Tuna Salad with Fresh Dill

A simple Tuna Salad with Fresh Dill is a breeze to prepare and wonderful served on a crusty roll for lunch or a light dinner.

With a dressing of mayonnaise and fresh lemon juice plus a boost of flavor from fresh, aromatic dill, this is an easy way to shake up your usual tuna salad sandwich recipe!

Tuna Salad with Fresh Dill

When I get in a lunchtime rut, I often make chicken or tuna salad for sandwiches. My mom’s version was a can of tuna, chopped celery and mayonnaise. That’s it. And we loved it. As I grew older, I added more ingredients, like in this Tuna with Cranberries and Pecans. But sometimes, less is more, and this simple tuna salad is ready in no time. Only a few ingredients needed and lunch is served!

Tips for Making Tuna Salad

As anyone who has made tuna salad knows, it’s pretty much a dump and mix recipes. But there are a few hints for making it the best it can be!

• First, you must use a good quality tuna. I have moved from the canned, water-packed tuna I bought in my 20’s and now look for the jars of tuna fillets in olive oil. Yes, it’s more expensive, but give it a try. The higher grade of this product is worth the occasional splurge.
• Use fresh dill in this recipe, not dried. The taste is far superior!

• PRO-Tip: I like the mellow taste of pickled onions. The sharpness is minimized, but there’s still some crunch and mild onion flavor. The pickling process entails finely dicing some onions and covering them with your favorite vinegar for only 10 minutes. I used champagne vinegar, but other vinegars would also work. I’d avoid a dark balsamic as the purple of the onions gives a needed pop of color to the tuna salad.

• The salad dressing is just mayonnaise mixed with lemon juice. Make sure you use freshly squeezed lemon juice and a quality mayonnaise. I like Hellmann’s organic.
• I prefer flaking the tuna fillets into pieces versus mixing it into a paste, so the tuna is identifiable in the salad.

• Canned and jarred tuna is generally on the salty side. I did not add any salt to my recipe, but some freshly ground black pepper would be a nice addition.
• If you want to add diced celery, pickles or any other favorite tuna salad ingredient, please do!
• Serve this tuna salad on a bed of leaf lettuce or between two slices of bread or on a bun or roll. Lettuce and/or a slice of tomato would be terrific on your sandwich.

More Sandwich Recipes You’ll Love:

• Slow Cooker Beef Drip Sandwiches from Valerie’s Kitchen –perfect ALL year long as there’s no need to turn on the oven
• Curried Turkey Salad Sandwich from That Skinny Chick Can Bake –great for your Thanksgiving leftovers
• Reuben Sandwich from Spend with Pennies –one of my top 3 favorite sandwiches!
• Pressed Brick Sandwich from That Skinny Chick Can Bake –ideal for picnics and tailgates
• Grilled Pesto Chicken Sandwich from Real Housemoms–give your chicken sandwich an Italian twist!

This post has been updated with new text and photos. This is a photo from the 2011 blog post.

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Tuna Salad with Fresh Dill

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★★★★★

5 from 1 reviews

A simple way to shake up your tuna salad with herbs, pickled onion and a squeeze of lemon

• Author: Liz Berg
• Prep Time: 10 minutes
• Total Time: 10 minutes
• Yield: 4 servings 1x
• Category: Seafood, Salad, Sandwich
• Method: Mixing
• Cuisine: American

Ingredients

2 6.7 ounce jars of tuna fillets, packed in oil , drained

Juice from 1/2 lemon

1/2–1 cup mayonnaise (start with 1/2 cup and add more if desired)

2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill

2 tablespoons diced pickled red onion*

Freshly ground pepper to taste

Instructions

Break apart the tuna into a bowl. Add lemon juice, mayonnaise to taste, dill and onion. Gently mix to combine.

Taste and add freshly ground pepper if desired.

Serve with your favorite rolls, lettuce, tomatoes or sprouts.

 

Notes

*To make pickled onions, simply pour white wine or champagne vinegar over diced onions. Allow to pickle at least 10 minutes. Drain and add to recipe.

Adapted from Once Upon a Tart.