Forget Mayo: Give Tuna Salad A Major Flavor Boost With This Bottled Ingredient

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If you're a fan of canned tuna and you get the right stuff, it can be perfectly tasty on a bed of lettuce — it's even one of the best foods to eat straight out of the can. It's a super high-protein food, and when you need a bit more flavor, a tuna salad is one of those simple meals that you can make quickly with just a little good mayo (our favorite being Kewpie) and mustard, maybe some pickle relish or diced cucumbers. That said, there are plenty of easy ways to take your plain tuna salad to the next level, but this is one you may have never thought of. You can skip the mayo completely and use a bottle of store-bought Caesar salad dressing in your next tuna salad. Our top pick for best Caesar salad dressing? Briannas Home Style Asiago Caesar Dressing, available at retailers like Walmart.

Using Caesar dressing in your tuna salad will highlight the salty, umami notes and give some nice vinegary undertones. Even bottled dressings typically have aged Italian cheeses, so they'll add amazing flavor that you can't get from most other off-the-shelf dressings. Plus, even though mayonnaise is often considered a tuna salad's best friend, when the salad is overly mixed (or even whipped with mayo), it can just turn out pasty and gooey and lose the texture of a perfectly good canned tuna altogether. With just a bit of Caesar dressing, mixed simply with a fork, you'll have a beautifully flavored tuna that's ready to add atop a bowl of greens or turn into a sandwich or a proper tuna melt. 

Certainly not all Caesar dressings are created equal. Some may be a bit creamier or heavier on the garlic; some may contain anchovies, and some not. If you want more umami, go with something that has anchovies. And if you want the creamy factor that's closer to a traditional homemade tuna salad with mayo, you can often simply check for egg yolks or egg yolk powder on the ingredient list to get that extra hit of smooth, eggy flavor.

For the simplest Caesar tuna salad, per can of regular-sized tuna — which generally runs about five ounces (including the liquid) — you'll want about two and a half tablespoons of Caesar dressing. Whether you go with tuna in oil or in water is purely a personal choice. In oil, of course, the tuna will have more fat, so you may want to use less dressing. To add some crunch, diced onions, cukes, and celery are always a good idea, especially on a sandwich with a little cheese, lettuce, and tomato. Of course, you can add fresh or dried herbs and spices, like smoked paprika or even cayenne powder and hot sauce to add a little more intensity.

If you're making it to add to a full Caesar salad, you can simply toss canned tuna with some romaine lettuce, croutons, and Caesar dressing, then top with a little grated parmesan cheese. Caesar dressing also works great on baked salmon to keep it nice and moist. But when you're making your next simple tuna salad, you can maybe just go with a can of tuna and a few tablespoons of Caesar from the bottle, and you're good to go.