Tuna cannellini bean salad is a great meal for those days when you just don’t feel like “cooking.” Maybe you got home late from work, or you’ve been out running errands all day, or it’s just too hot to fuss. This meal requires nothing more complicated than opening a few cans, sprinkling some seasonings, and a little bit of chopping. Easy.
Everything comes straight from your pantry. The beans are canned, the tuna is canned, and the only fresh ingredient you need is some scallions, and maybe the lemon juice. Even that isn’t essential; if you don’t have scallions, use onion instead. If you’re out of fresh lemons, the bottled juice will do just fine.
If you do have the time and energy, this is a bit better with freshly cooked beans. The canned beans tend to be slightly mushy, and sometimes they’re a little salty. If you go the dried bean route, use my quick soak method to speed things up. If not, no harm, no foul.
The recipe is enough for two lunches or one dinner (depending how hungry you are). I usually find that I eat a whole 5 oz. can of tuna for lunch if I just make ordinary tuna salad, but adding the beans stretches it enough for two meals.
I’ve adapted it slightly from one of Pierre Franey’s Sixty Minute Gourmet cookbooks. I reduced the quantity and eliminated the parsley (never had any use for parsley). This is not only better than sixty minutes, it only takes about ten.
Serve with some fresh fruit and you have a fast lunch in under fifteen minutes. Add crusty bread to that and you have dinner.
Tuna Cannellini Bean Salad
Don't feel like cooking? You don't have to. Just open a couple of cans, mix in some pantry staples, and you're good to go.
Ingredients
- 1/2 15 oz. can cannellini (white kidney) beans
- 1 small scallion, chopped (or about 1 T chopped onion)
- one small garlic clove, minced
- pinch dried oregano
- 3/4 tsp. red wine vinegar
- 1 1/2 tsp lemon juice
- 1T olive oil
- salt and freshly ground pepper
- 1 5 oz can tuna
Instructions
- Drain the beans and pour them into a small mixing bowl.
- Add the remaining ingredients (except the tuna).
- Drain the oil from the tuna, add it to the bowl and break it apart with a fork.
- Take a fork and spoon and toss everything together to combine the ingredients.
Tuna Cannellini Bean Salad Substitutions and Variations
- add some capers
- mix in some cherry tomatoes
- try red onion instead of the scallions
- serve over romaine lettuce
- mix some greens (watercress, arugula, or one of those baby greens mixtures) right into the salad
More Cannellini Bean Recipes
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I saw this fancy salad at a store for about $10 a pound. I thought I can make that myself for a lot less. So I did.
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