An easy and delicious throw together rice salad with tuna, corn, bell pepper and peas. Makes a great potluck dish or light lunch, holds up very well in the fridge, and is full of flavor. This is a family favorite!
What is tuna rice salad?
It’s a salad my mother in law makes all the time. It’s cold and creamy and packed with crunchy peas and corn kernels, green onions, red bell pepper and zestiness from the lemon. She got the recipe off a decades old recipe card that came with a bottle of oil she purchased. We get excited every time we see this on the table because it really is such a flavor bomb. And so easy to make!
How do you make this?
Very simply! You just need to mix together cooked rice, some veggies, drained tuna, then toss them with a combined dressing.
Ingredients in tuna rice salad:
The base of this is the rice. We used white basmati but I can’t see why this wouldn’t be delicious with brown rice or another form of white rice. Even quinoa would be great! The rice should be cool, so you can prepare it the day ahead if you like. It needs to get broken up so it isn’t clumpy, and mixed with the rest of the ingredients.
The classic recipe calls for corn kernels and peas. I prefer both of these being frozen and thawed- no need to cook or dunk in boiling water or anything. Just thawing them will keep their vibrant color and keeps them nice and crispy in the salad.
We also add diced red bell peppers and green onions- very finely diced so that they don’t become too much of a mouthful.
The dressing is made by mixing together yogurt, mayonnaise, lemon juice and lemon zest, olive oil, and a little milk if the dressing is too thick and needs to be thinned out.
Feel free to experiment and modify this with whatever you have on hand! If not making this ahead of time, I think this would be delicious topped with avocado. You can add cucumber, cherry tomatoes, other types of bell pepper, really anything you like!
How long can leftovers be stored?
Tuna rice salad can be stored for 2-3 days in the fridge, and the beauty of this is it tastes just as great the next day! There’s no lettuce or other greens to become wilted and soggy, so everything stays crips and fresh.
What to serve this with?
This can stand alone as a light lunch, or be served along other items in a spread. This makes the perfect potluck dish!
Tuna Rice Salad
Ingredients
- 2 cups of cooked long grain basmati rice, cold
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 lemon juice and zest
- 3 green onions, finely chopped
- 1 red bell pepper, finely diced
- 1/2 cup corn, canned or thawed
- 1 cup peas, canned or thawed
- 2 cans tuna, drained
- 6 tbsp mayonnaise
- 4 tbsp yogurt
- 2 tbsp milk
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Break apart any clumps of the rice, then add in green onions, red bell pepper, corn, and peas.
- Add the drained flaked tuna to the mix. I like to break apart the tuna with a fork before dumping it in to make sure its not clumpy.
- Seperately, mix together the lemon juice and zest, olive oil, mayonnaise, yogurt, milk and salt and pepper to form your dressing.
Notes
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This would make the perfect lunch! Looks delicious. 🙂
So light and tasty!
This dish is amazing! So vibrant with color and so much flavor in each bite.
Thanks Marylnn!
This tuna rice salad is delicious and totally works as a filling meal on its own. Perfect for lunch. 🙂
That’s what I think!!
What a great recipe! I happen to have all these ingredients so I am excited to give this a try with dinner tonight! Looks delicious!
I really hope you like it!
This is absolutely amazing! So easy and delicious!
Thanks Toni!!