Italian Tuna Salad
Updated Mar 11, 2026
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Firm, meaty tuna tossed with a blended dressing of sun-dried tomatoes, capers, green olives, shallots, baby spinach, and red wine vinegar — no mayo, no fuss, ready in 10 minutes. Serve it on sourdough, over greens, or straight from the bowl. The food processor does most of the work, and the result is the most flavorful tuna salad you've made all year.
Italian tuna salad is what happens when you take everything good about a classic tuna salad and replace the mayo with something more interesting. Olive oil. Red wine vinegar. A food processor full of capers, olives, sun-dried tomatoes, shallots, and spinach, blended into a dressing that clings to every flake of tuna and packs a delicious punch.
No mayo doesn’t mean no flavor — it means different flavor, brighter and brinier, and more interesting. This is the version for the “no mayo, please” people in your house, for the days when you ran out, and for anyone who’s ready to be surprised by a can of tuna.
“Unbelievably good! This was so easy to make. My husband and I enjoyed it so much!” – Peg M.
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What's In This Post?
Italian Tuna Salad: Tuna bound together with a lick of olive oil, jammed with onions and capers and olives. You’ll never miss the mayonnaise.
The Vinaigrette
Most Italian tuna salads are just tuna with things stirred in. This one uses a food processor to blend the dressing ingredients — sun-dried tomatoes, shallots, baby spinach, capers, olives, red wine vinegar, olive oil — into a cohesive, colorful dressing that actually coats the tuna instead of sitting alongside it.
Pulse until roughly blended — you want texture, not a smooth purée. Then pour it over the tuna and toss.
Ingredients
If you don’t like any of the ingredients or you don’t have them, skip them! You’ll still end up with a terrific mayo-free tuna salad.
- Tuna – Try to find Italian tuna for this recipe. It will usually be packed in oil and needs to be well drained. You’ll want to add a smaller amount of olive oil if you use oil-packed tuna. If you use a combo of light and dark tuna, you’ll still want to reduce the added oil lightly. I happen to love the mix of white and light tuna together.
- Olive oil – Use a really good olive oil if you have one — the higher quality these ingredients are, the better the end result will taste.
- Sun-dried tomatoes – If they come in oil, just drain your tomatoes well. If they come dried, you’ll want to revive them by soaking them in hot water for 10 minutes, then draining.
- Shallots – Give them a rough chop; they will get more finely minced when pulsed in the food processor with the rest of the dressing.
- Spinach – Use baby spinach leaves, which are more tender.
- Green olives – With pimentos or not — your choice!
- Capers – Add lovely brininess.
- Red wine vinegar – This adds some acidity to the mix, which keeps things interesting.
- Pepper – Don’t be shy with the pepper – this is a robustly flavored tuna salad!
How to Make Italian Tuna Salad
- Drain the tuna: Drain the tuna and place it in a medium-sized mixing bowl.
- Make the dressing: In a food processor, pulse the sun-dried tomatoes, shallots, spinach, olives, capers, and pepper until roughly blended. Add the red wine vinegar and olive oil and pulse until combined.
- Mix into tuna: Add the dressing to the tuna and toss until combined. Taste and adjust seasonings as needed. Add more olive oil if it looks dry.
- Serve: Serve a scoop on lettuce or green salad, or make this into sandwiches.
What Kind of Tuna to Use
Italian tuna packed in olive oil is the goal — it’s firmer, meatier, and more flavorful than water-packed albacore, and it makes a real difference in a recipe where the tuna is the star. Drain it well regardless, then add your own good olive oil so you control the quality and quantity.
Can’t find Italian tuna? Water-packed albacore works fine — use the full amount of olive oil in the dressing. A mix of white and dark tuna is also excellent and adds textural interest.
Variations
Add white beans. Cannellini beans are the classic Italian addition — they add protein, creaminess, and make the salad more substantial. Add one can, drained and rinsed.
Add hard-boiled eggs. Two roughly chopped hard cooked eggs turn this into a complete meal and add richness that plays nicely against the brine.
Add roasted red peppers. Strips of jarred roasted peppers add sweetness and color. This excellent version leans fully Southern Italian.
Add green beans. Blanched and cooled green beans add crunch and freshness — a Ligurian-inspired twist that’s particularly good in summer.
