Seared Ahi Tuna is the Speedy-Elegant Dinner Your Summer Needs
This seared ahi tuna recipe is as simple and fast as can be. How fast? Well, the marinade is the most time-consuming piece of it all, and it can be done the night before (or 30 minute before you start cooking), and once that’s done this recipe takes about 10 minutes start-to-finish. Even the little cucumber-and-pea salad that we love to serve the sliced ahi steaks with comes together so fast! Or, if you’re tight for time, it could also be made ahead of time and chilled. If you’ve never seared ahi tuna before, we promise it’s a breeze! You may think of this as fancy restaurant fare, but it’s actually as easy a recipe as there is. We’ll walk you through!
How to Sear Ahi Tuna
How is ahi tuna supposed to be cooked? Well, with great care! Ahi tuna is really a delicacy, a treat! That vibrant red, that supple texture—it’s a luxury to be treated with love. This pan-seared ahi is our very favorite way to enjoy it. It’s also a speedy dinner that feels totally indulgent! Ideal for last-minute dinner parties or impromptu date nights at home. Here’s how to make a perfectly seared ahi steak:
Heat vegetable oil in a skillet.
When the oil is very hot, carefully add the tuna steaks. If you’re new to searing ahi steaks, work with one steak at a time while you get the hang of it.
Watch the ahi tuna steak carefully! The million dollar question is: How long do I sear tuna? Well, that’s tricky! It depends on the thickness of your steaks—we’re calling for about 1-inch thickness, ideally—and on how cold they are when they hit the pan. You want a good sear, but still some of that beautiful raw-red in the middle. Give them at least a minute and up to 2.5 minutes before you flip them.
Flip the tuna steaks and sear on the other side for roughly the same amount of time as you seared them on the first side.
Pull them off the heat and let them rest before slicing with an ultra-clean, ultra sharp knife.
The Best Seared Ahi Sauce is this Simple Marinade Recipe!
If you’re a purist, you can skip the marinade! But we love the rich umami deliciousness that it adds the the meaty ahi steaks. You can get your tuna steaks marinating up to 24 hours before you want to sear the tuna, so this recipe is super flexible and great for company. Here’s everything you’ll need to make this delicious ahi marinade:
Sugar
Garlic
Ginger
Toasted sesame oil
Low sodium soy sauce or tamari
Is It Safe to Eat Seared Ahi Tuna?
We’re going to say that yes, for most healthy adults, eating raw fish isn’t super dangerous. However, the official FDA recommendation is always to cook your fish all the way through. But do you eat sushi? Oysters? Most of us food lovers want to enjoy what the world of food has to offer! And seared ahi—which yes, is still quite raw in the middle—is a true edible luxury which most of us can safely enjoy. If you’re pregnant or immunocompromised the risk of food-borne illness from raw seafood is a bit higher, so you might want to skip this dish. However, most people can feel pretty comfortable enjoying seared ahi! The key is to buy the absolute highest quality fish you can possibly buy. This is a great guide to buying fish to eat raw (or mostly raw, like this seared ahi tuna) at home. Find the best fishmonger in your town and buy from them. When you get the tuna home, keep it extremely cold and handle it with care. Other than that, enjoy it!
Tuna 101: Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Tuna but Were Afraid to Ask.
What is the difference between ahi tuna and regular tuna? ‘Ahi’ is a Hawaiian term for tuna that refers to two different (but similar) species of tuna; yellowfin and bigeye tuna.
Is eating ahi tuna good for you? Lean protein plus tons of nutrients—vitamin D, selenium, iodine, and heart-healthy omega-3 fatty acids—mean that in some ways, yes, tuna is a healthy choice! Mercury is a concern with tuna, as it is with any big fish. Because tuna is such a large fish—adult tuna often weigh well over 100 pounds—they’re a particularly mercury-heavy fish. That just means that you should consume with care, and not more than once a week. However, you probably shouldn't even enjoy ahi tuna that often anyway, because....
Is there such a thing as sustainable ahi? Sustainability is a big issue for tuna, but it is possible to enjoy tuna sustainably! And anyone who loves to eat tuna should care about marine stewardship and sustainable practices because they’re the key to ensuring that the fish we love to eat so much will be here for us to enjoy years and years into the future. The best, easiest thing you can do to ensure that the fish you’re buying has been sustainably caught is look for tuna steaks that carry the Marine Stewardship Council label! Read more about sustainable tuna here.
What to Serve With Seared Tuna
While this gorgeous seared ahi recipe can pair easily with a lot of different things—a big green salad and some steamed rice is always great—we love to serve seared tuna steaks with this easy, snap pea and cucumber salad. Cool, crisp and refreshing, it’s perfect summertime fare. Peak-season summer veggies dressed in a sauce that echoes the ahi tuna marinade—it’s the perfect partner for those lovely tuna steaks! Here’s what you’ll need to make it:
Seasoned rice vinegar
Sugar
Salt
Toasted sesame oil
Scallions
Snap peas
English cucumbers
Radishes
Tools You’ll Need
Tongs (useful for flipping)
Microplane (for grating ginger and garlic)
More Easy Tuna Recipes
Ahi Aha!
Once you’ve seared ahi, you’ll realize how truly easy this formerly-fancy dish really is. It’s so easy to make at home, and more fun because you can sear it to exactly the doneness that you like best. When you make this recipe, we’d love to hear about it! Share a photo and tag us on Instagram using @themodernproper and #themodernproper so that we can see your stuff! Happy eating!
