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In this vegan version of a tuna salad sandwich, the tuna salad gets extra tang and flavor from pickles and capers. Serve between two slices of your favorite hearty bread for a simple yet satisfying meal.
Note: Mixture will keep covered in refrigerator for 4-5 days, making it great for quick, weekday lunches.
From Minimalist Baker’s Everyday Cooking
By Dana Shultz,
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Dana Shultz is the recipe developer and co-author of the Minimalist Baker, a website devoted to simple cooking, which she founded with her husband, John. All recipes require 10 ingredients or less or 30 minutes or less to prepare. She is the author of Minimalist Baker’s Everyday Cooking and the 31 Meals Cookbook.
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Comments (142)
Wow, I did not expect that! I didn’t even add the maple syrup. I did add pickle juice though and just realized I forgot the mustard! Next time I’ll add some diced apples for that extra crunch. Definitely a sandwich ill make weekly!
My favorite sandwich. Eat it every week.
Give it an hour to meld the flavors and it is outstanding!!!!!
Soooo delicious!
THIS RECIPE ROCKS! Trader Joes sells a Lemon Pepper (grinder). I use it whenever a recipe calls for salt. I used both dill and sweet pickles and added sweet pickle juice – no additional sweeteners needed.
Trader Joes sells a Lemon Pepper grinder. I use it whenever salt is in a recipe. We find that salt is not needed when we use it. THIS RECIPES ROCKS
! I used both sweet and dill pickles and added the juice from the sweet pickles. No additional sweetening ingredients needed.
Please help me out…..I’m gluten-sensitive and notice you use whole wheat flour in various recipes. Is there no gluten sensitivity among PlantPure eaters?
I like your comment and like to know also. I can’t tolerate gluten.
Wow
I love this! What a good vegan replacement for tuna
You must try this
Maybe so. I have eczema and I think extra bread kicks it i to high gear. I love bread and eat it regardless though
Im a bread lover, and this makes amazing sandwiches. Extra pickes or peppercinis on top. Its one of my favorite WFPB staples.
Oh my heavens is this the best recipe! I just made this without the celery (because I didn’t have any) and served on gluten free chiabatta bread with avocado, grape tomatoes, salad greens and vegan avocado oil mayo. I am now addicted.
I love this recipe, and make it all the time. I do not use the capers, they’re not my favorite. I use dill pickle relish, just because it’s quicker and easier. I also like it better without the maple syrup. I actually like this recipe much better than with tuna.
Can you make it without maple syrup. I don’t like it and I wouldn’t want to sweeten this sandwich. Thanks.
I made it without maple syrup. It was a little dry, so I added a little pickle juice. I eliminated the capers to cut down on sodium and increased the celery because I like the crunch and taste. It is delicious!
Love this recipe. I am sending it to my daughter and friends. Can’t believe how tasty and filling it is!
Love this recipe! Next time I will use 2table spoons of tahini instead of 3. so so so good.
This salad is made almost weekly in our house. It’s such a favourite, we out it on sandwiches, in wraps, or on salads. Such a healthy and delicious substitution for regular tuna salad
Most excelent filling for a sanwich!!!
Delicious
loved this dish, very tasty.
Yummy! I added fresh dill and my mom though it tasted just like tuna salad!
I don’t remember what tuna tastes like, and now I’ll never be curious to try it again! Anytime I’m missing the texture I come to this recipe, absolutely delicious!
The flavors mix so well together. Very delicious!
I am starting to get into plant-based eating one day I had a desire craving for an actual tuna fish sandwich “long behold” I came across this “no tuna” and decided to give it a try and I will tell you how it tastes.
What a lovely mix to go on toast or sandwich. Will be making this again.
Thank you for the recipe.
One of my all-time favourites and will make over and over again! Super simple and super delicious.
best PBWF tuna recipe I have found
Love, love, love this sandwich recipe! It’s quick and easy to make and so delicious! I don’t add the salt or sunflower seeds; I usually never add salt to most recipes.
I love it! Delicious!
Way too much sodium. Sodium in pickles, capers and still you say to add more salt. Is there no salt pickles or capers? For those on salt restrictions give us ideas.
Try substituting the pickles and capers with roasted bell pepper (home made, or from a jar) and add lots of fresh dill and salt free mustard. A good round of freshly ground pepper and a squeeze of lime, and you won’t be lacking any flavour. I leave out the sweetener as well, but that’s my personal preference.
Hope this helps.
I have been making this recipe for a few years now. Delicious and easy, I add diced red peppers for color and a tablespoon of vegan Mayo.
I too am salt sensitive! Makes my BP skyrocket… help us please!
