Simple 1-ingredient change that finally turned me on to tuna salad.

When I was growing up, my mom made tuna salad for lunch almost every weekend, and I Afraid This mayo made it too heavy for my taste, and the texture always seemed either too dry because there wasn’t enough mayo or too wet because there was too much—never quite right. Avoiding those tuna salad lunches meant no lunch for me, so I always ate it, albeit very reluctantly. As an adult, my consumption of tuna salad has declined sharply—until recently.

Fast forward to a day this past summer when I had an empty fridge and was in dire need of lunch. Canned tuna is something I always have on hand, just for emergencies, and after scanning my pantry I realized that tuna salad was my only go-to meal. Except I didn’t have mayo, which was perfect for a mayo tuna salad hater like me — especially since I always have a tub on hand. Labna In your fridge. I often serve hummus or baba ganoush with Middle Eastern yogurt drizzled with olive oil and lightly salted (but it’s not often that I eat it with a spoon). It occurred to me that I could make a tuna salad with labneh instead of mayo and have a sneaking feeling that I would like it better that way.

The results were excellent—creamy, fresh-tasting, and slightly tangy—and I’ve been making lean tuna salad ever since. As it turns out, swapping in labneh was the upgrade I didn’t know I needed to turn myself into a tuna salad lover. When I discovered how well Lebanese tuna works in a salad, I made a big batch for my family to try. My Palestinian mother was skeptical at first. “Lebania and tuna?” he sneered. “It doesn’t go together.” But now that she’s tried it, she wouldn’t have tuna salad any other way—and neither would I.

5 Tips for a Flavorful Lebanese Tuna Salad

Pickle the onion quickly. When I make this recipe for myself for a weekday lunch, I usually use onion powder purely for convenience. But adding fresh onions gives a crunchy texture and a much better taste. To tame the bite of raw onions, soak them in red wine vinegar for about 15 minutes, then drain before adding to the tuna mixture. That way you can avoid that dreaded onion breath but still add some punch to the mix.

Break up the tuna and mix well with the labneh. Even oily tuna can sometimes be dry, and if you don’t break up that tuna well, you could be left with large chunks of dry meat. Be sure to break the tuna into small pieces to remove any dryness and allow the labneh to coat the tuna more.

Choose a thick, homogeneous dairy. When testing this recipe, I tried using a few different brands of buttermilk to see how much variation there is from one to the next. Although labneh is a thick ingredient, its consistency varies from brand to brand. Some also separate in the container and require a good shake when opening, while others are good to go.

With some of the slightly thinner brands of labneh I used, I found that the tuna salad became a little watery as it sat. For this reason, you’ll want to grab the thickest labneh you can find—ideally one that doesn’t fall apart when opened—which may require some trial and error. Labneh by Baraka worked best in my tests and didn’t cause the liquid to pool, but you may need to experiment with the brands that are available where you live to see if they work well. Do work. If you experience liquid separation with your tuna salad, stir it back together. Or you can stir about a tablespoon of unseasoned panko breadcrumbs into the mixture to soak up any excess moisture. This will not change the taste of the tuna salad but will restore its creamy and uniform texture.

Instead of chopping carrots, chop them. Carrots aren’t usually an ingredient paired with tuna, but I love the slight sweetness they bring to a salad. However, with the chopped onion and celery already in the mix, adding shredded carrots will make the salad too greasy and crunchy. I prefer to chop the carrots instead so they can take on their sweet flavor without overwhelming the texture of the salad with crunch.

Be creative. This recipe was born from the moment the fridge was cleared out. Although this is the most loaded version of all the ways I make it, I make changes from batch to batch depending on what I have on hand. If I don’t have dill, I’ll substitute cilantro or parsley to get that herbal freshness. Sometimes I add a teaspoon of Calabrian chili paste if I want a little heat.

Since tuna salad is usually a quick meal, I encourage you to get creative and swap out any ingredients with others you like or already have on hand. After all, that’s exactly how I landed on a recipe that turned me into the tuna salad lover I am today.

Cook mode
(keep the screen awake)