Cottage Cheese Tuna Salad
Cottage Cheese Tuna Salad is a high protein tuna salad made with cottage cheese, herbs, and veggies! This tuna salad is not only healthy but also full of flavor and perfect for lunch or a light dinner.
I love a good tuna salad and often prep a batch to eat for lunch throughout the week. While some people are not fans of tuna salad, I love it as an easy way to get some protein! I get why it can get a bad rep, though. A lot of tuna salad can be mushy and greasy from too much mayonnaise.
This tuna salad, however, is neither of those things. The "sauce" is made up of mostly cottage cheese, which adds a ton of protein along with creaminess, and it is full of crunchy veggies like red onion, celery, and pickles. It is full of flavor and is one of my favorite things to meal prep!
Looking for more cottage cheese recipes? Check out my Cottage Cheese Avocado Toast, Cottage Cheese Blueberry Muffins, and Cottage Cheese Strawberry Smoothie.
Why You'll Love This Recipe
- Easy - this tuna salad is super easy to whip up.
- High in Protein - this tuna salad is made with cottage cheese, which boosts it's protein to 28 grams per serving!
- Full of Flavor - this tuna salad has so much flavor from the lemon, dill, garlic, onion, and pickles!
Ingredients
Canned Tuna - I like using Safe Catch Tuna, but any tuna in water will work.
Cottage Cheese - this takes place of most of the mayo, to make the tuna salad packed with protein.
Mayonnaise - just a couple of tablespoons to give it an extra creamy texture.
Lemon Juice - I love the flavor that just a little lemon juice adds to tuna salad.
Dried Dill - this is a classic tuna salad herb. You can use fresh or dried, but I typically use dried because I have it in my pantry.
Dried Garlic - a hint of garlic flavor.
Celery - for some crunch!
Red Onion - just ¼ cup of finely diced red onion adds some great flavor.
Pickles - more crunch, and flavor.
Salt and Black Pepper - add to taste!
Please refer to the recipe card for the complete list of ingredients.
Variations
Swap Chicken - you can use canned chicken or diced chicken breast instead of canned tuna.
Different Onion - you can use white or yellow onion instead of red. You could even use some diced green onion or chives.
Add More Veggies - you can totally load this tuna salad with veggies like chopped cucumbers, diced red bell peppers, corn, or diced radishes. You could even add some olives for a Mediterranean flavor. I recommend starting with ¼ to ½ cup of extra veggies.
Add Dijon - a teaspoon dijon mustard would add some nice flavor.
Use Greek Yogurt - not sure about the cottage cheese? You can use whole milk plain Greek yogurt instead, if you prefer. It will still be high protein tuna salad, as Greek yogurt is also packed with protein.
Add Different Herbs - you could swap the dill for other fresh tasting herbs like Italian parsley or cilantro.
Make it Spicy - if you want to add some spice to this tuna salad, you can add hot sauce like Sriracha or some crushed red pepper.
Step by Step Instructions
This recipe hardly needs step by step instructions, it is so easy!
Photo 1. Add the cottage cheese, mayonnaise, lemon juice, salt, and garlic powder to a small food processor and puree until smooth.
Photo 2. Combine the cottage cheese mixture with the rest of the tuna salad ingredients in a large bowl. Mix to combine. That's it! It's ready to enjoy.
Expert Tips
Storage - store leftovers of this high protein cottage cheese in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
Serving Suggestions - I personally like eating tuna salad with Triscuit crackers, and just scoop it up. Of course, you can serve it on a sandwich or wrap with lettuce, tomatoes, avocado, onion, pickles, sprouts, etc. or keep it low-carb on top of mixed greens as a salad.
Double the Recipe - this recipe is very easy to double and would be great for a crowd!
Recipe FAQs
Yes! I like to puree it first so it is creamy and not chunky, but either way will work!
I really love using Safe Catch or Wild Planet Albacore Tuna which are lower in mercury than other brands and sustainably caught.
Other Cottage Cheese Recipes To Consider
If you make this recipe, please let me know! Leave a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ rating on this recipe below and leave a comment, or take a photo and tag me on Instagram with #greensnchocolate.
Cottage Cheese Tuna Salad
Ingredients
- 1 cup cottage cheese
- 2 tablespoon mayonnaise
- juice from ½ lemon
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- 15 ounces canned tuna I used three 5-ounce cans
- ¼ cup chopped red onion
- ¼ cup chopped dill pickles
- 2 stalks celery chopped
- ½ teaspoon dried dill
Instructions
- In a small food processor, add the cottage cheese, mayonnaise, lemon juice, salt, and garlic powder and pulse until creamy and smooth.
- To a medium bowl, add the tuna, chopped red onion, chopped celery, chopped dill pickles, and dried dill and mix to combine.
- Add the cottage cheese mixture and mix well.
- Serve and enjoy! Store in the refrigerator in an airtight container.
