Tuna and Butter Bean Salad
I consider myself to be a tinned food queen, and I’ll pretty much eat whatever canned food you throw at me (please don’t throw cans at me). However, if there’s one canned food that I love but other people hate, it’s tuna. Canned tuna isn’t sexy, you can’t Instagram it and expect many likes, and it smells strong, so eating tuna in a crowded public place is a no-go. While I’m not jumping to be the person stinking up my train car with a tuna fish sandwich, I am the kind of person who loves canned tuna recipes.
I prefer to have tuna in olive oil over water because it’s soft and more tender, and the taste isn’t as strong as when it’s sitting in water. I don’t mind either, but both versions have their place in different recipes. Since my tuna and butter bean salad is made with lemon, capers, and olives, choosing a canned tuna in olive oil would complement those ingredients better than canned tuna in water would, which I think tastes better in a classic American tuna salad with mayonnaise.
We getting fancy with the Italian tuna
I love recipes like this one because all you have to do is chop, measure, and assemble. There’s no cooking involved whatsoever, and the most work you’ll be doing is opening cans or jars, grating a lemon for its zest, slicing some olives, and chopping the onions, garlic, and parsley. Putting together my recipe for tuna and butter bean salad is very quick. I like to marinate this dish for a day in the refrigerator because the tuna and beans will soak up the dressing, but you can eat this meal the moment you finish assembling and decide to plunge a fork into it.
It’s so bright and colorful!
…and voila! Just mix it up and you’re ready to enjoy!
I like to eat my tuna and butter bean salad with some Italian bread, as a side dish at a BBQ or event, and as a healthy lunch all on its own. I find that butter beans are a criminally underused bean, and I prefer them to white beans in this salad, but if you didn’t find any at the store, I would go with a can of cannellini beans for a substitute. The best-canned tuna you can buy is probably from Ortiz, but Tonnino and Pastene both taste great, as does the tuna from Wild Planet. Just make sure you purchase tuna in olive oil!
This is one of my favorite recipes for tuna salad. I can’t wait for you all to try it!
Ingredients
2 cans of tuna in olive oil
1 can of butter beans, rinsed and drained
1 small red onion, chopped
1/3 cup of green olives, sliced thin
2 tablespoons of capers
2 tablespoons of olive oil
1 tablespoon of red wine vinegar
1/2 lemon, juiced (make it 1 whole lemon if you prefer a stronger flavor)
Zest from 1/2 lemon
1 garlic clove, minced
1/4 cup of fresh Italian parsley, chopped
1/4 teaspoon of salt
1/4 a teaspoon of white pepper
1/4 a teaspoon of black pepper
Instructions
Rinse the butter beans in water, drain them, and add the beans to a bowl with the drained tuna
Chop the onions and parsley, adding them to the bowl with the capers, and sliced olives
Mince the garlic and set it aside
Juice the lemon and collect its zest
Mix the red wine vinegar, olive oil, lemon zest, and lemon juice into a cup along with the minced garlic, salt, and both peppers. Whisk for a few moments until all the components are evenly dispersed
Pour on top of the salad and stir. Serve with fresh bread or on its own
