Healthy Mediterranean Tuna Salad (No Mayo)
Mediterranean tuna salad (no mayo) is the perfect lunch or quick dinner recipe! Ready in just 5 minutes, this healthy tuna salad recipe has a bright lemon dressing and is packed with veggies. Serve on a sandwich, lettuce, in lettuce cups or with crackers for a filling, protein packed meal.
If you love tuna salad (without mayo), you should also try my Avocado Mexican Tuna or Creamy Dill Tuna Salad recipes!
Mediterranean Chopped Tuna Salad Highlights
- Versatile
- Healthy ingredients, no mayo
- Easy to make! Ready in just 5 minutes
- Great for make ahead for lunch
- Colorful and crunchy – no boring tuna here!
Ingredients
Salad
- Skipjack tuna
- Veggies: Bell peppers, red onion, cucumber, roasted red peppers
- Capers (or chopped kalamata olives) – for a briny, salty addition to the tuna salad, and I think they help make this salad extra-ordinary in flavor.
- Fresh flat leaf parsley – flat leaf parsley helps to add a fresh element to the salad and really helps to make the flavors fresh and bright. You could also use fresh mint, basil or fresh oregano (not as much oregano as parsley though as it’s overpowering)
Dressing for tuna salad:
- Lemon juice
- Olive oil
- Dijon mustard
- Spices: Herbs de Provence (or Italian seasoning), salt, garlic powder
How to make healthy tuna salad without mayo
Start by chopping all the veggies, making sure they are bite size pieces. For the fresh parsley, you will want to finely chop it so that it incorporates throughout the salad.
Drain the tuna and add it to a large bowl with the rest of the chopped vegetables
Next make the lemon herb dressing by adding everything to a mixing bowl and stirring with a fork or a whisk until well incorporated.
Pour The dressing over the tuna salad and stir well.
Other additions to Mediterranean tuna salad
- Cooked broccoli, asparagus or cauliflower, chopped into small pieces
- Artichokes (canned or jarred)
- Olives (kalamata would be amazing)
- Fresh mint, oregano or basil
- Hearts of palm
- Shredded carrots
- Sundried tomatoes
- Crushed red pepper flakes
- Lemon zest
How to serve tuna salad with vinaigrette
This healthy chopped Mediterranean salad does not have to just be eaten on a sandwich or on salad greens! Here are some fun ways to serve tuna salad that you may not have thought of:
– Stuffed in a bell pepper
– On crackers
– Stuffed in a cucumber boat
– On cucumber rounds
– On sweet potato toast or regular toast for tuna sandwiches
– Fill avocados
– Stuff in tomatoes
– Fill celery sticks
– In collard green wraps
– In lettuce cups
– In red cabbage leaf cups
Common questions
What is the best kind of tuna to use for tuna salad
I personally love tuna in olive oil (vs. tuna in water) but have also tested this with skipjack tuna in water and it’s fantastic! .
A note for buying tuna: I think it’s important to consider the fishing practices, to ensure that the fish were sustainably caught (this helps to ensure that overfishing won’t happen). Look for the words pole caught, line caught or troll caught on the can.
Can you make the dressing creamy
If you want the same traditional creamy consistency but don’t love mayo, you could add in about 2 tablespoons of greek yogurt, mashed avocado or even blended cottage cheese instead of mayo. Or you could use tahini in place of the olive oil + 1-2 tablespoons of water.
Can you make this no mayo tuna salad recipe in advance
Yes! It stores well in the fridge overnight and tastes even better the next day. Since the veggies can start to lose some of their shape, I don’t recommend making this more than 24 hours in advance if you are serving it to a crowd.
Storing leftovers
- Fridge: Store in the fridge in an airtight container for up to 3 days. The veggies may start to get soft at this point, but the flavor will still be delicious!
Substitutions
- Skipjack tuna: use canned salmon, canned chicken or even canned chickpeas (mash 1/2 the can for texture).
- Veggies: see the ideas above
- Fresh parsley: use fresh basil, fresh mint, fresh oregano or simply omit the fresh herbs and add some lemon zest and more dried herbs
- Lemon juice: use lime juice or 2-3 tablespoons of red wine vinegar or apple cider vinegar
If you love this recipe, you should try
Healthy Mediterranean Tuna Salad (No Mayo)
Guided Recipe Video
Ingredients
- 2 cans skipjack tuna
- 1/2 medium bell peppers
- 1/2 small red onion, chopped
- 1/2 cup cucumber, chopped
- 1 large roasted red pepper
- 2 tbsp capers, chopped
- 2 tbsp fresh flat leaf parsley, chopped
Lemon Herb Dressing
- 1 large lemon, juiced
- 2 tbsp dijon mustard
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tsp herbs de provence (or Italian seasoning)
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
Instructions
- In a large bowl combine the tuna with the rest of the chopped vegetables
Lemon Herb Dressing
- In a small mixing bowl, combine the lemon herb dressing ingredients and whisk with a fork or small whisk until combined.
- Pour the dressing over the tuna salad and stir well.
What is the serving size that pertains to the listed nutritional value? Love this recipe!!!
Thank you!
Hey Robin – just so you know the recipe always has the number of servings in the recipe card, then the listed nutrition facts are for one serving. For this recipe, it’s got 2 servings, so the nutrition facts are for 1 serving (or half). Hope that helps! Happy cooking! Sam
Just Prepped this tasteful salad. perfect for lunch or dinner….
Love hearing that you are enjoying this healthy tuna salad recipe Sally! It’s’ one of my favorites too! Thank you so much for coming back to leave a comment! Happy cooking – Sam
Love your recipe
What else could you use this dressing on?
Thank You
Hey Eileen! That’s a great question. This lemon dressing is pretty versatile. You could use it over salad greens or over chicken salad or even pasta salad!
Dressing taste fabulous. TKS for this recipe!
Made this today for lunch, and it was a such a nice change from standard tuna salad. I will be adding this to my lunch rotation. Yum!
This was so good! Used green olives instead of capers. Making it again today.
Yum that sounds delicious! Thank you for taking the time to leave a quick comment!
This is so good! I was searching for Greek style salads that are safe to have during pregnancy, as I’ve been craving something fresh, but can’t have feta cheese right now. I also sometimes struggle with tuna salads as they can be a bit too fishy. But this salad was not fishy at all, it has a wonderful fresh tangy flavour which is really well balanced, and the flavours all come together beautifully.
I used a large can of chunk style tuna in olive oil. I also didn’t have parsley so I used fresh mint. I also added olives as well.
I’ll definitely be making this salad regularly – it’s going to become one of my staples.
Thank you for such a lovely recipe!
I loved this the first time I made it. The 2nd time it was so salty I could barely eat it. Turns out the skipjack tuna includes sea salt. Way too salty especially with the added salt in the recipe and the lemon juice. ugh. Skipjack does have a no salt added tuna. you definitely need this.
Yummy! I substituted celery for the cucumber because I was out and thought it turned out great. I think it would taste good over some greens as well as on its own.
I will use Italian seasoning next time. Also, I will de-seed the cucumber. My salad was a little too wet otherwise.
Excellent and easy recipe
So easy, healthy and delicious. It’s a hit with the family—I make it once a week.
Do you think this recipe would be good for meal prep? Could it be stored for three days?
It could easily last 3 days without the cucumbers. Cucumbers tend to get watery over time.
I’ve never made tuna salad this way before–I loved all the add-ins. Delicious and easy. It was a hit with my family!
That was the best tuna salad I have ever had.
This looks fanstastic, it will be a great way to encourage my children to enjoy vegetables. Thanks so much for the yummy recipe Samantha!