Vegan Tuna Salad (Made with Jackfruit, not Chickpeas!)
This vegan tuna salad (jackfruit tuna salad) is the tuna salad of my childhood- but not only is it dolphin safe, it’s tuna safe! It is perfectly delicious- the tuna texture is courtesy of the jackfruit (not chickpeas, which don’t quite do it for me), and a little bit of oceany-something comes from seaweed. It’s a perfect lunch atop a bed of fresh greens, or between two slices of crusty bread. My go-to picnic food, it’s a crowd pleaser and easily customized to meet all of your tuna salad expectations.
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Love Tuna but Hate Killing Tuna?
I became a vegetarian at the age of 5, and at the time there weren’t many meat-substitutes available (or maybe there were- I wouldn’t know, I was 5). One of the last meats I gave up was tuna fish- there was something about it that no amount of egg-salad sandwiches could replace, and although I eventually got over it, it took a while for me to stop missing tuna. Now, years later, with egg-salad completely off the table and my knowledge of vegan meat substitutes having been significantly expanded, I decided to give my old friend the tuna salad sandwich another shot. But this time a vegan tuna salad- without the tuna death, and unintended dolphin deaths.
Tuna- Team Chickpea or Team Jackfruit?
Many of the vegan tuna salads out there are made with chickpeas, lightly smashed and dressed like tuna. And these are totally delicious- but they do taste more or less like chickpeas. I decided to take a different approach, and use jackfruit as my tuna base. This tropical fruit has gained a lot of popularity as a meat substitute- when it’s ripe, it has a sweet, fruity taste like you’d imagine, but when it’s still green it is almost tasteless. That’s nice, because it gives you the chance to dress it up, and flavor it to mimic whatever dish you had in mind. However jackfruit’s greatest appeal as a meat substitute comes not from it’s taste (or lack of) but from its texture. It’s stringy, and can be easily pulled apart. It’s a little tough and chewy. The texture is most commonly referenced as being similar to pulled pork, but to me they screamed tuna.
No need to pick- Check out these other Jackfruit and Chickpea recipes
- Spicy Jackfruit and Black Bean Stew with Bananas
- Spicy Garlic Roasted Chickpeas Snack
- Vegan Brown Rice Congee (Savory Rice Porridge) with Jackfruit and Mushrooms
- Vegan Spinach and Chickpea Curry
- Simple Wild Garlic Recipe- Allium vineale Hummus
How to Make Vegan Seafood
Along with the perfectly textured tuna, you mix in some savory flavors (soy sauce, garlic, onion) as well as that special touch that gives it a little taste of the ocean. There are two things you can do to turn your food into a good fish substitution. You can spice it the way fish is, using something like Old Bay (this works better on more mild seafood), or you can add a little of the ocean directly to your dish in the form of seaweed. I’ve spent a good amount of time writing about my love of dulse in the past, so I’ll keep it bare-bones this time- dulse is a spice made from dried seaweed, and it is essential towards making this vegan tuna salad more than just a jackfruit salad.
Update: Check out this great roundup post from Elephantistic Vegan for more vegan seafood inspiration!
How to Make Vegan Tuna Salad
The process itself two-fold- first you cook the jackfruit, using onions and garlic to build a base flavor and then adding the jackfruit. Cooking the fruit will do two things- it will allow it to absorb some of the more savory tuna flavors, and it also will soften the larger chunks of fruit. With the fruit cooked it will make it easier to use a potato masher to smash the jackfruit until it has reached a point where it is looser and the large, central spines in each piece of fruit are broken up. The second part of the process begins after you’ve let the jackfruit cool a while, and from here it’s just like making tuna salad- mix in your vegan mayo, mustard, and scallions, or mix up the recipe to your tastes. Try adding some miso, pickles, paprika or capers- anything that gives you that happy “tuna” salad feeling.
Vegan Tuna Salad (with Jackfruit, not Chickpeas!)
Ingredients
- 2 cans of green jackfruit (20 oz, in brine not syrup)
- 1 small onion
- 2 cloves of garlic
- Oil, for cooking
- 2 TBSP. soy sauce (or tamari for gluten-free)
- ¼ tsp. black pepper
- 1 TBSP. dulse flakes
- Juice from 1 small lemon
- ½ cup vegan mayonnaise
- 1 TBSP. whole grain mustard
- 2-3 scallions, chopped
Instructions
- Open the jackfruit cans and drain the brine. Use your fingers to pick apart the harder end pieces a little before cooking (you’ll do this more after you’ve cooked them). Dice the onion and mince the garlic.
- Heat a little oil in a skillet and add the onion and garlic. Cook for around 2 minutes before adding the jackfruit, soy sauce and pepper. Continue cooking the jackfruit for approximately 8 more minutes, stirring frequently. Once you’re done the jackfruit should have softened slightly- take off the heat and mix in the lemon juice and dulse.
- Move the jackfruit to a large bowl, and use a potato masher to separate any large chunks. Allow to cool before adding vegan mayo, mustard and green onions (or any other ingredients you prefer in tuna salad) and mixing well to combine.
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Let’s Hear Your Thoughts on Vegan Tuna Salad (with Jackfruit, Not Chickpeas)
- Team jackfruit or team chickpea?
- What are some of your favorite, non-vegan childhood favorites? Or did you grow up vegan?
- What’s your favorite way to enjoy mock tuna salad?
Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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I just made this (half the recipe and a couple of adaptations to make it low fodmap for my IBS) and used it in onigiri. It works really well in sushi/onigiri as a veggie option and I have some left to try in different ways too! I can’t have too many chickpeas because of my IBS and have been missing my tuna so this is a fun option, thank you 😀
So glad you liked it, and thanks for the comment!