The 4-Ingredient Tuna Salad I Make at Least Once a Week
One of these days I'll get better at planning ahead for lunch, but until then there's this zero-effort tuna salad that I can whip up in five minutes.
My weekday lunchtime routine usually goes as follows: wait until I'm hangry, microwave the oldest leftovers in the fridge, and inhale the food like a ravenous badger. It's not a great system but it's my system.
However, there's at least one day a week when I'm foiled by a lack of leftovers. I'm not above eating something right out of a can or snacking on cheese and fruit and pretending it's a ploughman's lunch, but neither option is particularly satisfying. Usually, the lack of protein comes back to bite me around 4 p.m.
One day, driven by hunger and a craving for spicy tuna sushi rolls, I concocted a five-minute meal that turned out so well that I now make it at least once a week. I affectionately call it "spicy tuna cucumbers," but it's just a simple tuna salad stuffed inside a cucumber.
How To Make My 4-Ingredient Tuna Salad
Open a can of your favorite tuna and drain it. I always keep both water- and oil-packed tuna on hand, but I prefer this salad with water-packed because mayo adds all the richness it needs. Oil-packed tuna makes the salad a bit too greasy for my tastes.
Mix the tuna in a bowl with as much mayo as you like. I use Kewpie mayo, but I also recommend Hellman's or Duke's. Then mix in a spoonful—large or small, depending on your spice tolerance—of sriracha or chili garlic paste. Even your favorite hot sauce would be just fine. You want something to provide flavor and salt.
Then cut a Persian cucumber lengthwise in half and use the tip of a spoon to scoop out the seeds. Pile the tuna salad inside and sprinkle it with furikake. I go classic with nori komi furikake, but your favorite furikake is almost certain to be just as delicious. You could even crumble up some toasted nori and sprinkle that on top. Or just go with toasted sesame seeds if you don't have nori around.
Easy Tuna Salad Variations to Try
Sometimes when I'm extremely lazy, I won't even bother hollowing out the cucumber. Instead, I cut it into thick slices and just serve them alongside the tuna salad. The cucumber is key because it provides the crunch you'd normally get from dicing up a celery rib and mixing it into the salad. Come to think of it, you could serve this salad with celery sticks instead of cucumber if that's more your speed.
If you're concerned about the lack of measurements above, don't be! Measuring takes precious time and tuna salad is a very personal endeavor anyway—add more or less mayo, make it super spicy or very mild, go wild with the furikake or use restraint. You are the Bob Ross of tuna salad, so feel empowered to freewheel the measurements.
