Tuna and Bean Salad Recipe (2024)

My parent, now deceased, took an Italian freighter from New York to Italy in the early 1950s. They ate with the crew. One of the dishes they brought back from that trip was tuna, beans, and onions: canned tuna, beans (either giant limas cooked from dried, or canned cannellini), and diced sweet onions or scallions. Put them on a plate with twice the beans to tuna and onions, pour on a spoonful of good olive oil, salt, pepper and chopped parsley. Sop up the juice with italian bread. Yum!

The choice of water-packed tuna here goes against a Julia Child commandment. The oil is what the tuna was poached in so avoiding it (or, worse, discarding it) is throwing away flavor.

Love this salad! Or at least Marcella Hazan's very similar version. It's on the menu once a week come summer. We serve it with pita rounds (halved lengthwise) broiled with zaatar and olive oil or mashed garlic and olive oil.

I added some artichoke hearts and sliced kalamata olives. Perfect.

I like David Rocco's simpler, more classic version: tuna, beans, and ONE sliced celery stalk (more upsets the flavor balance) in a dressing of salt, pepper, garlic, lemon juice, and lots of olive oil. Sometimes I add some tomato--again, not much. Or a caprese salad on the side.

Really delicious! Used tarragon on hand in place of sage; really made the white beans sing.

I found 3 tbsp of evvo was too much. Perhaps because my tuna was packed in veg. oil. Just added a 1/2 can more beans & some capers.... because why not? Used shallot on hand in place of red onion; arugula in place of parsley. Delicious. With definitely make again.

Wonderful. Doubled the sage and added oregano - both fresh from the garden. Fresh, springy, and substantive enough without being too much. Will save the idea for an easy guest lunch on the deck. Made the dressing again today and used on leftover grilled sweet potatoes and swordfish.

I've developed a version of this to my taste, with a bit more crunch, by chilling the onions in acidulated ice bath, adding some shaved celery and the chopped parsley to that bath and letting the ice melt before draining thoroughly. Then with that mix as a "base" I add the tuna and beans, till the quantities feel right (two cans of tuna today, for instance) and with lemon juice and salt and pepper, toss very gently to avoid breaking the tuna too much.

You can actually make this with whatever herbs you happen to have. I often use rosemary.

Pour boiling water on the onions, let sit for 30 seconds to a minute, then rinse with cold water.

see Marcella Hazan Beans and Tuna Salad; simple, not what I would consider making until I do it for academic reasons (who thinks of canned tuna when they say "I'm hungry?") and am always surprised how delicious it is. Don't forget to check out pate 545 of Essentials of Italian cooking for the prep of the onions to remove the "sharp bite." I think I'll make this with the recommended Bermuda Onions for this Fridays Bermuda Day celebrations!

Try GRATING the onion; flavor without biting into strong crunch.

After reading comments about the onions being a little too much, I made this with shallots instead. Loved it - VERY good. Many of my favorites - tuna, sage, onion, garlic, beans, yogurt, cukes - in one fish. Delicious. Will definitely make again.

Quick lunch.

Didn’t have the onion so made without. Came out delicious! A new household favorite. Look forward to trying with the onion next time.

I subbed canned salmon for the tuna (trying to avoid the mercury in tuna).Since salmon has a stronger richer flavor that tuna, I thought it needed more of a punch of salt/ acid. I added Spanish olives chopped in half. Really delicious. I also tripled the recipe for a summertime lunch with friends.

Subed basil for parsley. Used regular cucumbers

Wonderful. Subbed shallot for the red onion because that's what I had on hand, omitted the sage because I didn't have it, and squeezed a little lemon juice at the end. A delightful, quick lunch.

I skipped the last step with the yogurt and thought it was delicious. I used pickled onions that were in the fridge.

Used a shallot and 3 2.6oz packets of herb and garlic tuna because that's what I had. Thankfully the flavored tuna (and plenty of it) worked well without drowning out the fresh herbs. Otherwise followed exactly besides instead of garnishing with cucumber, served over a crisp garden salad dressed simply with lemon and EVOO. It was a nice light and refreshing dinner, will make again.

This is a great pandemic pantry quickie. It's basically two canned foods with fresh herbs. Another commenter mentioned this but in case you missed it, this recipe calls for 1 can of tuna (6.5 oz.) But a standard can of tuna in my pantry is 4 oz. It really does need the recipe-recommended 6.5 oz. can to balance out the 15 oz proportion of beans. Lots of great swaps and or additions including shallots, olives, capers, tarragon, and so on. Thanks for a healthful classic, MR Shulman.

I suggest dialing back the red onion and adding one or two other things to add flavor, such as cherry tomatoes and/or black olives. Plenty of salt and pepper helps too. Also, as is so often true, I find less oil can be used — I cut it in half.

I didn't realize that a "normal" can of tuna is only 4 oz. I was wondering why this recipe seemed like it had too many beans! My fault. The recipe seemed a little bland. Maybe my sage leaves were too small.

This has become a go-to lunch while in quarantine. We use Italian tuna packed in olive oil and dump it all in the mix (then leave out oil in the dressing). It's great over leftover pasta the next day, too. I can't eat any raw onions, so I also "cure" the red onions in salt, white vinegar and cold water for a lot longer than the recipe calls for. They turn out much milder. Delicious!

Made this for dinner last night and it was delicious! Followed the recipe exactly except didn't have any fresh sage so couldn't use it and didn't think ground sage would work. Had no problem as others have noted with sharpness in the onions. Served with thickish English cucumber slices halved. Will definitely make this again.

I love this recipe. Having made it many times as is written, I just tried it with garbanzos and it’s spectacular as light lunch.

This is a great recipe to use up some pantry items! Turned out really well. I plated it on some greens and had a slice of sourdough toast with it. Yum! I didn't have all of the right ingredients, so I used a white onion instead of red. (I used half of the onion after reading the comments). I also used celery instead of cucumber. Lastly, I used herbs de provence and garlic salt because I didn't have the fresh herbs on hand. It was still delicious! Added some capers to the mix.

Try cilantro instead of parsley and add a few capers.