Mayo free Mediterranean tuna salad packed with tomatoes, bell peppers, cucumbers, artichokes, and a two-ingredient dressing. It’s so refreshing and just delicious all around!
You can whip up this salad recipe in no time to enjoy for lunch with a cup of Sicilian Chicken Soup.
Mediterranean Tuna Salad
Mayo free tuna salad just might be my new favorite salad for a quick lunch or snack. It’s jam-packed with veggies such as cucumbers, artichokes, tomatoes, bell peppers and so much more!
Instead of mayo, this Mediterranean tuna salad is tossed in olive oil and red wine vinegar and finished off with plenty of fresh herbs.
It’s so fresh, light, and very filling. I absolutely love to prep it over the weekend to enjoy throughout the week with a side of almond flour crackers. You can serve it with pita chips, naan bread, or simply enjoy it as is.
Secret to Flavorful Mayo Free Tuna Salad
The secret to this tasty mayo-free tuna salad lies in the actual tuna. Simple as that.
When buying tuna, look for wild or pole-and-line-caught, olive oil-packed tuna. I love the Wild Planet brand. I get mine at Costco or Amazon. It’s flavorful and tastes really good.
Oil-packed tuna seals in flavor and gives you some tender chunks of tuna to work with. Just make sure the ingredients list says “olive oil” and not “soybean” or any other variety.
Ingredients for Mediterranean Tuna Salad
You’ll need the following ingredients to make tuna salad. Feel free to add a little less or more of anything to suit your taste.
- Canned tuna in olive oil
- Grape tomatoes
- Red onions
- Orange bell pepper
- Cucumbers
- Marinated artichokes
- Olive oil
- Red wine vinegar
- Fresh parsley and dill
- Lemon
Recipe Adaptations
Mediterranean tuna salad is very easy to customize to better fit your diet or to simply use what you have on hand. Feel free to swap out any ingredients to your liking or add in anything extra that you like.
- Olives, either black or kalamata are really delicious.
- For creaminess, add an avocado. I would start off with half of the avocado first. Mash it up a little then stir it in. Or chop it up to keep it chunky.
- Toss in banana peppers, roasted red peppers, or chickpeas for added flavor.
- You can even add some feta cheese. It’s very salty so watch any additional salt.
- Dried spices, such as oregano would be a great addition too.
How to Make Mediterranean Tuna Salad Recipe
- Step 1: Flake the tuna – open the tuna and dump it into a bowl with all of its juices and oil. Using a fork, flake the tuna into smaller chunks.
- Step 2: Add the veggies – stir in tomatoes, red onions, bell pepper, cucumbers, artichokes, parsley, and lemon zest.
- Step 3: Combine with dressing – pour the olive oil and red wine vinegar over the salad and toss thoroughly to combine. Cover and refrigerate for 15 minutes before serving.
How Long will Tuna Salad Keep?
Tuna salad will last up to 3 days when stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator. Since this salad has a lot of vegetables, it tends to release some water when stored for a longer period of time.
Different Tuna Salad Recipes to Try:
If you try Mediterranean Tuna Salad Recipe, don’t forget to leave feedback and a rating.
Print
Mediterranean Tuna Salad Recipe
- Prep Time: 20 min
- Total Time: 20 minutes
- Yield: 4 1x
- Category: Salad
- Method: Chop
- Cuisine: Greek
Description
Mayo free Mediterranean tuna salad packed with tomatoes, bell peppers, cucumbers, artichokes, and a two ingredient dressing. It’s so refreshing and just delicious all around!
Ingredients
- 2 (5 oz.) cans olive oil-packed tuna, do not drain
- 1/2 cup grape tomatoes, quartered
- ¼ cup finely chopped red onions
- ¼ cup finely chopped orange bell pepper
- 2 mini cucumbers, diced or 1/2 English cucumber
- ½ cup jarred marinated artichokes, drained + chopped
- ¼ cup fresh chopped parsley + dill
- Zest 1 lemon
- 2 Tbsp. olive oil
- 2 Tbsp. red wine vinegar
- Kosher salt and fresh black pepper
Instructions
- In a salad bowl, flake tuna with a fork into smaller chunks.
- Add the rest of ingredients. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Toss to combine.
- Cover tightly and refrigerate for 15 minutes before serving.
Notes
- Tuna – we love Wild Planet tuna in extra-virgin olive oil for this recipe.
- Leftovers – tuna salad will last up to 3 days when stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator. It tends to “water out” if stored for longer period of time.
- Variations – this salad is so easy to cutomize with extra add-in’s. See post for full list of ideas.
Keywords: mayo free tuna salad, greek tuna salad, healthy tuna salad
Brittney Harris says
How much is a serving? I know it says 4 servings….but is a serving a cup, a half of a cup?
Katya says
it’s around 3/4 cup
Lauren says
This recipe is fresh, fast, and filling! I served it with toasted baguettes and goat cheese and let everyone eat them together as they wanted. It was a wonderful weeknight meal! Thank you!
★★★★★
Katya says
Goat cheese sounds amazing! So happy to hear you loved the salad. I appreciate your feedback.
Olga says
Such a filling and flavorful meal. It was gone the same day I made it 🙂
★★★★★
Katya says
Thank you!! So happy you loved it.