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!
Yum! I made this with good tuna (Chicken of the Sea’s Tonno in olive oil) and Great Northern beans. The tuna is definitely NOT budget, at over 2 dollars a can, but it held together beautifully. So simple and delicious, and perfect for July! I’m serving it on a bed of baby spinach, with some feta and cucumber.
Loved this! We added feta cheese, because we had some, and it was great! Great for a hot summer night.
So happy!
My suddenly picky child ate it up quite happily (well, after I persuaded him to just Try A Bite).
I was out of green onions, so I added a bit of garlic powder and dill (for color) instead. Then, I served it with spinach and kale chips and it was so yummy!
Next time, I think I will try blending up half the beans, for more of a dip texture. I’m so excited about the possibilities! :)
Hi Beth! I have been a fan for a while now and have made many of your recipes. But i think this is my first time commenting. I loved this recipe, simple and quick when you are hungry and have not many options in the fridge :) I only switched the type of bean because I didnt have the white bean but it was delicious no matter what.
Thank you
Hi, do you think it’s okay to make this the day before?
thanks!
Yes, I enjoyed this quite a bit after it refrigerated.
So simple! So yummy! Good to keep a batch in the fridge for when you just need a bite of something to tide you over. Thanks!
I saw this on Pinterest. It’s a great recipe! I subbed blue cheese dressing for the lemon juice and added dried cranberries and extra green onions.
Delicious!
This would be great in a wrap I am going to add it to our meal plan for the upcoming week. It’s budget friendly, too!
Ok, making this for the 2nd time already… this is a perfect HIGH PROTEIN post workout lunch. Just wanted to say that. :)
Was looking for really quick and healthy dinner recipes since I usually come home late and this is one of the really wonderful and easy recipes I’ve come across. Time and money saver! But tastes great nonetheless.
Made this with dried beans. Fantastic! Will keep as a regular in my rotation.
I thought this was bland because it lacked color. Well, it tasted really great.
I just made this because I happened to have everything on hand (minus the lemon) and it was fantastic! I didn’t even have enough green onion according to the recipe, so I’ll definitely try it again with the lemon juice and more onion…still awesome, and so fresh without the mayo :) Thanks, Beth!
So simple and so fast. Really delicious!! I did accidentally eat the entire recipe in one sitting though :)
This was great! I was out of green onion, so I added some onion powder. I had some leftover cilantro, so I threw it in there for color and brightness and it was incredible. I threw mine into a whole grain wrap with some fresh spinach and sliced tomatoes – good stuff. Thanks for sharing!