16 Healthy Lunch Ideas That Start with a Can of Tuna
Whether it's a 10-minute tuna salad sandwich or a make-ahead kale salad slathered with delicious dressing, these lunch ideas put canned tuna to delicious use. Tuna is a good source of lean protein, omega-3 fatty acids and selenium, and it's an affordable, shelf-stable ingredient you can always have on hand. Use the can in your pantry to make something truly tasty, like our Avocado Tuna Spinach Salad or Tuna Melts with Roasted Bell Peppers for a healthy lunch that bears repeating.
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Mediterranean Tuna-Spinach Salad
This tuna salad recipe gets an upgrade with olives, feta and a tahini dressing. Served over baby spinach, this is the perfect easy and light lunch or dinner salad.
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Mason Jar Power Salad with Chickpeas & Tuna
This power salad will keep you fueled for hours, thanks to 26 grams of protein and 8 grams of fiber. Tossing the dressing and kale, and then letting it stand in the jar, softens it enough so you don't need to massage or cook it to make it tender.
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Mediterranean Pasta Salad
You might not think to use hummus as a pasta sauce, but the creamy dip makes the perfect backdrop to the bold flavors of this healthy Mediterranean-inspired pasta salad.
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Tuna & White Bean Salad
The time-honored Italian pairing of canned tuna and cannellini beans makes a super-simple, satisfying lunch. Serve over salad greens, on grilled whole-wheat country bread or tucked in a whole-wheat pita pocket.
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Tuna Melts with Roasted Bell Peppers
Making your own roasted red peppers is so simple, plus it cuts down on the sodium compared to jarred peppers—giving you more room to add other flavorful ingredients, like mustard, without making the dish too salty.
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Avocado Tuna Spinach Salad
Avocado adds creaminess while sunflower seeds provide texture and crunch in this easy tuna-spinach salad.
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Chickpea Tuna Salad
This chickpea tuna salad with capers, feta and cucumber makes for the perfect lunch to pack for work or school. You can prep the salad the night before (just be sure to keep the spinach separate and dress the salad right before serving).
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Tuna Salad with Egg
This simple tuna salad with egg has a clean and balanced flavor. The capers and lemon bring acidity to help everything come together and chopped arugula adds a peppery kick. Enjoy it with greens or on a slice of your favorite whole-grain bread.
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Avocado Tuna Salad
Jazz up a can of tuna with this easy avocado tuna salad recipe. Silky avocado adds creaminess that's cut with a hit of acidity from lemon and a briny punch from feta cheese. Romaine hearts and cucumber offer refreshing crunch.
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10-Minute Tuna Melt
This variation of a classic sandwich uses mayonnaise, but not where you think! Mayo is brushed on the outside of the sandwich in place of butter to make the sandwich golden and crispy as it heats in a skillet. Plain Greek yogurt takes mayo's place in the salad—along with crunchy celery, roasted red bell peppers and scallions—for a satisfying lunch with less saturated fat.
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Classic Niçoise Salad
This colorful platter salad with origins in the south of France makes a well-balanced and satisfying hot-weather meal. Coating the potatoes in dressing while they are still hot helps them absorb the flavors.
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Whole-Wheat Orzo & Tuna Salad with Broccoli
This pasta- and tuna-salad mashup gets a boost of color and texture from broccoli. Plenty of Kalamata olives add a briny bite. Be sure to monitor the pasta-cooking carefully, as orzo can go from al dente to mush in a minute. If in doubt, drain it a little early--it'll soften further in the lemon dressing.
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Catchall Lunch Salad
This easy salad is great for using up any small amounts of leftover canned foods and produce you have on hand.
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Tuna Macaroni Salad
This simple tuna and macaroni salad is easy to pack and enjoy for work or school. The celery and bell pepper add a refreshing crisp crunch while the dressing, packed with flavor from dill, Dijon and lemon juice, complements the tuna.
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Farfalle with Tuna, Lemon, and Fennel
This warm, flaked tuna and lemon pasta recipe is ready in 30 minutes.
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Tuna, White Bean & Dill Salad
Take canned tuna to new heights by adding cannellini beans, red onion and dill, tossing it in a lemon-pepper-Dijon dressing and serving it over a spinach salad with canned beets.