Tuscan Tuna Salad | Protein-Packed + Meal Prep Friendly Salad Recipe!

You guys are gonna love this Tuscan tuna salad that is light and healthy and layered with fresh Italian flavor. It's also not your run-of-the-mill tuna salad, and let me tell you why. First, it's a no-mayo tuna salad, which many of you have asked for. And second, instead of being a creamy salad like the classic version, this is a chunky chopped version with even more fiber, thanks to the white beans and all of the extra veggies. Now, don't get me wrong, I do love a classic deli-style tuna salad, but I also love this Tuscan tuna salad that is just bright and fresh and perfect for meal prep. So let me show you how to make it. If you watched my earlier video for Mediterranean baked feta, you saw me pluck a bunch of olives out of their narrow jar with a fork, which wasn't so efficient. I had mentioned in that video that I wanted to grab one of those jars that you can flip, which strains the liquid from the olives so you can more easily get them out. And guess what I just bought? Now, I'm not one who buys a ton of kitchen gadgets, but I think this one is super useful because not only can you store olives in pickles, but you can store veggie sticks in water as well. And you guys have seen me do that before with carrots and celery. But going back to the olives, once you've got it filled up, just screw on the lid and flip it over to keep the olives preserved in their liquid brine. Then flip it back over to drain the brine into that little bulb end, which makes it super easy to grab however many olives you need. I've linked this awesome little tool in the description below, but for today, I need 10 olives for this Tuscan tuna salad. So I'll go ahead and pluck those out. You can slice or dice the olives really any which way you like, but I thought it was pretty and fun to slice them across so that they have that little donut shape. But you can just as easily dice them into little bits if you prefer. The next veggie is a cucumber, and you'll need half of an English cucumber today. And I'm just proud of myself that I bought a cucumber rather than a zucchini at the market, because if you follow my stories, you know how often I accidentally grab the wrong thing at the market. Slice the cucumber into rounds and then dice those rounds into small pieces. I'll usually stack a few rounds on top of each other, then slice them twice across and twice across again for perfectly bite-sized pieces. For a bright pop of purple color, you'll need about a quarter cup of finely chopped red onion, which, in my opinion, should be called a purple onion, because isn't it way more purple than it is red? Sometimes I really do wonder who names these things. Anyway, I'll just chop up half of the onion today and measure out the quarter cup I need, and then store the extra diced onion in a stasher bag for other recipes throughout the week. Now comes the bright red color, and that's thanks to a roasted red pepper. I had a jar of these already opened in my fridge from making my Greek scrambled eggs last week, and they add such wonderful roasted flavor to whatever you add them to. You'll need just one for this recipe, so small dice that up and then push it to the side for now. Next up are three sun-dried tomatoes, and I had this leftover jar in my fridge as well from making the Mediterranean baked feta. I feel like it might be helpful to give you guys recipe ideas for when you don't use up a whole jar of something in one recipe, like the sun-dried tomatoes. So I'll try to add that in the notes section of the recipe card on my website for the future, because as you can see, many of my recipes flow from one into the other based on what I have on hand. Now, in terms of fresh herbs, you can use a variety of tender herbs in this salad, but I'm gonna chop up about two tablespoons of fresh basil leaves and two tablespoons of fresh parsley. If you have a garden with fresh thyme or dill or mint, you could add those as well. I just recommend sticking to two of them so you don't go wild and crazy with different flavors. All right, it's time to get to the main ingredients for this salad, and they're the white beans and tuna fish. You can use soaked white beans or canned, it's up to you, as well as any variety, from navy beans to great northerns or cannellinis. I'm using one 15-ounce can of navy beans today, though I used great northerns the first time I tested this recipe. Navy beans are just a smidge smaller, and I also like that they held their shape together a bit better, at least when it comes to the canned versions. Give those a rinse until they're no longer all bubbly and foamy from the starch from the can, and then set those aside. For the tuna fish, I'm using albacore tuna, though again, any variety works. You'll need two cans, and I always get asked if I use tuna in water or oil. I actually buy wild planet tuna that isn't packed in either. It's not mushy tuna like some other cans. It's a whole tuna steak packed into a can, and that's it, no water or oil. The liquid in the can is just from the tuna itself, and there's not much of it, so I'll just drain that off. But you can see that this is one solid piece of tuna, which is great for a recipe like this, where you want more of a chunky texture rather than a creamy texture. So let's get to assembling this salad. Add the washed and drained white beans to a large mixing bowl along with the tuna fish. And to get it out of the cans, I'll just flake it out with a fork into larger chunks, and they'll break down a bit anyway as we go stirring it up. Then add the diced cucumber, the red onion, the roasted bell pepper, the olives, the sun-dried tomatoes, and for a little extra touch of brininess, which pairs so well with the tuna, I'm adding two tablespoons of drained capers. Add the chopped basil and parsley, and then in terms of a dressing, I'm keeping it super simple. I'll squeeze half of a fresh lemon into the bowl, which is about 1 1⁄2 tablespoons of lemon juice, and then add two tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil. Now, I will say that this is pretty light on the dressing, so if you'd like to add a little bit more of each, feel free to do so. You could also add a few tablespoons of my lemon vinaigrette recipe if you have that prepared. And to finish off this salad, add a sprinkle of salt and pepper. Give it all a stir in the bowl, making sure those vibrant colors are evenly dispersed, and then serve it up. Today, I'll transfer it to a proper serving bowl, and then sprinkle a little bit of feta on top for a finishing touch. For my dairy-free downshifters, you can simply leave the feta off and enjoy this salad without it, and I'm happy to report that it is equally delicious either way. This Tuscan tuna salad is such a tasty chopped salad, and I love that it's budget-friendly and easy to whip up on the fly with all of those pantry-friendly ingredients in jars and cans. There's also about 24 grams of protein per serving, thanks to the combination of tuna and white beans, plus loads of fiber, so this is one light and fresh salad that will definitely keep you full, which is perfect for summertime. Now, you know that left to my own devices, I would be eating this straight out of the mixing bowl, but when I've got a craving for something crunchy, I'll serve it up with some gluten-free crackers. I am always so hungry after filming, and it's perfect timing today because it's just a little bit after lunch to enjoy this light and fresh salad. Delicious. If you followed along on my stories when I used to eat my lunches out on my balcony patio, I would often make a classic tuna salad, just grab some crackers, whip it up really quickly, and that would be my lunch, and you can do the same thing with this. Now, when I was testing this salad, I almost put it on leafy greens or added some leafy greens into the mix, but I really wanted to give you guys another option for a meal prep salad that would last the majority of the week, and this is a great option. Now, if you do want to add some leafy greens, you could just get a bowl, put your favorite leafy greens. I would probably put baby spinach and then put a few spoonfuls of this on top, and voila, you've got a Tuscan tuna salad with some extra leafy greens. I will also add, because I know I got a comment on my Mediterranean baked feta recipe, what an alternative might be for the olives. For those of you that don't like olives or that extra briny flavor, which I didn't used to like, and now I do, but a great alternative would also be some artichoke hearts, so you could easily chop up some artichoke hearts and add that to the salad instead of the olives, and this recipe really is flexible, so if you want to use a different tinned fish, like tinned or canned salmon, you could use that as well, and after you've enjoyed your portion, if you do have leftovers, you can store those in a sealed container in the fridge for about three to four days. All right, I am going to finish my portion on my new outdoor patio, although it's not quite as furnished as my old one was, but it will get there in due time. I hope you guys enjoyed this video. If you did, make sure to give it a thumbs up. Leave a comment below on what other salads you are currently enjoying for summer, and I will see you in the next video.