Beans and Tuna Salad (Italy)

The perfect summer tuna salad

Here in Italy, this beans and tuna salad is a great classic, eaten especially during the summer months to fight the growing heat. According to tradition, this dish originates in northern Tuscany, but it’s widely prepared all over the country, sometimes with regional variations. In the southern regions of Italy for instance, it’s quite common to add a few fresh chilies in place of pepper, or to use chili infused olive oil instead of the regular one.

Quick and inexpensive

This straightforward tuna salad is a super-fast lunch recipe.  It is very satisfying and ideal for those times when you need to pull together a full meal as quickly as possible. In fact, it’s beyond simple to make, and it’s prepared with basic ingredients that every one of us has stocked in the pantry.  It’s extremely inexpensive and great in every season of the year.

Beans and tuna salad is a delicious rustic dish, packed with proteins and characterized by the sweet sharpness of the red onion, the richness of the canned tuna and the creaminess of the cannellini beans. If you like simple recipes and strong flavors, this is definitely the recipe for you!

Canned or fresh beans?

In theory, this simple salad should be prepared with dried cannellini beans soaked overnight and then boiled, but I think canned ones work perfectly fine as well, just make sure they are not too mushy. Also, for a great result it is essential that your tuna is packed in oil and not in water.

Finally, this is the simplest and most traditional version of this tuna salad, but if you’d like to enrich it with a few extra ingredients all you have to do is to add cherry tomatoes, arugula, capers or anything else you fancy. Here in Liguria for instance, when we prepare this salad, some nice niçoise olives are almost always featured.

Enjoy!

Here are some other authentic Mediterranean tuna recipes:

Tuna Deviled Eggs (Spain)

Tuna Patties Fried in Olive Oil (France)

Tuna Salad with Egg and Potato (Spain)

Beans and Tuna Salad (Italy)

4.82 from 11 votes

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Prep Time 10 minutes mins

Total Time 10 minutes mins

Servings 2

Calories 583 kcal

Ingredients

  

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• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• 1 can (15oz) cannellini beans
• 1/2 red onion, preferably Tropea variety
• 7 ounces canned tuna in oil, drained
• 1 tsp minced parsley

Instructions

 

• In a large bowl, whisk together lemon juice, olive oil, salt, and pepper to create a vinaigrette.
• Drain the beans and rinse well under running cold water.
• Slice the red onion as thinly as possible.
• Flake the canned tuna with the help of a fork.
• Add all the ingredients to the bowl, leaving parsley for last.
• Gently toss everything together to make sure every bit is evenly coated.

Nutrition

Calories: 583kcalCarbohydrates: 50gProtein: 45gFat: 23gSaturated Fat: 4gPolyunsaturated Fat: 5gMonounsaturated Fat: 13gCholesterol: 18mgSodium: 364mgPotassium: 1250mgFiber: 11gSugar: 2gVitamin A: 82IUVitamin C: 5mgCalcium: 180mgIron: 8mg

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