Tuna Couscous Salad Recipe

You've heard of tuna salad, and you've heard of pasta salad, but this tuna couscous salad is a fresh take on both that will breathe new life into your lunch routine. Featuring pearl couscous and canned tuna as the base, this couscous salad also boasts a plethora of fresh and briny ingredients with a distinct Mediterranean flair, making for a hearty lunchtime meal or dinner side that also conveniently clears out your pantry in one go.

While the rich canned tuna may be a star ingredient of this salad, we particularly love how all the mix-ins come together to create an impressive depth of zesty, salty flavor and textural intrigue. The couscous itself is plump and chewy, while additions like peas and corn add pops of color and a fresh, sweet vegetal touch. You'll get a double-dose of tomatoes in this recipe by way of sun-dried and fresh cherry ones, and olives and artichoke hearts add the perfect acidic, briny notes. There's no wrong way to enjoy this tuna couscous salad, and you can eat it all on its own as a well-rounded and balanced meal. We particularly like scooping some of the salad on a slice of crusty bread for a quick, hearty, no-fuss meal.

To begin this tuna couscous salad recipe, start by grabbing the stars of the show: pearl couscous and canned oil-packed tuna. Optionally, if you'd like to up the fish ante, you can include minced anchovy fillets for even more umami depth. As for the salad mix-ins, you'll need frozen peas, grape or cherry tomatoes, olives, sun-dried tomatoes, artichoke hearts, and sliced red onion. You'll then toss the salad dressing ingredients right into the mix: olive oil (or oil from the tuna can), lemon juice, fresh basil, dried oregano, salt, and black pepper.

Bring 2 cups of lightly salted water to a boil in a medium pot. (Follow the package directions for your couscous if they differ from these steps.)

Add the couscous and stir.

Cover the pot, lower the heat to low, and let simmer for 8-10 minutes.

Transfer the couscous to a serving bowl and set it aside to cool, stirring occasionally to speed up cooling and prevent sticking.

Heat no more than an inch of water in a pot fitted with a steamer basket.

Place the peas in the basket, cover the pot, and steam for 2-3 minutes.

Transfer the peas to a large dish and set them aside to cool.

Once the couscous is cool, drain the tuna, reserving the oil. Place the tuna in the bowl with the couscous and break up any large chunks with a fork.

Add the tomatoes, olives, sun-dried tomatoes, corn, artichoke hearts, red onion, optional anchovies, and cooled peas to the bowl.

Add the tomatoes, olives, sun-dried tomatoes, corn, artichoke hearts, red onion, optional anchovies, and cooled peas to the bowl.

Cover the bowl and refrigerate for 1 hour before serving to allow the flavors to meld.

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You'll notice that this recipe specifically calls for pearl couscous, which is a little different from regular couscous or other varieties you might see out there. Moroccan couscous is arguably the most popular type, recognizable by its very small, sand-like size and yellow hue. As the name suggests, Moroccan couscous is very common in Moroccan cooking and North African cuisine in general. This type of couscous also cooks very quickly due to its small size, and it has a relatively neutral, pasta-like flavor profile, though toasted versions will offer a slightly nuttier taste.

Pearl couscous, sometimes called Israeli couscous, is easy to tell apart from regular or Moroccan couscous thanks to its larger size and white hue. Made from semolina wheat, pearl couscous is known for its chewy texture and generally mild flavor profile, but, like regular couscous, it may have more distinct nutty notes if you buy a toasted variety. There's a third type of couscous, Lebanese couscous, which is different from pearl or Israeli couscous mostly due to its larger size and color variation.

We like pearl couscous for this tuna salad recipe thanks to its nice mid-sized bite and notable chewy texture, which works well with the other components of the dish and holds its own against bold flavors. You could experiment and use different types of couscous as desired, but note that you'll have to adjust the cooking time.

This tuna couscous salad recipe is easily customizable depending on what you have on hand or what flavors you feel like incorporating. Starting with the tuna, you can certainly experiment with different flavor types as desired, but we do recommend using an oil-packed version for optimal richness. You can take a look at our canned tuna brand ranking to get a feel for the various types and land on one that would work best in this recipe. You also don't need to stick with tuna here. We already call for the optional anchovy fillet addition as desired, but canned salmon or trout would also work well here. 

As for the mix-ins, we tried to strike a nice balance between veggies, jarred ingredients, and fresh inclusions for the most variety. Feel free to tweak the balance, for example, opting for fresh peas and corn (instead of frozen and canned) and amping up the jarred inclusions if you'd like things even brinier. Capers or pickled peppers could work well here, but we recommend reaching for a relatively mild pepper (like banana peppers or cherry peppers) so as not to throw off the delicate flavor balance of the salad. Finally, if you'd like to add a slightly tangy flavor to the mix, add some balsamic vinegar while tossing in the dressing ingredients for a little more bite.

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