Tuna mayo is a fantastic sandwich filler as it’s not only delicious but also relatively nutritious. Tuna is packed with protein and is a good source of vitamins and minerals like vitamin B3 and D, and also calcium and magnesium. When I make tuna mayo sandwiches, I love to experiment by adding different veggies like sweetcorn, cucumber and red onion to the recipe for that extra crunch and flavour.
However, one thing I never seem to switch up is the type of tuna I use – John West Tuna Chunks in Springwater. Yet, many chefs seem to think that using a certain variety of tuna will improve the flavour massively.
Speaking to Simply Recipes, five chefs all agreed that to make “the best” tuna mayo, you need albacore tuna that’s sitting in olive oil.
Albacore tuna is a larger fish with lighter-coloured flesh, a firmer texture, and a milder flavour than the solid or chunk light fish varieties.
Intrigued to see whether this would improve tuna mayo or even if I would like this type of tuna, especially with it being in olive oil, I decided to give it a try for one of my lunches this week.
As I’d never heard of albacore tuna, I was curious to see if they had it at my local supermarkets. While I was unsuccessful in M&S, I quickly spotted it in Sainsbury’s. I noticed that the price was relatively pricier than regular tinned tuna.
For this tuna mayo filling, I decided to keep it quite simple and just add in chopped up pieces of cucumber and sweetcorn. However, vegetables like celery, pickles, and peppers make for a great addition to tuna mayo too.
The ingredients below are enough to make two to three portions, great to make ahead for lunches during the week.
Ingredients
- Albacore tuna in extra virgin olive oil, drained
- 40g of mayonnaise
- 120g of cucumber, peeled and chopped finely
- 70g of sweetcorn
Method
I began by peeling and chopping up my cucumber before adding it to a bowl with the sweetcorn.
If you’re feeling extra fancy, you can lightly salt the cucumber to remove the excess moisture; however, I was in a bit of a rush.
I then opened the tuna and made sure to drain out as much of the oil as possible, as you want the filling to become creamy, not soggy. I instantly noticed that this albacore tuna was paler in colour compared to regular tuna.
After draining the tuna, I added the fish to the bowl along with the mayonnaise. Just like many of the chefs, I like to use Hellmann’s mayonnaise.
If you like your tuna mayo slightly more acidic, you may want to add a squeeze of lemon, or something my mum likes to add, Dijon mustard.
Slicing a piece of sourdough bread in half, I popped in some of the filling and gave it a taste. Surprisingly, I was a big fan of this.
The texture and meatiness of the big chunks of albacore tuna held up to the moist ingredients, like mayonnaise and cucumber.
Plus, rather than overwhelming the filling with a very fishy taste, I found that the albacore tuna allows all the ingredients to lend their personality to the mix.