Tuna Caesar Salad
Tuna caesar salad is such a satisfying and delicious meal that is so easy to make and perfect for lunch or dinner. This simple caesar tuna salad is budget friendly and packed with protein (thanks to the canned tuna). Made with croutons, caesar dressing (store-bought or homemade) and crisp, crunchy lettuce, this salad is such a fun twist on classic caesar salad.
If you love making salad at home, check out all my salad recipes, including Mediterranean Tuna Salad or Buffalo Chickpea Salad.
Creating flavorful meals that fit into a busy schedule is what I do best. When I owned my meal prep business, I helped women with hectic schedules enjoy satisfying, delicious meals without spending hours in the kitchen. The recipes I share are inspired by the dishes I loved making for them—quick, easy, and always full of flavor.
Recipe highlights
- Easy to make
- Ready in 10 Minutes (or less)
- Great for meal prep
- Budget friendly
- High protein
Ingredients
- Romaine lettuce – romaine is best but you could also try this with buttercrunch lettuce or even iceberg.
- Red onion – this is optional but I love the crunch and bite from the onion.
- Canned tuna – I recommend Skipjack tuna in olive oil for the best flavor and taste.
- Capers – capers are salty and briny (like olives) and add so much flavor to the salad. If you don’t have capers, you can use olives or simply omit them.
- Croutons – croutons are a non-negotiable for caesar salad. I make my own homemade gluten free croutons in the air fryer, but you can also use store bought.
- Caesar dressing – you can make your own caesar dressing or use my favorite cashew caesar dressing recipe.
How to make tuna caesar salad
Make the croutons: Cut up the bread into cubes, spray with olive oil and salt and cook in the air fryer at 360F for 6 minutes, shaking the basket 1-2 times.
Make the caesar dressing (skip if using store bought).
Prep the veggies: Tear or cut the lettuce into bite size pieces, thinly slice the red onion.
Assemble the salad: Add the lettuce to the bowl. Top with sliced red onion, capers, tuna, croutons and dressing. Toss well so that everything is well coated and enjoy.
Other additions
This is a pretty traditional Caser salad recipe. You can take it to the next level by adding one or more additional ingredients. Note you may need more dressing depending on how much more you add.
- White beans – add some cannellini beans, great northern white beans, chickpeas or butter beans
- Veggies: Add cucumber, tomato, radish, celery, carrots, avocado, green onions
- Cheese: Get that classic caesar salad flavor by adding some parmesan cheese
- Crunch – add some almonds, sunflower seeds, air fryer chickpeas
- Olives
- Hard boiled eggs
What to serve with caesar tuna salad
Soup – Serve this along side of your favorite soup for a soup and salad combo. My go to soup would be this Tomato Gnocchi Soup or Red Pepper and Lentil Soup
Fries – I love salad and fries, it’s the perfect combination!
Common questions
What is the best kind of tuna for salads
I really love Skipjack tuna for this tuna caesar salad recipe. Skipjack is budget friendly and I think it blends in the dressing very well, not overpowering in flavor.
- Skipjack tuna also has 3-4x less mercury than albacore, so if you are eating tuna often, this is certainly something to consider.
- Whatever kind of tuna you decide to get, try to buy pole caught, line caught or troll caught tuna (it will be advertised on the can) as this type of fishing is much more sustainable.
- Some of the brands of tuna I love are Trader Joe’s (super budget friendly), SafeCatch, Wild Planet, and Thrive Market brand.
What are good store bought caesar dressings
I usually make my own Caesar salad dressing because it’s very simple and I almost always have the ingredients on hand. However I do like the ingredients in (and the taste of) Primal Kitchen Caesar Dressing and SideDish Miso Caesar Dressing.
Is it better to cut or tear romaine lettuce for salad
Tearing lettuce helps to keep the texture, so if you are prepping your lettuce in advance, tear it instead of cutting it.
What if you don’t have croutons?
If you don’t have croutons on hand, I also love using roasted air fryer cubed potatoes or roasted air fryer sweet potato cubes in place of the croutons. Another great option would be to add some toasted pumpkin seeds or slivered almonds for some crunch.
Tuna Caesar Salad
Ingredients
- 2 large heads romaine lettuce
- 1/4 medium red onion, finely chopped
- 1/4 cup caesar dressing
- 2 cans solid tuna, in olive oil
- 2 tbsp capers
- 1/2 cup croutons
Instructions
- If you are making homemade croutons and homemade dressing, make them first.
- Tear or chop the lettuce, finely chop the red onions.
- Assemble the salad, add the lettuce, red onion, capers, tuna and croutons to the bowl. Add about 1/4 cup of dressing and toss the salad. Add more dressing as needed.
Notes
- Use canned tuna packed in olive oil for the best texture and flavor. Use a fork to scoop tuna out of the can to leave any extra oil behind.
- Make the caesar dressing a day or two in advance. It gets more flavorful as it sits in the fridge.
- No croutons on hand? Use crushed us crackers in place of the croutons or make your own croutons in the air fryer.
- Make this salad Whole30 friendly by replacing the croutons with roasted potatoes or roasted sweet potatoes and using a compliant dressing.
- Prep the individual components of the salad up to 3-4 days before enjoying.
- Wait to add the dressing and croutons right before serving for the best texture. Store the croutons in a separate bag and the dressing in a small container.
- Once you add dressing to the salad, the greens will start to wilt pretty quickly and the croutons will lose their crunch, so leftovers of this salad likely won’t keep more than an hour or two.
