This vegan tuna salad can be made into a vegan tuna melt or used in a tuna salad sandwich. It’s creamy, delicious comfort food without the fish, eggs, or cholesterol!
A tuna sandwich is one of those recipes that reminds me of my childhood, and for some reason, I just feel like my vegan kids need to know what one tastes like as well.
Does this recipe use chickpeas?
No, this is not one of those chickpea tuna recipes. I have seen a lot of recipes floating around for chickpea "tuna" salad sandwiches. They are delicious. I make them as well, however, I craved the taste and texture of that classic tuna sandwich that I ate as a child. I fiddled around with ingredients and proportions until I came up with something pretty darn close to the taste and texture that I remember!
TVP
I use TVP (textured vegetable protein) for the “tuna.” It is a dehydrated soy protein that absorbs the flavor of whatever you re-hydrate it in. (You can usually find TVP easily at any natural foods store or most major grocery stores in the Bob's Red Mill section).
How to serve
Put the tuna salad on toast, on a lettuce wrap, or eat it on crackers. Whatever way you choose, it will be delicious!
Preparing vegan tuna salad
- Make a broth out of kelp flakes and salt and re-hydrate the TVP in the broth in to give it that fishy taste.
- Allow the TVP to soak up all of the broth and cool down a little.
- Add vegan mayo to the TVP mixture and some finely chopped celery if desired.
- Give it all a good stir and use it as you would tuna salad.
Notes:
- This vegan tuna salad can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for 3-5 days. (However, my family always eats it up before it has a chance to go bad).
- You can use any store-bought vegan mayo or you can make your own in about 3 minutes using my homemade vegan mayo recipe.
How do I make a vegan tuna melt?
- Make a sandwich with this tuna salad mixture and a slice of vegan cheese on it.
- Spread some vegan butter on the outer slices of the bread
- Grill it on a skillet over medium-low heat until it's golden brown and the cheese is melted.
If you need great vegan cheese or you want more tips on how to grill a perfect vegan sandwich check out my post on a vegan grilled cheese sandwich.
Make this recipe gluten-free
The vegan tuna salad itself is gluten-free. If you put it on gluten-free bread, you will have a gluten-free meal!
Want another great nostalgic sandwich?
- Tofu Egg Salad
- Vegan BLT
- Chickpea Salad Sandwich
- Vegan Buffalo Chicken Sandwich
- Vegan “Fish” Sandwich
Make sure to follow me on Instagram for daily vegan recipe ideas and tag me @thehiddenveggies so I can see your sandwich too!
A vegan tuna salad made with TVP and kelp powder for an authentic tuna taste and texture.
- ½ cup boiling water
- 1 tsp kelp flakes
- ¼ tsp salt
- ¾ cup TVP crumbles
- ½ cup vegan mayo
- ¼ cup finely chopped celery optional
- 2 tbsp pickle relish optional
- vegan cheese like Tofutti or Daiya shreds or slices optional
- bread of choice
- 1 tsp vegan butter optional (for tuna melt)
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Boil water and pour it into a bowl.
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Add the kelp flakes and salt then stir well.
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Add the TVP to the water and kelp mixture and stir.
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Allow it to sit for about 15 minutes until it absorbs all of the water and cools off.
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Add the mayo and mix well.
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Add celery and/or pickle relish if desired.
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Use as you would tuna salad.
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Store unused tuna salad in a sealed container in the refrigerator.
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Put 2-3 tbsp of tuna salad mixture and vegan cheese of choice between 2 slices of bread.
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Spread vegan butter on the outsides of the bread and grill in a skillet on medium low for a few minutes on each side until golden brown and cheese is melted.
- Make sure to allow the TVP mixture to cool before adding vegan mayo.
- To make a tuna salad sandwich, put sliced tomatoes and lettuce and 2-3 tbsp of tuna salad mixture between two slices of bread.
- Vegan tuna salad will keep in the refrigerator for 3 days.
I am going to marinate chickpeas in this kelp brine (I just need to get hold of some kelp first 🙂 to make it even healthier, should be great I think 🙂
Sounds delicious! I usually find my kelp at Whole Foods or my local Asian Market.
Sounds like a winner. I don't have TVP, but I do have Butler Soy Curls, I wonder how this would work with them? I do plan to try it out, as my husband was not raised vegetarian (I was, so no idea of the 'real taste' of tuna).
Thanks for this recipe. Enjoy, everyone!
Blessings.
Hi Chrissie, you can use Soy Curls instead of TVP, you probably just want to break it up into smaller pieces before adding it to the broth. Enjoy.
this is craaaazy good!! so simple & reallyreally reminds me of og tuna salad! thanks so much
Thanks so much, Grace! I'm so happy that you liked it! 🙂
If you can concoct a vegan crab salad recipe, I'll be your biggest fan forever more. Lobster salad gets you in my will.
That sounds amazing Jennifer! I have a few ideas of how to do it. I'll work on it. 🙂
Can I substitute nori for the kelp?
Yes, you can. Just chop it up small or you can let a sheet soak in the hot broth and then take it out. Enjoy! 🙂
I also found the recipe a bit too "chewy" so I added unsweetened soy milk which made it creamier and more tuna salad "ish" since my vegan mayo was store bought and very thick. I also added dried celery and dried dill and used left over pickled juice instead of pickle relish.
I was amazed how much this tasted like real tuna salad. Thank you so much for the recipe.
You're welcome! Glad that you enjoyed it! 🙂
This time I made it with some mashed pickled capers and a little bit of their juice,
It made it taste even more like tuna!!
Capers can add a fish taste to many vegan things.
You should experiment with them in your wonderful recipes.
Yes, I love capers too! They are a great addition to this tuna salad for sure! 🙂
This is about as close to tuna salad as you can get. This is my second time using TVP so still getting the hang of using it. I think it could have used a bit more water as it was too chewy. Otherwise the flavor was amazing! Will definitely make it again and add a bit more water to the mix. Thank you!
So happy that you liked it! The amount of water may vary slightly depending on the size of the TVP pieces you have. It's my favorite way to make "tuna!"
This is the closest tasting recipe to real tuna salad that I’ve tried!
This is soooooo good