Green Goddess Tuna Salad

This delicious green goddess tuna salad is a blend of tuna and a creamy herby mayonnaise made with basil, chives, dill, garlic and lemon juice. It is a nutritious tuna salad that feels decadent at the same time. You can even throw a slice of your favorite cheese on top and make yourself a tuna melt!

Green Goddess Tuna Salad Dressing

Typical tuna salad dressing just includes some mayonnaise, salt, and pepper. This green goddess tuna salad dressing is an entirely new experience. The amount of flavor in this is incredible and it creates such a satisfying meal.

A few years ago, Trader Joe’s sold a green goddess dip and it was absolutely delicious. I am really surprised they discontinued it because it was delicious, but I guess it just was not selling as well as some of their other, more established dips.

I always knew of green goddess dip to include tarragon, but when I looked at the ingredient list on the green goddess dip from Trader Joe’s, I didn’t see tarragon, and instead I saw basil. Since I love basil I decided I was going to make my own version of green goddess dip one day using basil. Some of the other ingredients in the Trader Joe’s version included sour cream, chives, garlic, parsley, lemon juice, and avocado. I wanted to make a healthier version of the dip, so I made my own here in this recipe for Green Goddess Dip made with Cottage Cheese. If you have been missing the Trader Joe’s Green Goddess dip too, you will LOVE this dip.

For my tuna salad dressing I used mayonnaise just to stay true to tuna salad, but I included all of the delicious garlic and herby flavor of true green goddess dressing.

Tuna Salad Recipe without Celery

When I was younger I did not like celery in my tuna or chicken salad. My recipe below uses it, but there are so many ways to make this without any celery. Instead of celery you can add:

• additional green onion
• diced carrots
• chopped up cucumbers
• chopped up pickles
• dill or sweet relish
• chopped up nuts
• if you like the flavor of celery but do not like the feel of it, you can always throw your dressing with the celery in a food processor and it will break down the celery into itty bitty pieces that you wont feel.

Tuna Salad with Greek Yogurt

If you want to avoid mayonnaise for any reason you can easily substitute greek yogurt for the mayo. It will have a slightly tangier taste, but the dressing is so flavorful that you will still be able to taste the garlic, lemon, and herbs. You’ll also get a healthy dose of protein if you add the greek yogurt too!

How to make a Green Goddess Tuna Salad

INGREDIENTS  

• 2 cans Tuna rinsed and drained. Squeeze out all of the water after rinsing it.
• 6 tbsp Mayonnaise
• 1 oz Chives
• 1 oz Basil Leaves
• 1.5 tbsp Fresh Dill
• 2 cloves Garlic or 1 tsp minced garlic
• 1/2 Lemon Juiced
• 1/4 tsp Black Pepper
• Sea Salt start with 1/4 tsp and add more if you want

INSTRUCTIONS 

• rinse and drain your tuna in a fine mesh sieve. Press out all of the water and then add the tuna to a bowl
• Add your 6 tbsp of mayonnaise, 1 oz of chives, 1 oz of basil leaves, 1.5 tbsp of dill, 2 cloves of garlic, and lemon juice to a high speed blender or food processor and blend until fully incorporated. Using a blender breaks down the herbs best and it turns your mayo a beautiful light green color. If you do not have a high speed blender you can finely chop all of the herbs and garlic and just mix it into your mayonnaise. Then, add your lemon, salt, and pepper. This method does not blend the herbs as well, but if you make it ahead of time, the mayo will absorb the flavors.
• Mix your green goddess mayonnaise with your tuna.
• Add your tuna to toasted bread or crackers and enjoy.
• You can easily turn this tuna salad into a tuna melt by loading it up on to a slice of bread and then sticking it in the air fryer, toaster oven, or oven for about 5 minutes or until the cheese melts. My favorite types of cheese to use for a tuna melt are swiss or muenster cheese.