An Easy Tuna Lentil Salad To Dress Up Your Lunch Routine
Tuna salad is the tale as old as time–canned tuna, mayo, mustard. When you’ve tired of this old stand-by, we offer a tuna lentil salad to dress up the classic with cooked lentils, fresh lemon, capers, and herbs. Great with crackers or endive for simple dippers, or Sourdough Bread slices and a Simple Green Salad for more of a meal. Or, if you need a vegan riff, try our simple Lentil Salad.
French Green Lentils, Our Meilleures Amies
You may have heard these little green buttons called the caviar of lentils. Cooked right, and they are toothsome, earthy, and the perfect way to add heft to a dish like Paprika & Cinnamon Roast Chicken with Lentils or Lentil Stew with Quinoa and Mushrooms. We love them because they cook like rice, and add a flavor and texture different from the average legume.
Ingredients You’ll Need To Make Tuna Lentil Salad
In addition to the staple ingredients for tuna salad (canned tuna, mayo, mustard), you’ll need the following to make tuna lentil salad:
French green lentils –The French varietal lentilles du Puy is worth its weight in gold, but any French green lentil will do. In the case of lentilles du Puy, it’s a case of terroir in which this special little lentil is a reflection of where it was grown.
Fresh herbs – The amount of fresh herbs in this recipe might feel like a little bit of overkill, but all of the dill, basil, and parsley really make this a salad.
Capers – These little briny bites add a nice zingy counterpart to the creaminess of the salad. It’s a trick we use in Shrimp Melt with Capers and Old Bay Seasoning, too.
- Lemon – A recipe wouldn’t be complete without a touch of acid, and we use fresh lemon juice and zest to perk up this tuna salad recipe.
How to Make Tuna Lentil Salad
Cook the lentils. The secret is to only cook until tender, 25-30 minutes. You don’t want to overcook lentils because they will turn mushy!
Make the salad dressing. In a small bowl, combine the mayonnaise, Dijon, lemon zest, lemon juice, salt, pepper, and dill.
Toss the salad. Add the dressing to the lentils, tuna, red onion, capers, basil, and parsley.
Serve! If using, serve with crackers or endive for scooping.
How to Store Tuna Lentil Salad + Tips
- Cooked lentils are great to freeze. We like to cook up a big batch to have on hand for recipes throughout the week, or to store for future use in the freezer.
- Tuna lentil salad should be stored in the fridge for no longer than 3-4 days. If you have leftovers, try subbing this in your next Tuna Melt or regular old Tuna Salad sandwich. Or stir it into Tuna Pasta Salad!
- If you’d like to make this tuna-less, leave out the canned tuna! The lentil salad will still be super tasty without the fish.
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Canned Tuna And Lentil Salad, Oh Là Là
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