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Buffalo Tuna Salad

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Buffalo Tuna Salad is a bold and spicy, creamy and crunchy spin on tuna salad that takes only 5 ingredients and 5 minutes to whip together. Perfect for spicing up your weekday lunches, this tuna salad recipe makes a great sandwich or wrap. Also try it stuffed into celery sticks for a filling and healthy snack! 

Well here we are approaching the season of Lent again, which in my household means finding new and exciting recipes that use canned tuna because while I love shrimp, tuna seems to be the only fish my kids can all seem to agree on. This recipe is a perfect example of dressing up a simple can of tuna!  It’s cheap, so simple and quick to throw together and makes a very versatile sandwich spread. If you love buffalo chicken, you definitely need to give this tuna version a try. 

More recipes perfect for Lent:

A homestyle egg salad sandwich with lettuce and tomato on a white plate.
Homestyle Egg Salad

What you’ll need: 

  • 2 (5 ounce cans) albacore tuna in water, I prefer albacore tuna over chunk light in this recipe because it flakes into bigger meatier pieces whereas chunk light tuna has a softer, smushier texture. But feel free to use whatever you have on hand! I also suggest tuna in water because we’re adding mayo and don’t want an overload on oil for our tuna salad, but again, use what you like. 
  • ⅔ cup finely diced celery 
  • 1 shallot finely diced, I like the mild flavor and crunch shallot adds without being overpowering, especially if you don’t plan on eating it all in one day. You can also substitute red onion or green onions if you prefer.
  • ¼ cup mayo
  • 1-2 tablespoons hot sauce, I’ve used Lousiana hot sauce for this because it’s my favorite hot sauce. That said, I’ve had people tell me it’s too spicy for buffalo sauce and prefer Franks Red Hot Sauce. Use whichever hot sauce you prefer for buffalo style dishes.
  • Black pepper, to taste
  • Also, just a suggestion, but I love serving this with extra hot sauce and a sprinkling of blue cheese! 

How to make it: 

Drain your tuna well and gently flake apart with a fork. Add the mayo, celery, and shallot. Mix well. After this is combined, add 1 Tablespoon of hot sauce and black pepper and mix again, this way you can taste it as you go to be sure and get the spiciness you desire without going overboard. You can always add more if you want, but if you get too much, you’re out of luck. If you love hot and spicy things, you might even want this a bit hotter. Pro Tip: Instead of adding more hot sauce add a bit of cayenne pepper to keep the tuna salad from becoming too watery. 

Serving Suggestions: 

  • Sandwich: Use this buffalo tuna salad as a sandwich spread. 
  • Wrap: Try it on a pita, tortilla or lavash bread to make a hearty wrap. 
  • Spread: This tuna salad makes a great spread to stuff into celery sticks. Also try it spread on crackers or cucumber rounds. 
A white bowl full of buffalo tuna salad with a plate of lettuce leaves to one side.

Buffalo Tuna Salad

Yield: 2 servings
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Total Time: 5 minutes

Buffalo Tuna Salad is a fun twist on tuna salad with canned tuna, celery, shallots, mayo and hot sauce for a creamy and spicy tuna salad. If you like Buffalo chicken, you'll want to try this one.

Ingredients

  • 2 (5-ounce) cans of albacore tuna in water, well-drained
  • 2/3 cup finely diced celery
  • 1 shallot, finely diced
  • ¼ cup mayo
  • 1-2 Tablespoons Hot sauce
  • Black Pepper to taste
  • Optional: Cayenne pepper to taste, Blue Cheese Crumbles

Instructions

    Drain your tuna well and gently flake it apart with a fork.

    Add the mayo, chopped celery, and shallots. Mix well.

    After this is combined, add the hot sauce and black pepper to taste, starting with 1 tablespoon of hot sauce. Because hot sauces vary in heat level, it's better to start with 1 tablespoon and then taste to see if you'd like it spicier.

    *If after adding 2 Tablespoons of hot sauce your buffalo tuna salad still is not spicy enough for you, sprinkle on a bit of cayenne pepper to prevent the salad from becoming too watery.

    Try serving this tuna salad topped with blue cheese for a classic buffalo combination.

Notes

Serving suggestions:

Sandwich: Use this buffalo tuna salad as a sandwich spread. 

Wrap: Try it on a pita, tortilla or lavash bread  to make a hearty wrap. 

Spread: This tuna salad makes a great spread to stuff into celery sticks. Also try it spread on crackers or cucumber rounds. 

Nutrition Information:
Yield: 2 Serving Size: 1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 324Total Fat: 23gSaturated Fat: 4gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 19gCholesterol: 48mgSodium: 532mgCarbohydrates: 6gFiber: 2gSugar: 3gProtein: 22g

The Accidental Happy Baker is not a dietician or nutritionist, and any nutritional information shared is an estimate provided by Nutritionix. If calorie count and other nutritional values are important to you, we recommend running the ingredients through the nutritional calculator of your preference Calories can vary quite a bit depending on which brands were used.

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