tuna & white bean salad $1.88 recipe / $0.63 serving

tuna & white bean salad

$1.88 recipe / $0.63 serving

The hardest part about cooking and testing so many recipes (for the upcoming cookbook) is that I get full after a few bites, but my taste buds still scream for more! I wanted to eat this whole bowl...

This recipe is as easy as 1,2,3... literally. Just mix it all together, adjust to your taste buds and you've got a protein packed lunch ready to go. You can eat this salad plain with a fork, top crackers with it, stuff it inside of a pita pocket, or scoop some over top of a bed of spinach. Anyway you serve it, it's super tasty!

One thing to consider with this recipe is the quality of beans and tuna. I chose the most inexpensive options for both, and it showed. The flavor was still top notch, but the beans were falling apart and the tuna was lumps of mush rather than large chunks of tuna meat. So, if you like things to be pretty, make sure to get high quality beans and tuna. :)

You can use any type of white beans you like - great northern, navy, butter beans, whatever. They'll all add an element of "creaminess" without having heavy mayo!

Tuna & White Bean Salad

Total Recipe cost: $1.88
Servings Per Recipe: 3 (about 1/2 cup each)
Cost per serving: $0.63
Prep time: 10 min. Cook time: 0 min. Total: 10 min.

INGREDIENTS		COST
1 (15 oz.) can	white beans	$0.86
1 (5 oz.) can	chunk light tuna in water	$0.79
2 whole	green onions	$0.12
1 Tbsp	lemon juice	$0.06
1 Tbsp	olive oil	$0.12
to taste	salt & pepper	$0.05
TOTAL		$1.88

STEP 1: Pour the can of beans into a colander and rinse with cool water. Allow the excess water to drain off. Drain the can of tuna. Combine the drained beans and tuna in a bowl. Thinly slice the green onions and add to the bowl as well.

STEP 2: Add the olive oil and lemon juice to the bowl, along with a light sprinkle of salt and freshly ground black pepper. Stir to combine.

STEP 3: Taste the mixture and add salt, pepper, or lemon juice to your liking.

Step By Step Photos

Drain and rinse the white beans. Drain the tuna and thinly slice the green onions. Combine all three in a bowl.


Add the olive oil, lemon juice, a light sprinkle of salt, and some freshly ground black pepper. I like pepper a lot, so I added probably about 20 cranks of the pepper mill.


Stir everything together and then adjust the seasoning to your liking. You can see how the tuna and beans were kind of falling apart, which makes it not so pretty. Higher quality beans will stay intact and higher quality tuna will be more chunky than mushy. But it tasted great all the same!