I’m not a huge fan of tahini so I was skeptical, but I always follow recipes then make changes. I was pleasantly surprised that the tahini was subtle. I did think that it was lacking a little moisture typical of tuna salad. It was too dry for me. So I added and extra 1T of tahini and 1t of Dijon as well as a splash of pickle juice. Will make again 🙂
This was SO GOOD! I omitted capers and added extra pickles/pickle juice, lots of garlic, and pureed some of the chickpeas with the tahini and pickle juice first. I think it’d be great with some red pepper flakes too (first homemade vegan food for me). Great recipe!
Great! I was afraid it would be like eating a hummus sandwich but it wasn’t. It was very good. The only change I made was to saute the onions and add fresh garlic. It was so yummy.
Wow this is delicious! I never would have thought I’d say that about a mashed chickpea sandwich, lol.
My thanks to all the commenters for some great substitutions/alterations. I used (only 2T) almond butter instead of tahini, left out the maple syrup and capers, added a splash of pickle juice, increased the mustard. And I microwaved the red onion for 30 seconds before adding so I wouldn’t die of reflux after eating all that raw onion.
This recipe was totally delicious. It was such a wonderful combination of ingredients. I will definitely be making it again. It’s such an easy lunch to have on hand.
Delicious! Easy to make and soooooo tasty! Thanks so much!
I just love this! I cook my own chickpeas using a small square of kombu to reduce flatulence. I mince the cooked kombu and add to the recipe. I only use half the amount of maple syrup and add a minced apple to the recipe. Delicious!
You’re blowing my mind! That helps with flatulence? Thank you for that tip!!
I’m 60 years old and recently discovered I like chickpea’s. This recipe using chickpea’s is really tasty and we have made it several times in the last few weeks. We like to serve it on large lettuce leaves.
Can you tell me about kombu?
I love this and added dried nori seaweed broken up to give it a sea flavor like fish.
I’ve made this recipe several times, each time I alter the recipe. This time I used chickpeas that I just cooked in my instant pot. Easy to mash while warm and taste better than canned. No tahini – used vegan mayo instead. No capers – used lots of diced banana peppers instead. Also had fresh dill on hand so I added finely chopped fresh dill. Delicious on celery sticks, bread, homemade lentil flatbread, rice cakes. So good!!
So good! We make this every few weeks. We use green olives instead of capers and put on pumpernickel bread. Delicious!
Amazing amazing go to recipe! Love to sub out Dijon for other varieties, like truffle Dijon!
Oh My Goodness!!! This is just what my tastebuds have been missing! Thank you so much for your creative expertise. My skills lie outside of the kitchen, but following FOK recipes are a breeze even for someone like me. This particular recipe is forgiving if you substitute ingredients because of an understocked kitchen. This will be a regular in my growing vegan meal plans. Thank you!
I made this today without the tahini only because I didn’t have any and our grocery store was out of it. It was delicious!! I squeezed half a lemon into it and added just a touch of olive oil (which I know is not recommended), and it was awesome. I plan to add it to my salad for dinner this evening as well.
Great recipe is especially tasty on a sandwich with humous harissa and lettuce.
The first batch I made by the recipe – amazing! Second batch I used extra capers, relish in lieu of pickles, no peanut butter, a few tablespoons nutrional yeast, less maple syrup and I added chopped figs! They add unexpected flavor and texture.
Made it twice already! Change it up a tad to suit my ingrediants on hand and it’s very forgiving.
The recipe didn’t call for peanut butter?
Add crumbled Seaweed Snacks to the mix or Kelp powder for the fish taste.
This was delicious, but I’m sorry I added the sunflower seeds. They were like eating sticks… yuck. I tried it by itself, on cucumber slices and on toasted Dave’s bread. Hubby didn’t like it, but I’ll make it every week!
Sunflower seeds need to be shelled, just like peanuts, etc. Buy the ones that look like grains of brown rice, and not the big seeds.
Maybe you used sunflower seeds in the shell? These should be shelled.
Delicious!!! I make this salad often. Great on bread, rice crackers or just on it’s own. Even without the capers it’s good. My secret is also Polish style dill pickles I get at Big Lots and little bit of the juice from the jar, plus date syrup instead of maple syrup. I also add a little tofu mayo I make to make it more creamier. Thank you!☺
This is amazing! I have added a teaspoon of sriracha mayo to the mixture tho and it was so delicious it surely will be my go to breakfast. So quick and easy to make too 🙂
I love this filling for sandwiches…I make it for my daughter’s lunch and serve to non-plant based friends as well…no complaints. It’s versatile, if it’s too dry or too wet you simply have to adjust…you can add other things to it as well, I happen to like it pretty much as posted. I use homemade or store vegan mayo, hummus and/or tahini…whatever I choose. Following a WFPB plan will do away with the need to calorie count and so much more, in my opinion.
What can I substitute chick peas for? I can’t eat them
White beans
It was great!