Here's a copycat recipe for Whole Foods Cranberry Apple Tuna Salad. Canned tuna, dried cranberries, diced apple, and a creamy mayo dressing come together for a quick meal. Perfect with salads or as a filling for sandwiches and wraps.
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Tuna Fish Salad Gets An Upgrade
Tuna cranberry apple salad is one of our favorite items from the Whole Foods Market deli. This easy recipe can recreate the popular menu item at home.
I love tuna sandwiches and salads. It's perfect for a quick lunch or a mid-afternoon snack. I started making this tuna when I moved to South Florida. I love Whole Foods and we don't have one!
When you bite into the sweet cranberries, you get a burst of flavor. Each bite of apple is crisp and refreshing, while the celery adds an extra layer of crunch throughout.
It's no wonder Whole Foods sells so much of this!
Top Picks For Buying Canned Tuna
These are my top picks for canned tuna. Tuna used to be packed in 6-ounce cans, but the can size shrank to 5 ounces about twenty years ago.
- Wild Planet Albacore Wild Tuna is packed with tuna and salt. It tastes great. However, it is considerably more expensive than conventional brands, especially with the recent hike in grocery prices.
- At Publix (our Florida grocer) Chicken of The Sea Solid White Premium Tuna is a better alternative than Bumble Bee, which is more popular, in my opinion.
- Another good brand is Gefen. Gefen tuna is located in the kosher section of Publix or your local grocery store. It was recently on sale after the Jewish holidays, so I grabbed a few cans and loved it. Look for the can labeled Solid White Albacore in Water. It's a 6-ounce can (compared to the 5-ounce cans of other brands), so you may need to add more mayo to your mixture.
Ingredients
- Canned Tuna: look for solid white tuna packed in water
- Apple: use sweet apples like Fuji, Honeycrisp, or Macintosh
- Lemon juice: heightens the flavor of the apples and prevents browning
- Onion: enhances the flavor
- Celery: adds crunch
- Mayonnaise: sub sour cream or Greek yogurt for a lighter dressing
- Dried cranberries: add a sweet pop of flavor and chewy texture
- Salt and Pepper to taste
How To Make Tuna with Apples & Cranberries
- Drain tuna and mash in a medium-sized mixing bowl with the back of a fork.
- Toss diced apple with lemon juice. Add apple mixture to bowl.
- Grate 2 tablespoons of onion, about a quarter of a yellow or red onion, into the tuna.
- Fold in celery, mayonnaise, and cranberries. Stir to combine.
- Season with salt and pepper to taste before serving.
For the best flavor, chill for one hour or overnight to allow flavors to blend. When the salad is chilled, the taste of the grated onion comes through.
Meal Prep Ideas
Tuna Salad Wraps: Spoon the tuna salad into tortillas or flatbread with leafy greens like Romaine or iceberg lettuce. Roll up tightly and cut in half for a great lunch. Store wraps in an airtight container in the fridge.
Bento Box Lunches: Divide the tuna salad into compartments of a bento box alongside crackers, raw veggie sticks, and a handful of fresh berries.
Salad Bowls: Fill a bowl with leafy greens or Caesar Salad and top with a big scoop of cranberry tuna salad. Add toppings like sliced cucumber, cherry tomatoes, and a sprinkle of pecans or walnuts for added crunch.
Tuna Salad-Stuffed Avocados: Use a Hass avocado or a green Florida avocado. Cut avocados in half, remove the pit, squeeze lemon over the avocado, and fill the cavity with tuna salad. Stuffed avocados are great for a quick lunch. Store each half in a separate container to keep portions fresh.
Storage
Store tuna salad in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3-4 days.
Do not freeze.
Summary
This Whole Foods Cranberry Apple Tuna Salad is an excellent quick lunch or snack choice. It's just like the cranberry tuna from the deli at Whole Foods Market.
We add grated onions, sweet apple, and diced celery. This mix gives you a perfect balance of flavors and crunch.
Cranberry tuna salad is a tasty snack. You can enjoy it with salad greens, pita crackers, bagel chips, or breadsticks. It also goes well with sliced cucumbers or stuffed in an avocado. You can have it any time of the day!
The salad is dressed with a creamy mayo dressing. It's perfect for sandwiches and salad toppings or an afternoon high-protein snack. It's easy to prepare and full of flavor.
You'll find more classic tuna recipes in our canned fish recipes.
Some of the links in this post are Amazon affiliate links. If you make a purchase through these links, I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. All opinions are my own.
Visiting Florida?
Check out the Smoked Fish Dip appetizer. Its an iconic Florida Keys recipe!
Fish Dip is similar to tuna salad, but instead of all mayo, it has cream cheese mixed in with it. The fish they use is smoked so it has a nice smokey flavor. It's on every menu in the Keys!
FAQ
No, you do not have to peel the apples for cranberry apple tuna salad. The peel adds color, texture, and a little extra crunch. Crisp apples like Honeycrisp, Fuji, or Gala work especially well with the skin left on.
A 5-ounce can of tuna makes a satisfying meal for one adult or two children. With the added apple and mayo in this recipe, it becomes more filling, so it's written as three servings. For guests, plan on 5 ounces of tuna per adult and about 3 ounces per child for a good meal.
You can grapes, hard-boiled eggs, pickles, mustard, or fresh herbs like dill or parsley.
Replace mayo with Greek yogurt, mashed avocado, or hummus. Add mustard, lemon juice, and olive oil for flavor. Mix in celery, onion, parsley or dill.
Whole Foods Cranberry Apple Tuna Salad Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 (5 oz) cans solid white tuna packed in water
- ½ sweet apple, diced (Fuji, Honey Crisp, or Macintosh)
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice (or juice of half a lemon)
- 2 tablespoon grated yellow onion (about a quarter of an onion)
- 1 stalk of celery, diced (¼ cup)
- ⅓ cup mayonnaise
- ¼ cup dried cranberries
- kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- Drain tuna and mash In a medium-sized mixing bowl; set aside.
- Toss diced apple with lemon juice. Add apple mixture to tuna.
- Grate 2 tablespoons of an onion into the tuna. Fold in celery, mayonnaise, and cranberries. Stir to combine.
- Chill at least an hour. Season with salt and pepper to taste before serving.
Jordan says
This is great tuna! ❤️❤️❤️
RALPH says
My family loved this!
Felice Kaufman says
So happy to hear!
JS says
My family loved this! Thank you so much.