Panera Tuna Salad Recipe: Tasty & Easy

Making a tuna salad seems so simple. After all, it’s just a simple combination of mayonnaise and tuna, so what could go wrong, right? This Panera tuna salad recipe is here to save the day.

Panera Bread is one of our favorite bakeries, but what’s surprising is how good their tuna salad is. The ingredients are tuned to perfection, it packs a complex flavor, and the taste is so balanced. It’s sweet and pungent, not to mention that a tuna salad, generally, is one of the healthiest snacks you could go for. If you’re looking for a proper tuna salad recipe Panera Bread is the way to go.

Jump to:

• Ingredients
• Instructions
• Substitutions
• Variations
• Equipment
• Storage
• Tips
• Panera Tuna Salad Recipe

Ingredients

• Tuna — 2 cans.
• Mayonnaise — 2 tsp.
• Lemon juice — 1 ½ tsp.
• Salt and pepper — to taste.
• Bread — 4 slices.
• Tomatoes — ⅓ cup, sliced.
• Onions — ⅓ cup, diced.
• Sweet relish — ⅓ cup, diced.
• Dijon mustard — 1 tbsp.

Instructions

1. Add the mayonnaise, lemon juice, and mustard to a mixing bowl, and stir well.

2. In another bowl, combine the tuna, sweet relish, and onion.

3. Pour the mayonnaise mixture over the tuna mixture and stir to coat.

4. Season with salt and pepper.

5. Serve on bread slices and garnish with sliced tomatoes.

Substitutions

• Mayonnaise — This Panera tuna salad recipe calls for mayonnaise, but if you are out of it, the closest you can get to mayonnaise would be Miracle Whip. Miracle Whip is lighter in calories and fat, but it does contain some sweeteners like fructose syrup which is a truly nasty thing for your body. Plain Greek yogurt tops our list along with Miracle Whip, with a consistency thick enough that you shouldn’t have any problem spreading it.

• Sweet relish — Even though sweet relish provides a fresh, acidic flavor that takes your dish to another level, it might be too sweet for some. Your best substitute option? Chopped dill pickles, at least if you’re looking for an identical taste. You still get that crunchy texture, with a similar acidic flavor.
  Another option would be pickled juice. Drizzle some pickle juice on your tuna salad, and you’ll see how great it is. Lastly, if you’re desperate enough, you could go with chopped cucumbers, though you’ll lose some flavor.

• Dijon mustard — To be honest, Dijon mustard is pretty similar to regular mustard, even though you could replace them in a 1/1 ratio. It is robust, pungent, and simply just better overall. Stone-ground mustard would be another fine alternative, although it is milder.

Variations

• Vegetables — Our Panera tuna salad recipe already calls for onions, but some extra vegetables like lettuce, diced carrots, red bell peppers, celery, or mushrooms can move your dish up a level.

• Herbs and spices — For a deeper, more complex flavor, you might want to consider adding some herbs and spices such as basil, oregano, and rosemary.

• Fruity — Why not add diced apples, grapes, and even mandarin would fit in perfectly. The flavor might be too mixed for some people, so don’t go overboard with the fruits.

Equipment

• Measuring spoons and cups.

• 2 mixing bowls.

Storage

• Transfer the leftover tuna salad to an airtight container, or a glass jar with a screw-top lid to store it.

• Tuna salad is best consumed within the next 3-5 days, although it can last for a week in the fridge.

Tips

• Check the labels — Not all tunas are created equal, and this is even more true when it comes to canned tuna. We’d strongly suggest getting a low-sodium one, if possible. If it’s also wild-caught, go for it.