Bored of traditional tuna salad? We have a great option for you! Ensalada De Atun, or a Mexican Tuna Salad, is a versatile recipe that can be served many different ways for easy dinners or a quick lunch for the whole family! This Mexican tuna recipe uses mainly pantry ingredients, but is extremely flavoursome, high in protein and budget-friendly!
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Why You'll Love Mexican Tuna Salad
- Good Source of Protein: This delicious Mexican tuna salad features lean protein tuna chunks (make sure to get one in brine or spring water), providing a substantial protein boost. Additionally, it has plenty of plant-based protein from black beans.
- Perfect For Meal Prep: Make ensalada de atún at the beginning of the week, and use it for sandwiches, wraps, salads and dips for the next 4-5 days! Just like our Tuna Pasta Salad.
- Quick and easy recipe: All you need to do is tip the pantry staples and lots of veggies into a large bowl and mix.
Ingredient Notes
Very simple ingredients that you can get at any grocery store (and most of them you will likely already have at home). A few fresh veggies, some canned goods and some mayonnaise have never tasted better! Find the exact quantities in the recipe card at the bottom of the post:
- canned tuna: make sure to get tuna chunks in spring water (or brine), not in sunflower oil.
- sweetcorn: also known as canned corn in the US. You may also use thawed frozen corn if you wish.
- black beans: canned or boiled from scratch.
- bell pepper: we typically use a yellow or red bell pepper for colour vibrancy, but green peppers will work as well.
- red onion: can be replaced with spring onions or shallots.
- red chilli: we use fresh red jalapeño peppers. Chili powder or dried chilli flakes may also be used.
- coriander (fresh cilantro): other fresh herbs can also be used. If you are not a fan of the taste of cilantro, fresh parsley is the best substitute.
- lime juice: an absolute must in any Mexican dish, in our opinion. It adds a zingy bright flavor to this tuna salad.
- mayonnaise: whole egg or reduced fat - it's your choice!
- sea salt and black pepper.
Step-By-Step Method
1. Add the drained tuna to a large mixing bowl. Break up the chunks (it will be easier to mix the salad if you do this first).
2. Add the remaining ingredients and mix everything well until the mayo and veggies are well distributed.
3. Store Mexican Tuna Salad in the fridge until you're ready to use it! Easy peasy!
Video
How To Serve Mexican Tuna Salad
- Our favourite way to serve this Mexican salad is to make lettuce wraps - it makes a low-carb healthy lunch! This light, high protein meal is perfect when made with romaine lettuce or iceberg lettuce leaves.
- Stuff it in between two slices of bread to make Mexican Tuna Salad Sandwiches.
- Serve it as Mexican Tuna Salad Tostadas or simply in tortilla wraps.
- Top a green salad or grain bowls with this Mexican Tuna!
- Serve it as a dip with corn tortilla chips (or galletas saladas) on the side.
- Mix any leftovers with mashed potato and shape into Tuna Patties. You can then roll them in egg and breadcrumbs and fry them to make delicious fishcakes!
- Stuff avocado halves with this Mexican Tuna Salad.
- Mix leftovers with pasta to make a Tuna Pasta Salad.
Storage
Store prepared Mexican Tuna Salad in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days. If you want better results, store the salad without mayo or seasoning, and mix them in as you go. This will prevent watery salad. Unfortunately, tuna salad cannot be frozen.
Variations and Extras
Add more crunchy vegetables, substitute the dressing ingredients and experiment with flavours. This Mexican Tuna Salad recipe is great for adding your own twist!
- Other fresh vegetables like fresh tomatoes and cucumber will work great in this salad.
- Substitute up to half of the mayo with sour cream or Greek yogurt. Alternatively, use a creamy avocado dressing (recipe below) and skip the mayo altogether for a healthy Mexican Tuna salad recipe that is high in healthy fats.
- Cook fresh corn on the grill or in the oven. Then cut off the corn kernels and add them to the salad.
- Add some black olives, if you have some spare in your fridge! It's a great addition!
Alternative Dressing (Without Mayo)
For no mayo tuna salad, you will need:
- 1 large ripe avocado
- 1 garlic clove
- juice from ½ a lemon
- water to loosen the dressing
- salt and pepper.
Simply place the ingredients in a small food processor or a powerful smoothie maker, and blitz everything into a paste. Little by little, start adding water to arrive at a desired consistency.
Other Delicious Recipes That Use Tuna
Tuna is one of our favourite good sources of protein that doesn't break the bank. It's no surprise we have plenty of tuna recipes on Somebody Feed Seb. So if you have a couple of cans of tuna, you are in luck:
- Tuna Nicoise Salad With Roast Baby Potatoes
- Tuna and Sweetcorn Sandwich
- Tuna Fishcakes With Hollandaise Sauce
- Tuna Rice Salad With Pink Grapefruit
- Tuna Pasta Salad
Mexican Tuna Salad
Equipment
- Large Bowl
Ingredients
- 2 cans tuna in spring water or brine drained, approx 100g drained weight per can
- 100 g (½ cups) mayonnaise
- 70 g (½ cups) sweetcorn drained
- 70 g (½ cups) black beans drained and rinsed
- 1 bell pepper cut into small pieces
- ⅛ red onion finely chopped
- ½ red chilli pepper finely chopped
- 10 g (3 tablespoon) coriander finely chopped
- 2 tablespoon lime juice
- salt and pepper
Instructions
- Add the drained tuna to a large mixing bowl. Break up the chunks (it will be easier to mix the salad if you do this first).
- Add the remaining ingredients and mix everything well until the mayo and veggies are well distributed.
Video
Notes
- Make lettuce wraps - it makes a low-carb healthy lunch! Simply wrap a generous tablespoon of the Mexican Tuna Salad into a leaf of romaine, iceberg or gem lettuce.
- Stuff it in between two slices of beard to make Mexican Tuna Salad Sandwiches.
- Serve it as Mexican Tuna Salad Tostadas or simply in tortilla wraps.
- Top a green salad or grain bowls with this Mexican Tuna!
- Serve it as a dip with corn tortilla chips (or galletas saladas) on the side.
- Mix any leftovers with mashed potato and shape into Tuna Patties. You can then roll them in egg and breadcrumbs and fry them to make delicious fishcakes!
Nutrition
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