Wondering what to do with those cans of tuna in the cupboard? Wake up your tuna salad with this super flavorful rendition with all the Greek-Mediterranean flavors we love: salty feta and olives with artichokes and red onions. You'll never be at a loss again for those cans of tuna.
Whether you have kids in school who need lunches, or you'd like to meal prep your own lunches, one of the things I think we all want is to have healthy, interesting lunches everyday. You know, something different than the sandwich-fruit-chip traditional brown bag lunch.
Even when we're at home for lunch, I'm always trying to find easy to make, but still good for you lunches rather than resort to packaged foods or lots of carbs. We're really trying to limit 'traditional' lunch meals in our house because they are so carb heavy - sandwiches and crackers, chips, cookies, etc.
That's why I was drawn to adapt this recipe for a Greek tuna salad in a Cooking Light magazine I had (which I've used over the years to help with my menu planning - this Dijon Chicken Stew was adapted from a Cooking Light recipe).
The resulting recipe is a lightened-up tuna salad that doesn't just replace traditional tuna salad ingredients like heavy mayonnaise, but also adds more flavor and healthy ingredients along with a fresher vinaigrette dressing.
Greek Tuna Salad Recipe
Are you at all surprised that I was drawn to a salad with Greek flavors after our trip to Greece?
I haven't grown tired yet of the feta-onion-olive combo and including these with artichoke hearts in a new, fresh take on tuna salad? Brilliant - I couldn't resist it!
Oh, but I know what you may be thinking: that might be a fine lunch at home, but it doesn't look much like a brown bag lunch, does it?
How to Package the Greek Tuna Salad for Lunch
I put a brown bag lunch together to show you how easily this salad can fit into your lunch menus, whether it's being served at home or away from home.
- After mixing together the salad, portion it between 1 cup containers.
- In a separate 1 cup container, add chopped lettuce.
- Package it with a fork, napkin, and optional pita chips and it's ready to go!
By keeping the lettuce and tuna salad separate until it's time to eat - and including the optional pita chips in a separate bag - it all fits nicely into a standard lunch bag or box and stays fresh and crisp.
One of the things I like about this recipe, besides the terrific flavor, is that it's so quick to mix together and is made with simple, real foods.
Plus, it's perfect to eat in smaller amounts. That's my philosophy and how I lost more weight than I ever did trying to eat low fat, so you know it's recipes like this that will find their way onto our regular menu rotations.
This tuna salad recipe isn't just for lunch, though!
Brian and I found this version of tuna salad SO good that we had it for dinner one night - and then lunches the next! That's actually one of my favorite meal prep tips - plan you menu to use up leftovers as lunches and you've figured out two meals in one fell swoop.
And believe me, when you or your kids take this for lunch, the people with sandwiches are going to be eyeing your meal - you might even have to be aware of lunch thieves!
Greek Tuna Salad Recipe
Ingredients
- 3 6- ounce cans water-packed tuna drained
- 1 6.5- ounce jar marinated artichoke heart quarters drained
- 1/3 cup pitted halved kalamata olives
- 1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic
- 1/2 cup sliced red onion or sweet onion
- 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
- 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1/4 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley
- lettuce for serving
Instructions
- In a medium bowl combine all ingredients except the lettuce.
- Add a couple lettuce leaves (or chop it for easier eating, if desired) on six individual plates (or one large platter for serving family-style as a dinner). Spoon tuna salad on top.
- Alternately, for a brown bag lunch, pack the tuna into one container and the lettuce into another and spoon tuna on top of lettuce at lunch time.
Notes
Nutrition
Other Easy Salads To Try:
- Carrot salad with Feta & Olives
- Healthy Sesame Kale Salad
- Asian Asparagus Noodle Salad
- Tuscan White Bean Salad
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