Make it a sandwich. Sourdough, a smear of good butter or olive oil, thick slices of tomato, a handful of arugula. This is one of the best tuna sandwiches you’ll ever eat.
Make it a melt. Pile the tuna salad on sourdough, top with provolone, run it under the broiler. The Italian flavors work even better melted.
Tips
- Drain the tuna thoroughly. Press it against the side of the can or squeeze it in a paper towel. Excess liquid dilutes the dressing and makes the salad watery.
- Don’t over-pulse the dressing. You want rough texture — bits of olive and caper visible — not a smooth paste. Five or six pulses is usually enough.
- Use a genuinely good olive oil. This recipe has nowhere to hide mediocre ingredients. The olive oil is doing real work in the dressing — use one you’d eat on bread.
- If it dries out in the fridge: A splash of olive oil and another small splash of red wine vinegar brings it right back. The tuna absorbs the dressing as it sits.
- For a change of pace, try Canned Salmon Salad.
FAQs
I like to drain off all of the oil, even if I’m making Italian-style tuna, which has olive oil in it. I prefer the addition of my own olive oil to the oil the tuna is packed in.
This Italian Tuna Salad will keep for 4 days in the fridge.
Italian tuna salads are different from most American versions because they don’t contain mayonnaise. Don’t worry, though: what they lack in creaminess, they certainly make up for in flavor! I also suggest using Italian tuna.
These types of canned tuna share many of the same attributes — they’re both rich in omega-3 fatty acids and packed with protein. Technically, albacore tuna is higher in calories than chunk light tuna and has more mercury; however, the difference between them is ultimately pretty negligible.
Sourdough is the move — sturdy enough to hold the salad, with enough character to stand up to the bold flavors. Ciabatta is a close second. An English muffin is another option if you’re going the tuna melt route. Avoid soft sandwich bread, which gets soggy fast.
What to Serve With Italian Tuna Salad
This tuna salad goes great on top of a simple green salad and makes for some phenomenal sandwiches, especially on a nice piece of sourdough bread with some tomatoes and arugula. It’s light, bright, and full of texture.
More Sandwich-Friendly Salad Recipes
- World’s Best Tuna Fish
- Smoky Chipotle Chicken Salad
- Grilled Chicken Caesar Salad Wraps
- Salmon Salad with Jalapeno Scallion Dressing
- The World’s Best Tuna Melt (this is the mayo version of tuna salad)
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Italian Tuna Salad
Ingredients
- 2 5-ounce cans solid white tuna
- 2 5-ounce cans chunk light tuna
- ¼ cup sundried tomatoes (drained if in oil; soaked in hot water for 10 minutes then drained if dried)
- 2 shallots, (roughly chopped)
- 1 cup baby spinach leaves
- ½ cup green olives with pimentos
- 1 tablespoon capers (drained)
- freshly ground black pepper (to taste)
- 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil (or more if desired)
Instructions
- Drain the tuna and place in a medium-sized mixing bowl.
- In a food processor, pulse the sun-dried tomatoes, shallots, spinach, olives, capers, and pepper until roughly blended. Then add the red wine vinegar and olive oil and pulse until combined. Add the dressing to the tuna and toss until combined. Taste and adjust seasonings as needed. Add more olive oil if it looks dry.
- Serve a scoop on lettuce or green salad, or make this into sandwiches.
Notes
- If you buy the tuna in oil, you’ll still want to drain it, and add fresh extra-virgin olive oil, but you’ll want to start with 1 tablespoon. Also, I happen to love the mix of white and light tuna together, but you may have different feelings about what kind of tuna you prefer, and how you like it packed.
- This tuna will keep for 4 days in the fridge. Also, know that if you store the tuna for a day or more it might dry out a bit as the tuna absorbs the dressing, so it might need a splash of olive oil to loosen it up. Or, if you want it tangier, even a splash of vinegar, too.
Unbelievably good! This was so easy to make. My husband and I enjoyed it so much!
Coincidentally, I made Italian Style Tuna yesterday. My grandmother’s recipe is tuna, garlic, onions, celery, hot or sweet cherry peppers (some of the vinegar too), fresh parsley, and oregano. Delicious stuffed into some fried dough balls.