A simple and delicious snack made of canned tuna, green onions, mayonnaise and sriracha sauce, served with a side of rice.
It’s Sunday. It’s been one of those lazy weekends relaxing at home and keeping cool from another heat wave sweeping across the Big Apple. Every summer, New York is hit with a few days that are so hot, even a short stroll is out of the question. When it gets this steamy, I stay indoors in my jammies, drink iced tea and watch Netflix. No point fighting nature on this and meeting friends is out of the question, as I turn into a big whiny baby. I feel like a wilted piece of lettuce – limp, useless and not too pretty to look at.
When the mercury rises above 95 degrees, my husband knows there won’t be much cooking involved. The options will either be delivery or a table full of snacks.
It’s a good day for something very easy like a spicy tuna salad. Beside chopping scallions, there’s no prep work required. It takes less than ten minutes to make and tastes like.. Sushi restaurant spicy tuna rolls! The only difference is I’m using canned instead of fresh tuna and there’s no rolling involved.
I came up with this spicy tuna salad idea one day when I was craving a tuna mayo onigiri (rice ball). My goal was to make my own rice balls, but then thought it would be even easier to just eat it deconstructed. The flavors are still the same and I’d be saving on the work load.
I’m also not very good at rolling or making rice balls; everything turns into a big sticky mess. In fact, I’m so bad at it that my mother once fired me for rolling makis too loosely for a party. Hers were beautiful, dainty and even, while mine looked like they’d just got back from a war. Since then, my rolling skills have improved but I’ll leave that talent to my mother as it’s not really my cup of tea (too meticulous).
This spicy tuna salad recipe is something anyone can make and play with. It’s unfussy, tastes really good and makes a quick and healthy snack (great with Japanese pickles). Zero sweating needed? Me likey!
Japanese Spicy Tuna Salad
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 0 minutes
- Total Time: 10 minutes
- Yield: 2 people 1x
- Category: Salad
- Method: Mixing Bowl
- Cuisine: Japanese
Description
A simple and delicious Japanese spicy tuna salad served with a side of rice.
Ingredients
- 1 can chunk white tuna in water, drained
- 1/2 teaspoon rice vinegar
- 2 tablespoons mayonnaise
- 1 tablespoon sriracha sauce
- 1 tablespoon scallions, finely chopped
- 2 cups cooked Japanese rice
- shredded nori, for garnish (optional)
Instructions
- Put all the ingredients in a mixing bowl – except for the nori – and mix well.
- Adjust consistency and heat to your liking by adding more mayo or sriracha sauce.
- Top with shredded nori and chopped scallions and serve with rice and nori sheets.
Notes
Keep the spicy tuna salad in a storage container and refrigerate for up to 4 days.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 serving
- Calories: 384
- Sugar: 1.2g
- Sodium: 555.5mg
- Fat: 13.3g
- Saturated Fat: 2.4g
- Unsaturated Fat: 7.2g
- Trans Fat: 0g
- Carbohydrates: 39.5g
- Fiber: 0.3g
- Protein: 23.8g
- Cholesterol: 41.9mg
This was just lovely – evening on a chilly autumn day – and exactly what I was looking for. I did not have sriracha on hand, but used about an equal amount of gochujang paste and was very pleased with the results. Thank you!
OMG, I literally laughed out loud when I read this post! it’s been SO hot and I was craving something simple, easy and nutritious and my mind went to onigiri.. but that’s not so easy… I searched for “Japanese Tuna Salad” and when I saw that you had one, well, that was good enough for me, except your post is EXACTLY what and how I wanted to eat it! rice, tuna salad and something using my mountainous stash of seaweed snacks! Really perfection… LOVE!
Thank you so much, Angie! 🙂
I loved this recipe so much!!!! I came across it randomly as I was googling “easy tuna recipes” because that’s what I had in my cabinet, but I didn’t want the standard tuna salad. This was a game changer!! Almost like a sushi bake. I ate it over steamed rice as suggested and loaded it with furikake seasoning on top. THANK YOU!!
Thank you so much Heather! 🙂
How is all your stuff so delicious? Every recipe I have made, I follow it exactly and it’s amazing. Perfectly seasoned and everything… this recipe included. Thank you!
Thank you so much, you are so kind! Comments like yours fuel me to keep on creating recipes, I really appreciate it! 🙂
I was looking for something a little different from my usual tuna salad and I came across this one. I made it exactly as written and ate it on rice crackers. It was absolutely delicious!
I lacto-ferment my own ripe Thai chiles and prefer those over sriracha sauce. This is like a chirashi with tuna salad instead of fresh fish or kind of like soboro on rice. The addition of kinshi tamago would be more work but tasty. My mother, Kazuko (RIP) used to make the best soboro from canned tuna; one of my favorite lunchtime treats growing up! I like this bowl with a nice fat umeboshi and a cup of green tea. The other day I fermented some daikon. When that was ready, it went into the blender with the brine and Thai chiles. A perfect spicy topping on hot rice and great with tuna salad! It also is a good marinade and dipping sauce. My mother always loved spicy food which is unusual since she was born in Japan in 1934 and grew up there. Her kare-raisu was sinus clearing! Lol! Thanks so much for sharing this with us! I’m glad you have managed to control the psoriasis. I tend to eat a mostly Asian diet and have never had an issue with weight and I’m 62!
~Chieko
I loved your recipe. Used Wasabi Mayo (Kikkoman) in place of sriracha. Added crushed red pepper, green peas and onion powder. Forgot to add rice vinegar 🙂 Next time will try Indian tadka on it. It might give it a bigger kick. Tadka- heat couple of spoons of oil, add one dried red chilli and fry mustard seeds in oil. As they start popping use this as a garnish to any dish. It tastes great as salad dressing too.
I love your story Chieko! I’m so surprised your mom like spicy foods, it’s definitely not a Japanese trait, lol! My mother can and the rest of my family in Japan can barely tolerate gochugaru, which I do not find hot at all. They say it’s “piri piri” as soon as I add a pinch, hehe!
If we don’t have rice vinegar, is there anything else we could use?
Hi Sammy, You can substitute rice wine vinegar for apple cider vinegar 🙂
Fantastic recipe! Made this twice and it was loved by all.. thank you!!
So happy to hear that! I eat this on a regular basis as well, such a wonderful and easy snack!