white wine, or red wine vinegar plus extra for drizzling
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
3 cups (1 pound 6 ounces; 625g) cooked dry white beans, drained, or two (15-ounce; 425g) cans low-sodium white beans, drained and rinsed (see note)
5.6 ounces (160g) olive oil-packed tuna (from two 3.88-ounce (110g) cans), preferably ventresca (tuna belly; see note), drained and gently flaked into 2-inch pieces
1 medium garlic clove (5g), minced or finely grated
1 tablespoon (15ml) bean cooking liquid, from a pot of beans cooked from dry (see note if using canned beans)
1/4 cup (60ml) extra-virgin olive oil plus extra for drizzling
1/4 cup (1/2 ounce; 16g) finely chopped fresh parsley leaves and tender stems

Directions

In a small bowl, combine red onion and enough ice water to cover. Using clean hands, gently scrunch and squeeze the onion slices, taking care not to crush or break them. Let onion slices sit in ice water for 15 minutes, then drain and discard ice water, and return red onion to now-empty bowl. Add vinegar and 1/4 teaspoon (1g) salt and toss and gently massage onions to evenly coat with vinegar and salt. Set aside for 5 minutes to allow onion slices to marinate.
Meanwhile, combine beans and tuna in a large bowl. Once onions have marinated for 5 minutes, squeeze onion slices to release moisture into the bowl that they marinated in, then transfer onion slices to large bowl with beans and tuna; set large bowl aside.
There should be at least 1 tablespoon (15ml) of vinegar-onion juice liquid left in the small bowl. Add garlic, bean cooking liquid (or, if using canned beans, 2 teaspoons (10ml) water plus 1 teaspoon (5ml) Dijon mustard), and 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper, and whisk to combine. Whisking constantly, slowly drizzle in olive oil. Stir in parsley and season to taste with salt.
Transfer dressing to large bowl with bean-tuna mixture, using a rubber spatula to scrape all of the dressing into the large bowl. Gently toss salad to evenly coat with dressing, taking care not to crush tuna or beans in the process. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Divide salad between individual serving plates or one large serving platter, drizzle lightly with olive oil and a splash of vinegar, and serve.

Notes

Because this dish is comprised of just a few ingredients, it's at its best when made with high quality products. Cooked dried beans (and their cooking liquid) have much better flavor and texture than canned beans, so we highly recommend using them in this recipe, if possible.

The quality of the tuna you use will make a difference here. We recommend oil-packed ventresca tuna, which comes from the richer, fatty belly; it's moister and more flavorful than other canned or jarred tuna. We like the ventresca from both Ortiz and Tonnino.

If using canned beans, substitute bean cooking liquid with 2 teaspoons (10ml) water and 1 teaspoon (5ml) Dijon mustard. The flavor of the dish obviously won't be exactly the same, but mustard provides similar emulsifying properties as the bean cooking liquid for the dressing.

Make-Ahead and Storage

This salad is at its best the day it's made, but can be refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 2 days. Bring to cool room temperature before serving.

Southern European
Italian
White Beans
Canned Fish
Tuna

Nutrition Facts (per serving)
524	Calories
21g	Fat
57g	Carbs
29g	Protein

Show Full Nutrition Label

Nutrition Facts
Servings: 4
Amount per serving
Calories	524
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 21g	28%
Saturated Fat 3g	15%
Cholesterol 14mg	5%
Sodium 955mg	42%
Total Carbohydrate 57g	21%
Dietary Fiber 14g	49%
Total Sugars 2g
Protein 29g
Vitamin C 7mg	36%
Calcium 212mg	16%
Iron 9mg	50%
Potassium 1333mg	28%
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.

(Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate.)