This Deli Tuna Salad is an easy, and delicious 3-ingredient, dairy-free recipe just like the one served in Jewish New York Delis!
Deli Tuna salad is great anytime for a light, quick, and easy-to-make meal. Eat it alone on a plate, in a sandwich, or with a leafy salad. It’s also inexpensive, so save your lunch money for something else!
Like deli salads? Try these:
- Deli Style Egg Salad
- Deli Tuna and Egg Salad
- Sweet Deli Coleslaw
- Israeli Red Cabbage Salad
- Olivier Salad
- Broccoli Salad
- Basic Potato Salad
General information regarding cooking:
The following information may not particularly pertain to this recipe but rather answers general useful questions related to cooking.
What are the different oils used in cooking?
“High-heat” oils have neutral flavors and have been processed in order to handle high temperatures and are good for sautéing, searing, and frying. These include canola oil, vegetable oil, avocado oil, and grapeseed oil, each with its own “best for” with chefs.
Some oils have their own flavor and are good for sautéing and roasting and add a little extra to the dish. These include extra virgin olive oil, coconut oil, and peanut oil. Extra virgin olive oil works well with roasting or sautéing, but not for deep frying.
Coconut oil is good in dishes where a slightly coconut flavor enhances the dish, and peanut oil is good for deep frying and will add a subtle nutty taste and smell. Many Asian dishes call for peanut oil in the ingredients.
Then there are oils that are not used with heat but rather for dressing up foods, such as sesame oil, flaxseed oil, and walnut oil, among others.
What does it mean when recipes say “to taste” about an ingredient?
When recipes say “to taste,” it means that you can put in as little or as much as you like to your own taste. Some recipes have many ingredients that a cook can adjust to their own taste when cooking (not so much when baking though).
The best way to calculate what your taste is with a recipe that you are not yet familiar with is to first taste the dish and then add the “to taste” ingredient GRADUALLY, a little at a time—a splash of this or a pinch of that—until the dish is just the way you like it. Make sure to stir the ingredient after each time you add it so that the flavor will distribute evenly and become part of the dish. Then taste again. Repeat until you reach your personal preference.
Note: If you plan on using the recipe again, it is highly recommended to make a note of what and how much you added so that you can refer to it next time.
What does it mean when a recipe says that an ingredient is “optional”?
If an ingredient is “optional,” it means that you can add it in or not based on your own preference. An optional ingredient can be flavor related (i.e., salty, sweet, spicy, etc.), appearance related (garnish), or even something like nuts or chocolate chips in baking.
What does “savory” mean?
“Savory” refers to foods that are not sweet, such as foods that taste salty, spicy, or herbal.
What cooking measurement expressions mean:
Drop – ¹/₆₄ teaspoon (or less—it’s however a literal drop comes out)
Smidgen – ¹/₃₂ teaspoon
Pinch – ¹⁄₁₆ teaspoon (what you can grab between your finger and thumb)
Dash – ⅛ teaspoon (what comes out when you shake out of a shaker or bottle)
Tad – ¼ teaspoon
Dollop—a glob on a spoon (like with mayonnaise or ice cream)
Scant—a scant cup is almost a cup, just below the line.
Heaping—above the line of the spoon (teaspoon, tablespoon)*
Some useful cooking terms:
Sauté: Cooking quickly in a small amount of oil or fat in a frying pan on a relatively high heat that causes a slight browning of the food on the outside.
Sear: Browning the outside of meat at a high temperature.
Sweat: Cooking vegetables (often onions) in a little oil or fat on a low heat until they become soft and translucent (no browning).
Simmer: Heating liquid to just below the boiling point (has slow bubbles).
Boil: Cooking food submerged in water hot enough to have rapid, rolling bubbles.
Poach: Cooking in a liquid, or partially submerged, on low heat.
Roast: Cooking with consistent dry heat in an enclosed space, over 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
Bake: Cooking with dry heat in an enclosed space, under 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
Broil: Cooking with intense heat from above.
Grill: Cooking with heat from below, typically over a flame or coals.
Braise: Cooking already-seared meat in a small amount of liquid in a covered pot.
Blanch: Quickly submerging food into boiling water and then immediately into ice water to stop the cooking.
Steam: Cooking with vapor from hot simmering water from below.
