This easy Healthy Tuna Salad with Wasabi is filled ready in minutes, and packed with flavor. This salad is perfect all by itself, piled into sandwiches, or scooped onto crackers.
I’ve got a story– a tuna story.
Are you ready?
It’s exciting!
It has problem solving, excitement, and there’s even a lesson learned.
Last summer, the husband and I went on a hiking, camping, glamping, road trip ‘experience.’
Before we left, I started planning, and I had a problem.
A food problem, to be precise.
What, exactly, does one eat when you’re in a car, with no refrigeration or cooler, no microwave, no stovetop.
If peanut butter pops into your head– I agree– but not for three weeks!
My solution was tuna. Actually, it was this healthy tuna salad with wasabi.
Of course, I realized that I wouldn’t want to eat tuna every day, but unfortunately I underestimated how quickly I would get tired of BOTH tuna and peanut butter.
That’s why you’re reading this recipe in March, over seven months after my trip ended.
This salad is perfect for lunch.
It’s flavorful, easy, and delicious, but I don’t recommend trying to eat it on a daily basis for three weeks.
In fact, you really shouldn’t eat tuna every day anyway.
Lesson learned.
Want more canned fish tips? Check out this Ultimate Guide to Canned Fish.
Making Healthy Tuna Salad
To make this healthy tuna salad, you need canned tuna, wasabi (or you can use horseradish and mustard seeds), olive oil, water chestnuts (or bamboo shoots), ginger paste, crushed red pepper, and capers.
The olive oil is going to bind this healthy tuna salad together.
Since everyone seems to have their own opinions about how dry or wet they prefer their salad, use my measurement as a starting point and add more if needed.
I’m a fan of dryer salad, for the record.
The water chestnuts or bamboo shoots will give your tuna a little crunch, and can usually be found canned in the Asian food aisles at supermarkets.
The wasabi should be in the Asian food aisle too. You can find it powdered or in a squeeze bottle.
Ginger paste in refrigerated tubes is usually available near the herbs in the produce aisle, or jarred near other condiments.
The capers will give a little zest to your salad, so don’t forget them! If you don’t normally buy capers, they’re typically near the jarred olives.
To assemble your healthy tuna salad, simply mix all your ingredients together!
Eat this on its own, as a sandwich, or with crackers, and enjoy!
We’re planning another road trip for 2017, and since I won’t be eating tuna every day, I’m still looking for lunch ideas!
What’s your favorite road trip food?
Healthy Tuna Salad
No
1-2 Days
Ingredients
- 1 5oz can chunk light tuna (in water), drained* (See Recipe Notes)
- ~2 TB olive oil, depending on desired consistency (See Recipe Notes)
- 1/8 cup water chestnuts, diced OR bamboo shoots, diced
- 1/8 cup capers
- 2 tsp ginger paste
- 1 tsp wasabi OR 1 tsp horseradish and 1/2 tsp crushed mustard seeds
- 1/4 tsp crushed red pepper
- To serve (optional): bread, crackers
Instructions
- Combine tuna, oil, water chestnuts, and capers. Add wasabi, ginger, and red pepper to taste, adding more or less according to desired level of spiciness.
- Serve with salad alone, with bread, or with crackers.
- Leftovers / Make Ahead:This tuna salad will keep in the fridge for 1-2 days.
Notes
- If you prefer tuna packed in olive oil, simply reduce (or eliminate) the additional olive oil in this recipe.
- If you have chili-infused olive oil, this would be a great chance to use it! Simply substitute it for the olive oil and omit the crushed red pepper.
I would probably get tired of eating the same thing after 3 weeks no matter what it was. I bet these flavors would be good on other things as well. Maybe you could switch it up with chickpeas 🙂
Ooo that’s an AWESOME idea!!! I’m gonna do that! Thanks Stephanie!
Mmmmm I love capers in my tuna salad – that’s why I get the big jar from Costco, lol. I’ve never tried wasabi!
I’m a fan of a dryer tuna salad, myself, although olive oil is wayyyy better than mayo if you end up going overboard IMO.
I get the wide mouth jars of capers at Trader Joe’s! I hate trying to get enough out of those tiny bottles lol
Wasabi with tuna and everything in a dip!!! Its perfect for party and get together.
Haha I hear ya…when I’m sick of a food, I feel like it takes me years to desire it again! However, this tuna salad sounds absolutely amazing!! What an awesome recipe, Sarah!
Yum! And I love that this is a quick and easy recipe!
