For Bright, Flavorful Tuna Salad, Mix In A Handful Of This Fresh Herb

Tuna salad is the perfect combination of easy to prepare, flavorful, nutritious, and versatile. You can enjoy it on a sandwich or with crackers, or even just by itself. The best tuna salad is rich and creamy with a bright, tangy flavor profile and a delightfully crunchy texture. Achieving this at home is easy if you use high-quality tuna that is oil-packed and crucially, mix in a handful of fresh dill. Dill is a herb from the parsley family that can be used fresh or dry. Its leaves have a grassy, lemony, anise-like flavor that enhances the natural flavor of fish. 

There are many creative ways to use fresh dill, and adding it to your tuna salad works to balance the richness of the fish while elevating the overall flavor and preventing an overly fishy taste. Combining dill with lemon juice amps up the flavor even further, giving your tuna salad a zesty, citrusy twist. Rather than mixing all of your ingredients together at the same time, though, first create a flavorful dill sauce with only a few key ingredients: fresh dill, mayonnaise, lemon juice, and key spices and seasonings such as salt, pepper, and onion and garlic powder, depending on your tastes. 

This ensures that all of the ingredients are perfectly mixed before you add your fish. After you combine your canned tuna with the sauce, let the salad chill in your fridge for at least 20 minutes (but ideally overnight) to give the tuna time to fully absorb all the tasty flavors.

You can take your tuna salad up a notch and create a restaurant-worthy version at home simply by choosing other add-ins that complement the dill and lemon flavors. For instance, using Greek yogurt instead of mayonnaise will achieve the rich and creamy sauce you want while also making your tuna salad a little bit healthier. Combine the yogurt with lemon juice, fresh dill, Dijon mustard, and chopped celery and red onion. This will create a clean, creamy sauce with just enough kick to brighten and balance the delicate flakiness of the tuna meat. 

If you want to really bring out the tanginess of the dill and lemon, opt for sour cream instead of mayo. You can also create a half-and-half blend of the two creamy condiments. Then, add a spoonful or two of dill pickle relish to give your salad a pop of surprising, crunchy flavor. 

Capers are another key ingredient to add for a much better tuna salad, taking it from bland to bold with a little punch of flavor and a more interesting texture. They offer a salty, tangy, and briny taste that cuts through the oiliness of the tuna and balances the creamy richness of the mayonnaise. They also pair perfectly with dill, enhancing the fresh, grassy notes of the herb even further.