Tuna White Bean Salad
This Cannellini White Bean Salad is incredibly delicious, made with tuna, fresh basil, and zingy lemon. It's light, fresh and ready in under 10 minutes, perfect for lunch or as a healthy side dish.
This Cannellini White Bean Salad is incredibly delicious, made with tuna, fresh basil, and zingy lemon. It's light, fresh and ready in under 10 minutes, perfect for lunch or as a healthy side dish.
- Carbohydrate 2.8085 g
- Cholesterol 0 mg
- Fat 2.56325000108551 g
- Fiber 0.626500018835068 g
- Protein 0.325 g
- Saturated Fat 0.361650000149887 g
- Serving Size 1 1 people (241g)
- Sodium 1.24062500002171 mg
- Sugar 2.18199998116493 g
- Trans Fat 0.0786612500293958 g
- Calories 34 calories
Step-by-step
- Drain and rinse the cannellini beans and place in a large bowl then drain the tuna and add to the bowl.
- Finely chop the red onion and add to the bowl with the cannellini beans and tuna.
- Grate the zest of 1 lemon over the tuna and beans then squeeze over the juice of half the lemon.
- Season with salt and pepper.
- Finely chop the basil and add to the bowl along with 2-3 tbsp olive oil (add more if desired).
- Stir everything until combined.
- Enjoy.
Standard recipes rarely warn about the moisture content of canned cannellini beans straight from the tin, yet introducing wet legumes to canned tuna creates a watery pool that dilutes the dressing entirely. Spreading the rinsed beans across a double layer of paper towels and rolling them gently to absorb surface liquid prevents this dilution before any oil touches the bowl. Furthermore, raw red onions require a specific treatment to eliminate acrid sulfur compounds that otherwise overpower the delicate sweetness of fresh basil leaves and the brightness of citrus zest. Slicing the onion paper-thin and submerging those fragments in ice-cold water for exactly fifteen minutes tames their bite while preserving a crisp structural crunch that holds up against heavy protein chunks. A wide stainless steel mixing bowl measuring at least twelve inches across is essential here, because cramped quarters prevent proper folding and inevitably mash the tender cannellini legumes into an unappealing paste. When incorporating the olive oil and freshly squeezed lemon juice, drizzling them slowly down the curved interior wall of the vessel rather than dumping them straight onto the tuna ensures even distribution across every single bean. Over-mixing ruins the final texture instantly, so use a rubber spatula to fold the ingredients precisely four times from the bottom upward. Storing leftovers requires an airtight glass container, keeping the mixture safe for up to forty-eight hours in the refrigerator before the basil begins to oxidize and darken.
