Want your tuna salad to turn some heads? Martha Stewart has a super-surprising recipe! Here's
the unexpected ingredient she adds to her tuna salad.
If you like to keep your pantry well-stocked, there's a good chance that you've got a can or
two of tuna sitting on the shelf. Wondering what exactly to do with that tuna before it goes bad?
Jazz things up with an ingredient swap that will upgrade your canned tuna,
or stick to the classics and whip up an easy tuna salad sandwich for lunch.
"What are you staring at? It's tuna fish and nothing else."
But if you're tired of your usual tuna salad, you can also put a twist on this
tried-and-true recipe. Martha Stewart has a recipe for a tuna salad sandwich,
and while it uses the usual ingredients like tuna, mayo, and celery, there are a couple of
extra items that might surprise you. Stewart's recipe for tuna salad includes one chopped apple
and some freshly chopped basil leaves. It's typical to find apples in a chicken salad recipe,
so we're willing to give it a shot with tuna salad along with some basil.
While these ingredients may surprise you, the end result may be delicious.
"Have you had tuna fish salad with apple?" "No." "No?"
While tuna salad doesn't usually have apples or basil leaves,
fans of Martha Stewart aren't expecting her recipes to have clashing flavors.
So does this flavor combination work? Based on the reviews of Stewart's tuna salad,
apple and basil do pair with the fish. For The Kitchn, Sara Tane made and reviewed the
tuna salad, and the verdict was that the texture added by the apples was a big plus. Tane said the
apple also added sweetness while the basil brought some freshness to the tuna salad.
On Stewart's website, there are a few written reviews of this tuna salad for
her tuna salad sandwich recipe. Overall, this recipe has three out of five stars,
but there's high praise from those who really enjoyed the salad. One person wrote,
"I have made this recipe over a dozen times. [...] Every single item in this recipe is NECESSARY.
Do not alter it — seriously. Fresh basil is an absolute must."
While it doesn't come as a surprise that chefs have their own spin on tuna salad and create
their own recipes, plenty of home cooks also have go-to ingredients on this classic dish.
One Redditor, whose account has since been deleted, posted a question
"What are some creative ways to jazz up tuna salad?" on the "Cooking" subreddit.
No matter what your favorite flavors are, there's a chance someone has tried to pack that into
a tuna salad. For a bit of spice and crunch, one person suggested swapping out celery for radishes.
Other ingredients included hot sauce, capers, and sauerkraut.
Out of tuna and still looking for a way to beef up your dish? A commenter recommended,
"I love adding imitation crab
(shredded to a similar texture to the tuna) to my tuna salad mix."
For people who enjoy shellfish, this might be the perfect tuna salad for you.
If none of these tuna salad recipes sound appealing, you might still be at a loss for
what to do with those cans of tuna sitting in the back of the cabinet. Another simple and common
recipe for canned tuna is tuna casserole. Martha Stewart even has a recipe for tuna
casserole on her website with a few extra ingredients to make it Mediterranean-style.
Besides the usual ingredients, Stewart adds artichokes and red peppers to her dish. The
recipe also suggests using tuna that is in olive oil. For tuna salad, we also think
it's important to use tuna that's packed in oil because it'll add more moisture to the salad.
Tuna packed in water can lead to a dry tuna salad. Stewart also offers tuna and farfalle
puttanesca recipe that includes plenty of other flavors including herbs, tomatoes, and olives.
Before you dig into all these recipes, double check your cans of tuna. Make sure they haven't
been in the kitchen for too long! You should consider how long canned tuna actually lasts,
and if you've been storing canned tuna correctly, both before and after opening up a tin.