Avocado Tuna Salad

Upgrade your lunch! This Avocado Tuna Salad uses creamy avocado instead of mayo for a fresh and easy twist on the classic. Red onion and celery add some crunch, while lemon juice gives it some zing.

Here’s a step up from your everyday tuna salad—leave out the mayo and replace it with avocado. Add some red onion, lemon zest and juice, sprinkle with the green of cilantro or parsley, and wow!

Put the avocado tuna salad between two pieces of toast and you have a rather perfect tuna salad sandwich with the lovely addition of avocado and without any mayonnaise.

To be clear, I don’t have any problem with mayo. But I am rather passionate about avocados so given the opportunity to sub one for the other, I will!

Picking the Best Avocado

Since the avocado is taking the place of mayonnaise, it should be ripe and easy to mash with a fork. Choose an avocado that has some give to it when you squeeze it gently.

Also, because mayonnaise comes salted and avocados don’t, you’ll need to add more salt and pepper to this salad than you might expect.

Eat Right Away!

The avocado does cause this salad to quickly start turning brown, so it’s best to make and eat this right away. That said, if you aren’t bothered by a bit of browning, the salad will be fine refrigerated and eaten within a few hours.

A Beauty Tip

By the way, here’s a cool little avocado beauty tip. Once you’ve scooped out the avocado from its peel, rub the inside of the peel on your elbows. The oil from the avocados is great for smoothing rough skin.

Love Tuna? Try These Recipes:

Updated April 25, 2019 : We spiffed up this post to make it sparkle. No changes to the original recipe.

Avocado Tuna Salad Recipe

  • Prep time: 10 minutes
  • Yield: Makes enough tuna salad for 2 sandwiches

Ingredients

  • 1 5-ounce can tuna, preferably packed in olive oil, drained
  • 1/2 ripe avocado, roughly chopped
  • 1/2 cup minced celery
  • 1/4 cup minced red onion
  • 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
  • 2 teaspoons lemon juice
  • 1 teaspoon lemon zest
  • 2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro or parsley
  • 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
  • Freshly ground black pepper

Method

1 Mix: Place all of the ingredients in a medium bowl. Mix with a fork, mashing the avocado and breaking up the chunks of tuna as you go, until the ingredients are well combined.

2 Finish and serve: Add more oil or salt and pepper if necessary, serve on your favorite sandwich bread or toast.


Links:

Avocado Chicken Salad here on Simply Recipes

Avocado Tuna Salad on The Healthy Maven

Tuna Avocado Wraps from Nom Nom Paleo

Cucumber Avocado Tuna Salad with Cilantro and Lime on Kalyn’s Kitchen

Everything you need to know about avocados from WebMD