Nowhere to Hide Tuna Salad

By Rex Marketing & CX Team

Open tin of pink tuna with a red onion and a bottle on a yellow background with colored triangles.

American Vinegar Works Nowhere to Hide Tuna Salad

This dish is intended as a snacking meal to be served on those weekend days when you make a meal of cheeses, charcuterie, and a few odds and ends. Add this small tapa. It is called a Nowhere to Hide Tuna Salad because it has so few ingredients that they must be the best or the flavors will not work—no mayo to cover it up.

This recipe features our California Extra Virgin Olive Oil, opens in a new tab, and our Ultimate Red Wine Vinegar, opens in a new tab.

Which vinegar to use, and why

Tarragon vinegar is the classic partner for tinned fish and mayonnaise, and it does the job lemon usually gets asked to do. We use Tarragon Wine Vinegar here. It is slow-fermented and aged in oak at our mill in Worcester, Massachusetts, which is why it seasons the dish rather than just souring it.

Make it ahead and keep it

Keeps covered in the fridge for several days. Bring it back to room temperature before serving, since good olive oil clouds and thickens when cold.

What to cook next

Try Chickpea & Tuna Salad, or browse all our vinegar recipes. If you have not cooked with craft vinegar before, a mini bottle sampler set lets you taste across the range before committing to a full-size bottle. Orders over $85 ship free within the contiguous US.

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Nowhere to Hide Tuna Salad

American Vinegar Works

Servings

1-2 People

Prep Time

5 minutes

Calories

639

Cuisine

Mediterranean

Category

Main

This "Nowhere to Hide" Tuna Salad is a minimalist Mediterranean-style tapa designed for snacking alongside cheese and charcuterie. With no mayonnaise to mask the flavor, the quality of each ingredient is paramount—featuring flaked premium tuna, pungent raw onion, and the bright acidity of red wine vinegar.

Nowhere to Hide Tuna Salad

Ingredients

  • 1 can of tuna in olive oil

  • Half a small yellow onion

  • Generous amount of oregano

  • California Extra Virgin Olive Oil

  • 2 tablespoons of wine vinegar (Red or Rose)

Directions

  1. “Making” this salad could not be simpler. Just empty a can of tuna in olive oil onto a small plate. My preference is to drain (and toss) the olive oil and then add better quality olive oil to the dish. I know it sounds wasteful so maybe use that oil for something else but the truth is that even in the best canned tuna the preservation olive oil is subpar. One more note on the tuna. Use the best you can find. Ortiz is a Spanish brand that has wide distribution, while Tenorio or Santa Catarina are two Portuguese brands with poorer distribution but at a better price. Sprinkle a generous amount of oregano on the tuna.

  2. Slice very thin rounds of yellow onion onto the tuna. It will look like too much—that is okay, you want too much.

  3. Sprinkle more oregano and then pour over about 2 tablespoons of red or rose wine vinegar. If you swirl the plate it will mix enough. Do not add salt to the tuna as most of these types of canned tuna already have salt added.
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