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. And when Lent rolls around it’s a staple for Friday lunches.
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 in 2018. This is a photo from the 2011 blog post.
Tuna Salad with Fresh Dill
A simple, yet gourmet Tuna Salad recipe with Fresh Dill
Ingredients
- 2 6.7-ounce jars tuna fillets in olive oil
- Juice half a lemon
- 1/2 cup mayonnaise
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill
- 2 tablespoons diced red onion or diced pickled red onion*
- Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
Instructions
- Flake tuna into medium bowl. Add lemon juice, mayonnaise to taste, dill and onion; and mix to desired consistency. Season to taste.
- Serve with your favorite rolls, lettuce, tomatoes or sprouts.
- 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.
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.
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Nutrition Information:
Yield:
6Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 231Total Fat: 16gSaturated Fat: 3gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 13gCholesterol: 27mgSodium: 213mgCarbohydrates: 8gFiber: 1gSugar: 6gProtein: 13g
25 Comments on “Tuna Salad with Fresh Dill”
Ah the classic tuna salad sandwich..majorly upgraded. All great tips and I am a big fan of fresh dill.
Looks amazing! So true that sometimes we get crazy on updating recipes when there was a reason it was a hit in the first place! I’m ashamed to say I’ve never used fresh dill — definitely need to try it! Thanks, Liz!
You’ve take an old standby up a BUNCH of notches! YUM!
This looks like a perfect lunch sandwich! I still have a glass of white tuna in the cupboard…this is a great recipe to use it up.
Lizzy=What a great gift card. I love Sonoma too!
Incidentally, I just made a big batch of tuna salad yesterday, and sharing it with Lora, and the in-law’s from Italy. I have always made mine with fresh dill, but forgot to buy it, and instead made it with fresh chopped Italina parsly. (no photo of it)
Love the “dill pickled red onion” idea in addition to the salad. I will stick with the fresh dill next time. Yumm!
Mmm, I love dill with tuna salad. Looks like a tasty lunch.
I love such tuna salads with toasted bread though I dont think I ever put dill in it 🙂
I love tuna sandwiches for lunch at work. I’ve often used dill with fresh fish but never with tinned so I’ll certainly try your recipe.
Ahhhh! Williams-Sonoma…Can’t go there without buy all those beautiful gadgets. Congrats on your gift. And your salad looks delish.
Simple, but delicious! I love your photos for this post.
Becky
The packaging on that tuna is so great! Certainly dresses up canned fish 🙂
Absolutely love the taste of fresh dill! This recipe looks like a keeper.
LOL…I can never just walk out of a cooking store without a hand full of purchases either! So glad you enjoyed your shopping spree!
I love that store! I don’t think my willpower would have been any stronger than yours. I would probably have to pick everything up and oh and ah over the goods. I love tuna salad and this sounds amazing! Yummy!
Lucky you to be the recipient of a WS gift card! Like you, I’d be tempted to shop for hours depleting my pockets until they were empty coffers. Not only did you bring home some kitchen items, but some lovely foods too. Now when you prepare tuna or nosh on a cornichon, you’ll remember this occasion. I’ve long adored the combination of tuna and dill. Thank you for this accessibly tangible recipe.
Thanks for the tip, Kaye…good idea!
I make tuna salad a few times a month; we love it and it’s good for you too. I add a bit of yellow mustard to the mayo and it sharpens up the flavor. I learned this from a restaurant chef when I exclaimed over the restaurant’s albacore tuna sandwich. Love your blogs and admire your tenacity in keeping up with it.
This look wonderful! gloria
I love tuna salad and am excited to try the pickled onions. Yum!
Oh how lucky and congrats on your gift card love Sonoma, shop there in Orlando all the time to buy speciality pans! This looks wonderful Tuna is a must in my salad.. lovely!