Ever since I was a child, I’ve loved tuna salad! My mom used to always make tuna sandwiches to put in my lunch or would serve tuna salad with crackers as a snack. Yum! As I got older and started eating out on my own at those deliciously cute little bakeries, I noticed the ridiculously high calorie count in tuna salad. I’m talking 600-900 calories. At least. For ONE SANDWICH?!?! Uhhh no thanks.
Because of this, I would (and still do) avoid tuna sandwiches at those cute little bakeries like the plague! But I just couldn’t say goodbye to my beloved tuna salad forever, so I figured out how to make a tuna salad of my own. A tuna salad that is healthy and tastes just as good at the unhealthy kind, with 198 calories to be exact! So, attention all cute little bakeries with un-healthy tuna salad, serve this recipe and I’ll start eating your tuna salad again!
How do I make my tuna salad healthy you ask? Well, let’s start with what makes tuna salad so unhealthy in the first place. There’s one word for it, and that word is mayonnaise. And lots of it. In my recipe, I’ll admit that I do use a mere 2 teaspoons of mayonnaise…but that’s much healthier for you than 2 cups of it!
To make this Healthy Tuna Salad Recipe, I used plain nonfat greek yogurt in lieu of mayo, added lots of fruit (apples and grapes), nuts (chopped walnuts), veggies (celery and white onion shreds), and a hard boiled egg for extra protein. These additions give the tuna salad a great texture and make it more filing for you! I spiced it up with sweet relish, spicy dijon mustard, and even added some sriracha to give it a little extra kick! If spicier foods aren’t your cup of tea- opt out of using the sriracha!
Now back to those cute little bakeries. I just love how “cute” everything is! If you don’t know what I’m talking about, next time you go into one of these places look around at the pictures decorating the walls, the table linens, the plates, the menus, and the cute little old ladies brunching together in the corner. All of these elements really contribute to the overall atmosphere. In an attempt to recreate this atmosphere at home, I decided to serve my tuna salad in tomato cups!
Creating these tomato cups is very simple to do! To learn how, simply follow the step by step directions below:
1. Cut off the top of the tomato near the stem. Remove the stem and set aside. (This will be used as your lid later on.)
2. Use a knife to “trace” around the edges of the tomato as if you are trying to separate the “core” of the tomato from the “wall”. Be careful not to cut all the way through the skin! You want your tomato to hold the tuna salad- not leak everywhere!
3. Using a large spoon, gently scoop out the insides of the tomato. Re-trace the path you carved out with your knife to continue separating the tomato “core” from the “walls”. Don’t be afraid to use a little force if you get stuck! Continue tracing the path with the spoon until you can insert the spoon all the way to the bottom of the tomato (without puncturing the tomato of course!)
4. By now you should be able to fit the spoon all the way around the core of the tomato and lift it up. To continue, simply lift the core out of the tomato and throw it away. You’re almost done!
5. Now that you have removed the core, your tomato should look like a bowl or a cup. Use your spoon to scrape the sides of the walls to remove any excess tomato insides remaining. When you’re satisfied with how your tomato looks, put your spoon down! You’re finished!
See, that wasn’t so bad!
Now all you have to do is mix all of the tuna salad ingredients together, stuff the tuna salad in the tomato, out it on a plate and voila! you’re done in less than 15 minutes! NOTE: Don’t forget to hard boil the egg! I ALWAYS forget to do this!
- • 1 (12 oz.) can chunk light tuna in water, drained
- • 1 cup celery, diced
- • 1 cup red or pink apple, diced
- • 1 cup of red grapes, quartered
- • 1/2 cup of raw unsalted walnuts, chopped
- • 1/4 yellow onion, shredded using cheese grater
- • 2 Tbs sweet relish
- • 1 hard boiled egg, chopped
- • 3 Tbs spicy Dijon mustard
- • 2 tsp olive oil mayonnaise
- • 1/2 cup non-fat greek yogurt
- • 2 tsp sriracha (for some extra kick- optional)
- • 4 heirloom or roma tomatoes
- • Hard boil one egg
- • While egg is boiling, hollow out tomatoes so they can be used as bowls.
- • When egg is done boiling, remove shell and chop.
- • In a bowl, combine tuna, celery, apples, grapes, walnuts, onion, relish, hard boiled egg, mustard, mayonnaise, greek yougurt, and sriracha (if desired). Mix well.
- • Scoop tuna mixture into tomato cups and enjoy!
- 198 calories per tuna stuffed tomato cup.
- Store leftover tuna in refrigerator in an airtight container for up to 3 days. Serve leftover tuna in tomatoes or over lettuce.
