Spicy Tuna Salad

This spicy tuna salad bursts with flavor from Dijon mustard, hot sauce, garlic, and cilantro. It's perfect in lettuce wraps!

Course Salad

Cuisine American

Prep Time 15

Total Time 15

Servings servings

Calories 214kcal

Drain the tuna well. Add it to a medium bowl and flake it with a fork.
2 5-ounce cans tuna in water
Add the mayonnaise, Dijon mustard, hot sauce, salt, and pepper. Mix with a fork and then with a rubber spatula until well combined.
6 tablespoons mayonnaise, 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard, 1 tablespoon hot sauce, ¼ teaspoon kosher salt, ¼ teaspoon black pepper
Add the garlic, celery, red onion, and cilantro. Mix to combine.
1 teaspoon garlic, ¼ cup celery, 2 tablespoons red onion, ¼ cup cilantro
Serve the salad in a bowl or spoon it on lettuce leaves.
Lettuce leaves

Seasonings, especially salt, are guidelines. Adjust to taste.
The hot sauce doesn't make the salad overly spicy. Add an extra tablespoon if you want it truly spicy.
When choosing a hot sauce, it's best to use one with the first ingredient listed as hot peppers rather than vinegar. Those tend to be the most flavorful. I like the flavor of sriracha, so that's what I use.
Since I use water-packed tuna, I add quite a bit of mayo - 6 tablespoons. Otherwise, the salad is too dry.
You can use oil-packed tuna, but make sure it's packed in pure olive oil, not soybean or cottonseed oil. You can use less mayo with oil-packed tuna - four tablespoons should be enough.
Following the FDA's recommendations for eating fish, I prefer chunk light tuna (usually skipjack).
You can keep the leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days. Remix the salad before serving it. I don't recommend freezing the leftovers.