This Vegan Tuna Salad is truly reminiscent of the real thing. My daughter and I both made it and liked it so much that I decided to test it on my sister and a good friend. I knew they would be skeptical, but as it turned out, they both concluded that this recipe makes the best vegan tuna salad! They couldn’t get over how good it tasted!
Vegan Tuna Salad made with Sunflower Seeds and Almonds
There are a lot of vegan tuna salad recipes that use chickpeas. This one does not!
This recipe is easy! You just need to plan a bit ahead to prep the ingredients for the vegan “tuna” part of this recipe by soaking the sunflower seeds and almonds. The soaking will soften the nuts. 2-3 hours should be sufficient.
Making Vegan Tuna
Drain the water once the nuts have soaked and place them in a food processor. Pulse a few times to grind up the nuts into smaller bits, Some of the sunflower seeds might stay whole because they are smaller to begin with. When you see that the almond bits are about the size of a sunflower seed as well, you’re good to go.
Additional Vegan Tuna Salad Ingredients
Next, chop up the the purple onion, celery and bread and butter pickles. These are classic ingredients and a must have for vegan tuna salad. Everything should be finely chopped up into the same size. After you’ve chopped everything, add these ingredients into the bowl with the vegan tuna.
The Secret Vegan Salad Ingredient is Nori
Now you will need to make the dressing for the vegan tuna salad. Nori is a dried edible seaweed and the special ingredient that gives the vegan tuna salad a nice sea-like flavor. Start by pulverizing or breaking up 1 sushi nori sheet into tiny flakes. Putting the nori sheet in a Nutri bullet and giving it a couple of whirls makes the job easy. The nori sheet will also flake if you crunch it in your hands. It will just take a bit longer to get it to the size you need. The flakes should be very small. If you ever had a pet fish, the flakes will look similar to the size of those fish food flakes!
In a small bowl, mix the vegan mayo, dijon mustard, lemon juice and the nori sheet flakes. Add this dressing into the bowl with the “tuna” and other ingredients.
Mix thoroughly then taste. It’s so good!
How to Serve Vegan Tuna Salad
I like this sunflower seed and nut tuna salad served on a piece of toasted bread. Here I’ve used the Ezekiel Sesame bread and topped the vegan tuna with broccoli sprouts.
The vegan tuna salad is good on crackers as well. I’ve used a few Triscuits and added some small sprigs of dill. They look pretty and taste great. If you like salads, add a scoop of this sunflower seed version of tuna salad to a bed of greens. It’s delicious in a wrap as well.
Vegan Tuna Salad
Description
This Vegan Tuna Salad is fantastic! It’s made with sunflower seeds and nuts and is so easy to make. It’s reminiscent of the real thing only it tastes better!
Ingredients
For the Vegan “Tuna” you’ll need to soak the nuts 2-3 hours prior to using to soften.
- 1 cup raw unsalted sunflower seeds
- 1 cup raw unsalted almonds (you can substitute cashews or combine both of the nuts)
- 1/4 cup finely chopped purple onion
- 1/3 cup finely chopped celery
- 1/3 cup finely chopped bread and butter pickles
For the dressing
- 1/3 cup vegan mayo
- 2 teaspoons dijon mustard
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice (approximately half a lemon)
- 1 sheet roasted sushi nori sheet pulverized into flakes (makes approx. 2 T)
Instructions
- For the “vegan tuna” add the softened sunflower seeds and almonds to a food processor. Pulse into small bits. Place in a bowl and set aside.
- Finely chop the purple onion, celery and sweet pickles and add this to the Sunflower seed and nut mixture.
- For the dressing part of this recipe, mix together in a bowl 1/3 cup vegan mayo, 2 teaspoons of dijon mustard, 1 tablespoon lemon juice and the flakes of 1 roasted sushi nori sheet. Add to all of the other ingredients and mix thoroughly.
Notes
Serve this vegan tuna salad on bread, crackers or on a bed of lettuce.
In the photos I’ve added broccoli sprouts to the vegan tuna salad on toast. Dill is a nice addition and is what I’ve added to the vegan tuna salad on crackers.
Kala Namak salt is a nice touch if you would like more of a vegan tuna salad with hard-boiled egg flavor. This salt is also referred to as Himalayan black salt and it smells just like hard-boiled eggs! A little sprinkle on the top of the salad is all you need.
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