Shred: Creating long, thin strips (not necessarily uniform) of vegetables, like in coleslaw.
Grate: Scraping food against a surface with rough, tiny holes that break it down into very small, fine pieces.
Zest: The scrapings of the colorful outer skin of a citrus fruit.
Mince: Cutting into the smallest pieces possible.
Dice: Cutting into small cubes.
Chop: Cutting into small (bite-size) pieces.
Julienne: Cutting into long, thin strips (like matchsticks).
Glaze: a thin liquid with high-sugar or high-fat coating applied to food or baked goods that gives a shiny look and adds flavor.
Fold in: To gently combine a light ingredient into a heavier one.
Al dente: Cooking rice or pasta to the point before it gets soft (is slightly firm).
Emulsify: Forcing two liquids together that don’t normally combine (like oil and vinegar) into a smooth sauce or dressing.
Deglaze: Adding a liquid to a hot pan after searing meat to loosen the browned bits (called fond) that got stuck.
Slurry: A mixture of liquid and dry starch, such as cornstarch or potato starch, into a paste that is used to thicken sauces and soups. One can use flour to make a slurry as well.
Roux: (pronounced “roo”) is acooked mixture of fat and flour.
My Easy Deli Tuna Salad story
My kids always liked the simple tuna salad that was sold in the New York bagel shops and delis. It was expensive, though, and I had no idea how to make it. One day, deciding I had nothing to lose, I contacted one of the shops (the one that catered the plain variety to my sons’ school) and asked.
“It’s tuna and mayo,” the guy told me.
“No, really. What else?”
“That’s it. Tuna and mayo.”
That’s how I made mine. Tuna and mayo. Maybe he used a different mayo than I did (Best Foods/Hellman’s)? I was at a loss and gave up.
One day, my youngest son (who was 15 at the time) decided he wanted a tuna sandwich like he got at the bagel store, and that was that. Instead of coming to me to ask, he went to my daughter, Elissa (our family foodie).
Together, they figured out how to make it perfectly. Then they even added those little pieces of diced celery!
Mystery solved!
The difference, it turned out, was that while I used the same ingredients, I left the tuna in small chunks, while the tuna that is made in the stores is mashed very, very small (maybe even put in a blender). Oh, and I used less mayo too.
Tuna on a bagel immediately became my son’s favorite meal, and at first he literally made it every…single…day. Figuring it was easier to make a large batch to last several days, he began doing this. We even bought him those Costco-sized cans of tuna.
After a short while, he noticed that the quantities he was preparing were being suspiciously depleted by a lot more than he was using, and the tuna was not lasting nearly as long as it should have. Someone was eating his tuna, so he went on a mission to find the culprit.
When the search was over, he announced (with quite a bit of pride, I might add) that the culprit was… everyone!
Considering my lack of patience with cooking and, often, my lack of time, I love simple recipes like this one. It is quick and easy to make. It’s a great light meal for kids and adults alike. It takes little effort, and everyone loves it.
It can be eaten as a snack, as a side, or in a sandwich. It’s terrific on rye bread, white bread, in a roll, in a pita, in a bagel…you name it.
Variations
While I like to keep it basic and simple, there are several additional diced vegetables that can be added to the Easy Deli Tuna Salad.
These include onions (red or yellow), pickles, relish, peppers (any), eggs,….
Some people spice up their tuna salad with salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, etc. or add lemon juice, mustard, or minced garlic for flavoring. All to taste.
And tuna has health benefits as well!
Deli Tuna Salad
Delicious and easy, 3-ingredient New York deli-style tuna salad.
Ingredients
- 10 ounces (2 5-ounce cans) tuna in water, drained well
- 1/2 cup mayonnaise (for less calories, use less mayonnaise or low fat mayonnaise)*
- 1 celery stick, diced very small
Instructions
- Put tuna in blender or food processor or mash very well with a fork.
- Place in a bowl, combine well with mayonnaise and celery.
Notes
*The best mayonnaise to use is Best Foods or Hellman's (they are the same, just with different names depending on where you live in the US).
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
2Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 377Total Fat: 41gSaturated Fat: 6gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 34gCholesterol: 23mgSodium: 413mgCarbohydrates: 1gFiber: 0gSugar: 1gProtein: 1g