Every now and again I get a pretty strong craving for canned tuna, but there are two problems with that: 1) canned tuna has gotten quite expensive and 2) All that mayo can be pretty dangerous. So, I came up with this easy little Tuna and White Bean Salad to solve both of those problems.
What’s in Tuna and White Bean Salad
White beans (navy or great northern) are pretty neutral in flavor and the texture goes quite well with tuna, so they’re a really great way to bulk out tuna salad for cheap. Instead of using mayo to keep the salad moist and flavorful, I made a light and bright mix of lemon juice and olive oil. Green onions, freshly cracked pepper, and a little salt are all you need to make the flavors pop. This salad is simple, flavorful, filling, and can be eaten on crackers, in a pita, or just plain with a fork. It’s a great way to pack in that protein!
What Else Can I Add?
If you happen to have lemon pepper seasoning on hand, you can sprinkle that into the salad for a little extra pop or in place of the lemon juice and freshly cracked pepper. It will give the same great flavor with one little shake of the bottle! A chopped up hard boiled egg would also be an excellent and inexpensive way to bulk up this salad.
Tuna & White Bean Salad
Servings 3Ingredients
- 1 15 oz. can white beans ($0.86)
- 1 5 oz. can chunk light tuna in water ($0.89)
- 2 whole green onions ($0.19)
- 1 Tbsp lemon juice ($0.06)
- 1 Tbsp olive oil ($0.16)
- salt & pepper to taste ($0.05)
Instructions
- Pour the can of beans into a colander and rinse with cool water. Allow the excess water to drain off. Drain the can of tuna. Combine the drained beans and tuna in a bowl. Thinly slice the green onions and add to the bowl as well.
- Add the olive oil and lemon juice to the bowl, along with a light sprinkle of salt and freshly ground black pepper. Stir to combine.
- Taste the mixture and add salt, pepper, or lemon juice to your liking.
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Nutrition
How to Make Tuna and White Bean Salad – Step By Step Photos
Drain and rinse the white beans. Drain the tuna and thinly slice the green onions. Combine all three in a bowl.
Add the olive oil, lemon juice, a light sprinkle of salt, and some freshly ground black pepper. I like pepper a lot, so I added probably about 20 cranks of the pepper mill.
Stir everything together and then adjust the seasoning to your liking. You can see how the tuna and beans were kind of falling apart, which makes it not so pretty. Higher quality beans will stay intact and higher quality tuna will be more chunky than mushy. But it tasted great all the same!
nice
Shannon – I love you right now! That looks like the best salad I’ve ever seen! I can’t wait to make my own version! :D
Thank you for posting this, Beth! I think I’m going to try this with the suggestions from purrlgurrl. I have some leftover white wine vinegar that I’ve been wondering what to do with, so this is perfect! Beth, here’s another bean salad recipe that you might be interested in. It’a a black eyed pea salad with sriracha vinaigrette…very yummy: http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/recipes/3172
Had it for lunch/added diced celery, more onions (next time I will use red onion fine dice) and a little more olive oil and lemon juice. LOVE IT!! Thank you for another superb recipe.
LOVE this no mayo tuna salad version. I don’t care for raw onions of any variety, so subbed finely diced celery for a bit of crunch–would have used fresh radishes for a sharper taste had I any in my fridge–no added salt because canned beans are loaded and we are trying hard to reset our tastes to the new guidelines of only 1500 mg of sodium per day. Thanks for another taste and budget winner!
Didn’t miss the mayo at all with this. Made 2 very tasty quesadillas (thinking one wouldn’t be enough) and was so full! This is now my new favorite super-quickie meal. Thanks, Beth! :)
So yummy looking!
wow! this recipe looks delicious! i am so glad to have found you…our websites are very common. i look forward to more of your recipes. :)
You used the cheapest products for your ingredients and yet the pictures of your creation look beautiful…
Funnily, I’ve found that store-brand or generic-brand tuna is often higher-quality in terms of chunk size than the brand-name tuna (Chicken of the Sea, Starkist.) So maybe do a little comparison shopping at your local grocery store before you decide to get the stuff in vacuum packs. :)
Purrlgurrl – Love it! That version sounds even easier and tastier!
Been doing this for years (learned from Mom) using canellini beans, white wine vinegar, olive oil packed tuna (no extra oil needed and, sorry, it really tastes soooooo much better than water packed, which is sawdust in a can), diced red onion, salt and pepper, and fresh thyme leaves to taste.
This looks awesome! And it makes me (a known mayo-hater) very happy to have something healthier to substitute with!
This looks incredible. I think I may add in a tiny bit of relish and spicy brown mustard, because both my husband and I are mustard fiends. I never ever thought to make a tuna salad with beans! What a delicious way to add a bit more protein and a bunch of fiber. Beth, you’re a genius.
Tuna and bean sounds like such a perfect Mediterranean salad. :) I also must tell you that I now really, really want a box of Trscuits!