The Top 6 Canned Tuna Brands To Buy And The 6 Worst

Welcome to the wild and wonderful world of canned tuna. While this aluminum-gilded seafood genre has overcome its once ho-hum reputation, that doesn't mean every can off the shelf is magic in a tin. Luckily, we've got you covered on which canned tuna brands to buy, and which to skip.

In the mood for an upscale tuna casserole that's camera-ready for the 'Gram? Feeling nostalgic for a classic tuna salad niçoise? Or want to throw some tuna burger patties on the grill? Whatever you're craving, there's a canned tuna for that. And while these brands might look similar — (Um, they're all in cans, so you get the picture) — on the inside, they're very different. And, right now, we've got them all on the hook for texture, flavor, safety, and sustainability.

Get ready to watch your go-to brand face off against the fishiest titans of the industry. Because we poured over customer reviews, environmental standards, and reports from ethical watchdogs (more on our methods below), to choose our favorite canned tuna brands. Whether it's Chicken of the Sea, Wild Planet, Kirkland, or Bumblebee — no brand is off the table. Hold on to your can opener, we're going to tuna town. 

Promise we're not trying to game your favorite brand. But while Wild Planet promotes its jaw-dropping sustainability practices — and probably appears on the shelves at your favorite fancy, shmancy store — it doesn't taste as good as it should. Which is kind of the whole point.

This brand goes gangbusters on responsible harvesting. Each fish appears to be lovingly plucked from the sea by human hands, kissed on the forehead, and magically ushered into the shape of a can. It's turtle and dolphin-safe, fished with zero nets, and targets smaller migrating tuna that are reportedly lower in mercury. But somewhere along the fishing line, the flavor disappeared along with all of those unharmed sea turtles. What's left is a can of beautiful-looking, bitter tasting tuna.

Surprisingly, Wild Planet albacore also tests higher in mercury than other albacore brands like Bumble Bee and Star Kist. We love the brand mission, but maybe think twice about throwing this one in the cart if you're actually planning to eat it.

The Cento brand is famous for its gorgeous San Marzano tomatoes. What it's not quite as famous for, is its solid white albacore canned tuna. Maybe this tuna could do with a few chopped tomatoes packed in there with it.

Another of the show-stoppingly eco-friendly brands on our list, Cento gets "five out of five stars, would recommend" for its environmentalism. The brand is even MSC FAD-free certified. (That's a highly regarded sustainability designation from the Marine Stewardship Council, or MSC. The FAD-free part stands for no use of a "fish aggregating device" — anything that lures tuna, and often other sea life, into an easy-catch situation.) But amidst the conservationist fanfare, we hear someone asking, "Is this tuna any good?" And the answer is: Not exactly.

Critics claim that even worse than possibly tasting fishy or overly salty, the flavor is something even more disappointing: Boring. Some wondered where the olive oil was when they opened the can. Others dinged the Italian brand for a product made in China. When it comes to Cento, stick with the tomatoes.

Texture-sensitive tuna lovers, look away. Bumble Bee solid white albacore tuna cracks open to reveal a hockey puck of basic mush. Local cats give it a minus-3 out of 10.

Silver lining, Bumble Bee offers a shred of integrity by noting the vegetable oil — not olive oil — that this tuna is packed in. A little less clear are the extra ingredients that aren't usually found in higher quality brands — things like soybean oil and vegetable broth. But extremely obvious is the fact that this tuna looks like it was run through a really good blender before it was packaged. A wonderful option for anyone who has recently given up chewing. (Maybe it's trying to be tuna pâté?)

Bumble Bee sports a dolphin-safe designation from the U.S. Department of Commerce. But even that status has come under fire thanks to lawsuits alleging that it masks illegal and unethical fishing practices that actually harm sea life. When it comes to this brand, going fully Bumble Bee tuna-safe — and skipping it completely — is your best bet.

Having made its reality debut on "Newlyweds: Nick and Jessica" back in 2003, when Jessica Simpson uttered the words, "Is this chicken what I have, or is this fish," Chicken of the Sea canned tuna hasn't exactly rallied for excellence.

Of course, Chicken of the Sea is certainly cashing in on some serious brand recognition. But, like a bad relationship, it's easier to see what you were missing once you've moved on. (No hard feelings, right Chicken?) Non-fans point to dry-as-dust texture, lackluster flavor, and general sadness about the packing oil being the soybean variety, not olive oil. Some suggest positively drowning this one in mayo in order to make it edible. And that's assuming you really love mayo. 

Ingredients also include soy-based vegetable broth and preservatives. The brand offers an interactive product tracker, where you can plug in your product code to find out where it came from, but we're not sure we really want to look into the belly of this whale.

Diving into the briny depths of the Trader Joe's canned seafood section, we find a small selection of agreeable options. (Not too interesting, not totally snoozy, kind of missing a potential "Fishmonger Joe's" sub-brand.) But if you're looking for really good canned tuna, you might want to gloss over Trader Joe's solid white albacore tuna in extra virgin olive oil.

It offers simple, straight-forward ingredients — solid white tuna, olive oil, and salt — but with a distracting, oddly dry texture. Think clumps, not flakes. According to semi-fans, the flavor is decent and tuna-forward, but bring condiments because you're gonna need some extra moisture. The label notes that there has been sea salt added, but some thought the brand threw in way too much.

Greenpeace notes that questionable longline fishing methods are used to source this tuna, even though attempts are reportedly made to reduce "bycatch," or the fishing of other protected species by accident. Either way, Trader Joe's shoppers won't have many tinned tuna options to choose from, with this albacore variety landing in the, "Well, it tastes like tuna," category.

We all have a soft spot, slash cultish devotion, for Costco's house brand. But we have no room in our giant cart-centipede for Kirkland Signature solid white albacore tuna in water. (The XL plush teddy bear stays.)

Greenpeace dinged Kirkland Signature canned albacore in 2017 for bad fishing practices that extended into human rights abuses, as well as harming sea life, including protected species like sharks. The Environmental Working Group (EWG) also knocked Kirkland brand's poor ethics. Back to the ingredients list, you'll see tuna, water, sea salt, and the synthetic preservative sodium acid pyrophosphate. While it's considered safe to consume in low doses, why eat the fake stuff at all when there are plenty of other brands that just use salt. Speaking of sodium content, you'll get a whopping 340 milligrams per serving with this stuff. Luckily, odd ingredients are something you can easily avoid by reading canned tuna labels.

Costco once offered a skipjack canned tuna that was reportedly sustainably caught, but is no longer available on the shelves. If you're still hungry after all of this, hit up the free samples instead of Kirkland Signature canned albacore tuna.