White Bean Salad with Tuna

Ingredients for White Bean Salad

• 2 cans of white beans (cannelini beans, navy beans, great northern beans — any combination of white beans will work!)
• 1 large or 2 small shallots
• Extra virgin olive oil
• Tarragon (or other) vinegar
• Fresh lemon juice
• Dijon mustard
• Kosher salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• Fresh herbs (dill, oregano, basil, parsley, tarragon)
• High quality jarred tuna, such as Tonnino

Dressing For Marinated White Beans

Doesn’t take much to make a simple dressing for white bean salad: a decent extra virgin olive oil, the vinegar of your choice (tarragon, champagne, white wine, or red wine work well), dijon mustard, kosher salt, black pepper, and a squeeze of fresh lemon juice. Easty!

Which fresh herbs? We use a combination of whatever we’ve got in the fridge that needs to be used up (isn’t that the best?). Dill, parsley, tarragon, chives, oregano — any soft herb will work.

White Bean Salad Can Be Made Ahead

The best part about this salad is the ability to marinate the beans ahead of time. The longer it sits, the better it gets! The marinated white beans will keep up to 3 days before serving, making this a great meal prep lunch or dinner. It’s even good enough to serve to guests when entertaining!

Add the tuna right before serving if you want to keep it in big chunks. Great for presentation and wow factor!

Can I Omit The Tuna?

For sure. Honestly, if you don’t have a high quality jarred tuna (such as Toninno — my favorite) and only have canned tuna, I’d recommend leaving the fish out altogether.

No, this is not me being pretentious or snobby. I freakin’ love canned tuna. My go-to is Bumble Bee Solid White Albacore, and I use it in everything from pastas to epic tuna melts, but for marinated white bean salad — where the tuna is eaten simply with no alterations or add-ons being made — you want really high quality.

If, however, you do leave the fish out, the marinated beans are dairy-free, gluten-free, and vegan! So there’s that.

Variations on White Bean Salad

If you don’t have a good jarred tuna on standby or don’t want to use it, the following would make a great addition: rotisserie chicken, crispy seared salmon, or just a sprinkle of good feta cheese!

We don’t say this lightly: this marinated white bean salad is so good and so elegant that I would 100% serve this while entertaining. And literally it’s made up of pantry staples! You’re going to love this. Please, please, please give it a try and shout out below what you think!

If you make this White Bean Salad with Tuna recipe, let us know by leaving a rating and review below!

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For more simple, yet elegant meals, check out the following recipes:

• Sun dried tomato chicken with creamy white wine sauce and mushrooms
• Roasted grapes crostini with whipped ricotta
• Whole30 confit tomatoes with garlic
• Simple Whole30 grilled spatchcock chicken
• Homemade ricotta
• Marinated soy sauce eggs with sticky rice

Print Recipe

5 from 7 votes

White Bean Salad Recipe

Marinated white bean salad is the quick, simple lunch of our dreams. It comes together with a few pantry staples — canned beans! — but gets jazzed up with lots of fresh herbs, high quality olive oil, vinegar, and really good jarred tuna. Creamy, healthy, and filling. You will eat this on repeat, both for lunch and dinner!

Prep10 minutes mins

Cook0 minutes mins

Total10 minutes mins

Course: Dinner, Lunch

Cuisine: American

Keyword: bean salad, marinated white beans, tuna salad, white beans with tuna

Servings: 4 servings

Calories: 138kcal

Author: Ari Laing

Ingredients

• 1 (15 oz) can cannelini beans rinsed and drained
• 1 (15 oz) can navy beans rinsed and drained
• 1 medium shallot thinly sliced
• ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
• 2 Tbsp tarragon vinegar or other vinegar, such as red wine, white wine, or champagne
• 2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice about ½ a lemon
• 1 tsp dijon mustard
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• ¼ tsp freshly ground black pepper
• ¼ cup fresh dill chopped
• 2 Tbsp basil thinly sliced
• 2 Tbsp oregano chopped
• 2 Tbsp parsley chopped
• 1 (6.7 oz) jar tuna fillets high quality, such as Tonnino
• flaky sea salt for serving

Instructions

• In a large bowl, whisk together olive oil, tarragon vinegar, lemon juice, dijon mustard, salt, and pepper. Add shallot, then toss.
• Add drained beans, fresh herbs, and toss gently to coat. Marinated beans can be refrigerated for use another day or left at room temperature to be served later.
• When ready to serve, place tuna on top, trying not to break the tuna up into small pieces. Sprinkle a few pieces of flaky sea salt on top of the tuna, then add a little more black pepper or fresh herbs if wanted. Serve immediately.

Notes

Marinated white beans can be made up to 2 days in advance. Add tuna just before serving.

For this recipe, because we’re not adding or changing the tuna in any way, I recommend high quality jarred tuna, such as Tonnino in olive oil. Though this makes a great vegetarian dish on its own!

Nutrition

Calories: 138kcal | Carbohydrates: 4g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 14g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Cholesterol: 1mg | Sodium: 602mg | Potassium: 95mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 490IU | Vitamin C: 10mg | Calcium: 49mg | Iron: 1mg

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