I needed a change up from my normal tuna salad so I’m loving this! It has a crunchy item, a salty pickled item, fat, and spice-basically perfect but all components I’ve never tried before. I totally understand how you got burned out though. I’ve had a lot of luck with quinoa salads on car trips. They’re filling and don’t usually need to be refrigerated.
Oh that’s a great idea!!! Thanks!!
Sometimes I love a food so much and eat a lot of it and then get so tired of it too. Happened a while back with my weekday breakfasts. I would grab a crunchy granola bar, piece of cheese and coffee and way to go. I got so tired of it and had to take a break and started mixing it up with smoothies. I do enjoy tuna salad too and, like you, prefer more on the dry side than too wet. Love this version you have in there. When I mix up a regular ol’ tuna salad I usually add celery and pickle for crunch. The water chestnuts and capers are such a great idea! Love the flavours in this one and definitely trying soon. I know hubby would really like too! As for road trip food? Haven’t been on one in a while, but fruit always works and I love nuts!
I bet my husband would love this tuna salad! He is a big fan of wasabi anything!
The combination of all these flavors must be heavenly! I am not a big tuna or wasabi fan but my husband who spent a few years living in Asia loves these flavors. I may have to surprise him with this recipe!
To be clear — I don’t want to eat the same “anything” for three weeks, but every once in a while I like a good tuna salad. I like how you’ve blended the crunch of water chestnuts (which I equate to a more asian flavor) with capers (French/Mediterranean) and wasabi and ginger (asian heat). It’s such an unusual blend, but when you put it all together its a melody!
3 weeks in a car in the summer with no refrigerator makes things interesting right!? Lol
I really love tuna but I get sick of my usual tuna salad with mayo, celery and relish. This looks like a fantastic alternative. I especially love the kick the wasabi must bring. I’ll definitely be trying this as a quick and tasty lunch to bring to work!
What an awesome recipe. I imagine your glamping trip would have been considerably less glam had you tried to bring ahi tuna steaks instead of canned tuna. Hoo. I’ve always been more into the fresh tuna than the canned stuff myself, but I think I can chalk a lot of that up to childhood dislikes and biases. I’ve seen some absolutely amazing canned tuna coming out on the market lately, made with really wonderful fish, and it makes something like this recipe seem all the more tempting. I think the kick from the wasabi or horseradish sounds like the perfect way to add some life to a tuna salad too. Given that my horseradish plant is quickly taking over my entire garden, I might need to have some recipes like this in the bank…. 😀
I love a good tuna salad, and your flavors in this sound so intriguing! In all honesty, the wasabi scares me a bit, but I could definitely do the horseradish! I love the idea of the crunch of the water chestnuts and capers! Where/what brand capers do you get? I can’t seem to find a brand I really like!
I usually get mine at Trader Joe’s! I like that the bottle opening is wider!
I have been on a diet and eating lots of tuna! WAY TOO MUCH TUNA. Now I realize I need to make a flavorful tuna so I don’t get sick of the boring tuna Ive been making. I cant wait to try this out…. and the fact that I have everything (even the wasabi!) to make it in my house is a sign right? A sign of good things to come!
That would be a big conundrum! Three weeks is a long time! But I really do see how amazing this recipe is and how easy it could be to travel with. I love the combination of flavors and hubby would love the fact that he could scoop it up and devour it with chips or crackers! I’ll be making this recipe soon for sure!
Really love the full flavors in this tuna salad. I find myself way too often making the “same old” salad and I get so bored with it! Love the idea of using a chili-infused olive oil in it, too. What a bold and healthy lunch idea. (PS – I tip my hat to you for your creative handling of three weeks without a refrigerator! 🙂 Road trips are such a fun experience, though. Have fun planning your next!)
Aw thanks! It was an interesting 3 weeks for sure!!! Lol
Oh yum, this sounds like it might move towards satisfying my sushi craving (I have been seriously craving it for the entire 8 months of this pregnancy), I will be having this for lunch tomorrow! What a clever road trip food idea!! We have a road trip coming up in a couple of months, and I have been compiling ideas – this will be making it onto the list 🙂
Aw you’re almost there! Congrats!!
Hi Sarah, I have to tell you our family always went on road trips to the mountain regions of B.C. On these trips my parents would pack fruit, bread and yes TUNA. I loved it, am a big fan of tuna. I like what you did with this tuna, the combinations of capers, water chestnuts and wasabi makes for a very interestin texture and flavor, well done!
It is delicious! I used wasabi powder and Wild Selections canned tuna.