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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 (95)
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!
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!
This is unbelievably delicious. It is hearty, filling, I don’t even need the bread, I was eating it out of the bowl! Would also be great on celery sticks. I want to eat this every day.
This is favorite FOK recipe so far! I thank God for my taste buds when I eat this.
I do not know but you can add up the total calories as you add items into the mixing bowl then weigh the total end result in grams. Then take total calories and divide by total grams, then multiply the result by 100 and you’ll have your answer.
What is the calories per 100 grams?
super tasty
I have the FOK app and love the recipes, especially this one but I need the nutritional information. Is there anywhere we can find the break down?
I use my Fitness Pal to record recipes. It gives a the breakdown per serving.
Minor adjustments to the recipe after reading through the comments. Skipped the sweetener, used homemade hummus instead of tahini (since it was in my fridge), extra lemon juice, dash of old bay and a touch of water and pickle brine for moistness..served on toast with some romaine….delicious!
Lots of fat calories- 390 from the tahini alone. Much more than 10% of the entire recipe so not a healthful choice unless you modify.
I noticed that it seized up a bit the next day, sterling your pickle brine idea!
This is so good! I could seriously eat this every day.
Delicious! This spread is the perfect blend of creamy sweet tanginess that will be my new favorite lunch item! It’s easy and quick, highly recommend!
This has NOTHING TO DO WITH TUNA!! Stop trying to make PBWF sound like mainstream dishes!
Why not just call it Vegan Sandwich Spread.
I follow Danny’s thinking. With my transition to a plant based diet, this wording helped my to try this recipe and to see options that I miss from my old “go to” recipes.
Who cares what they call it.. if you dont like the name call it want you want to. Jeez people.
It is supposed to mimic the dish… people looking for healthy alternatives can relate to this kind of recipe, so the name helps break the barrier to entry.
Why not just call it chick pea sandwich spread?
So nice to find a tuna recipe (no tuna), w/o mayo. Tks. Delish!!
This is actually very tasty (forget expectations of tuna flavor). Mine came out very crumbly, so I added a little lemon juice. Great on toasted rice cakes, with tomato on top!
It’s just okay. It’s a little sweeter than I like. If I make it again I’ll probably leave out the maple syrup.
Tastes pretty good but it doesn’t taste anything like a substitute for tuna. If you don’t expect it to taste like tuna, then it’s pretty tasty!
This was nice but was not quite to my taste. I made it exactly to the recipe and I will make it again but will make some changes. The texture, ingredient proportions and nutritional content were just right (excluding the syrup which I don’t think is needed at all). It made a good filling in a wrap and a pitta bread and wasn’t too sloppy. The flavour was good but I thought it could be improved and it tasted a bit sweet to my taste because of the agave syrup. I don’t think it’s necessary in this recipe and I would omit it next time. The mix lacked a bit of acidity and next time I might add a bit of lemon juice, zest of lemon or some preserved lemon. Some chopped fresh parsley or coriander stirred in would also be good. I would recommend the recipe to vegan friends as a handy mix to store in the fridge as it can easily be adjusted to personal taste.
What type of pickle?
Really?? Just use whatever kind you like.
Why, kosher dill of course…lol
Loved it!!!
So easy to make, and it’s delicious! We almost always make a double batch of this, and we make it frequently. It’s one of our all-time favorite FOK recipes.
A couple of years ago I got to the point where I didn’t really like tahini. Although I love raw and roasted almonds, I don’t particularly care for almond milk. And I much prefer peanut butter over almond butter any day for sandwiches. So anyway, the last time I made this recipe (last week) I used almond butter instead of tahini. Maybe my tastebuds are off but to me, it has a light neutral flavor and I much prefer it over tahini. And I agree, this is one of my favorite recipes.
I so appreciate your comment. Now I feel I can make this and enjoy it. Never thought about almond butter.
I am allergic to sesame and am frustrated when so many vegan/vegetarian/healthy recipes, like this one, call for tahini. I was happy to see your response. I am also allergic to peanuts, but enjoy sunflower seed butter, almond butter and cashew butter. I will have to try that in this recipe. Great idea!!
My husband who is not vegan likes this. I think it is a great healthy substitute for tuna salad. My children and grandchildren don’t mind it either
Absolutely love this one!
What is in your tahini
Very refreshing
Really really good! To make it a more creamy, I added a bit of the caper brine and a bit of lemon juice. Oh, and fresh dill on top!
Very good, but don’t call it “tuna” fish salad. Consider it somewhat like it but very different – and delicious- had to stop husband from eating the whole bowl!
@ Denis, Then call a tuna sandwich a microplastic contaminated with harmful chemicals sandwich, cuz that is what it is!
The title says “No-tuna,” so your complaint is invalid. Also, if people want to call it vegan tuna, they can; things like that can help people transitioning from an omni diet to a plant-based one find something they might like that’s kind of like what they’re used to, even if it doesn’t taste exactly the same.
I SO agree! Why does vegan food have to imitate carnivores? Call it a bean sandwich cause that is what it is!
Delicious. My favorite way to eat this is as a topping to a bowl of baby arugula. I don’t have capers, I do add red bell pepper if available. Makes a fine sandwich when on the go.
Adding red bell pepper is a great idea, thanks!
So glad a friend recommended I try this. Super simple (& most of ingredients I had on hand already), keeps well in the fridge for a great make ahead, delicious meal or snack 🙂
I serve this on toasted naan, delicious!
Such an easy recipe! Delicious and creamy!
So good! Great for lunch and making ahead of time.
So so good and I consider myself a carnivore!
I like a good bite so I cut back the sweetener to .5 tbsp me did a full tbsp. Roughly of mustard and some pickle brine as well. I also subbed garlic salt for sea salt.
Great on toasted bread; and with fresh sliced cucumber for a crunch.
A household weekday staple – we always throw in the sunflower seeds and toast the bread.
My favorite everyday recipe!!!
Super easy and tasty recipe! Amazing it tastes so good without any oil. I dress it up with radish slices and cherry tomato halves and often eat it in a butter lettuce cup.
Delish. I used half the tahini and skipped the maple syrup and seeds. Added some fresh dill. Might add a bit of lemon juice next time. Very tasty with toasted sprouted grain bread, and good for a salad bowl.
You would LOVE “Garden Veggie Chickpea Salad Sandwich” by Peas and Crayons. Check it out!
Absolutely delicious! I put most of the mixture into halved mini sweet peppers for snacking and lunches for this week but I would certainly serve this in sandwiches to my non-wfpb lunch guests.
Made this easy recipe this weekend and it is already gone! My husband and I both missed tuna salad sandwiches and this left us completely satisfied! I added a little chopped apple, which I used to put in my tuna salad, and it was great. This will be one of my go-to recipes!
I use my own pickle relish. You could use whatever pickle you prefer I should think.
Perfect if you feel it ain’t lunch if it ain’t a sandwich . I think this would really help people with the transition to WFPB eating from the standard American diet.
Love this recipe & use it regularly. It makes a great sandwich!! I also experimented with adding a few cooked red potatoes and slightly increasing the amounts of mustard, celery, onion, pickle and capers. It turned the dish into a potato salad – with protein, which was a fun variation.
A delicious and easy vegan lunch.
So satisfying!