This vegan tuna sandwich is ready in less than 10 minutes. It's a delicious, simple and healthy lunch recipe, perfect to bring to work or school.
Many of you guys asked us for a vegan tuna recipe and we also realized we haven't any vegan "fish" recipe, so here it is, a delicious vegan tuna sandwich. It is the bomb!
We're so happy with this recipe, although it doesn't taste exactly like real tuna, nor has the same texture, but it's a healthier option and is also better for the animals and the planet, so you should give it a try. It's quite similar to Spanish tuna escabeche (atún en escabeche in Spanish), which has a sour taste.
I went vegan almost three years ago, so it's almost my vegan birthday, yay! Going vegan is one of the best choices I've ever made as I told you before. I'm not going to lie, it wasn't easy at the beginning, but change is hard and scary. I don't miss animal foods at all and when I do, it's not the food itself, it's just I'd like to find a vegan alternative.
The blog is our job and way of living, so we can't do it for free, but we started Simple Vegan Blog to help people transitioning to a plant-based diet or at least to show them you can eat anything you want in a vegan version. We want a better world with healthy people and also a better place for the animals and the environment.
If you like this vegan tuna sandwich, check out these recipes: vegan pesto, hummus, avocado sandwich, simple hummus sandwich, vegan sloppy joes, vegan bagel sandwich and peanut butter & rhubarb jelly sandwich.
Did you make this recipe? Please leave a comment below, share it, rate it or tag a picture @simpleveganblog on Instagram and hashtag it #simpleveganblog. We’d love to see what you cook!
Vegan Tuna Sandwich
Ingredients
For the vegan tuna:
- 7 ounces canned or cooked chickpeas
- ¼ cup tahini
- 2 tablespoon lemon juice
- 2 tablespoon yellow mustard
- 1 tablespoon nori flakes, optional
- ¼ chopped red onion
- 4 vinegar pickles, 1 oz or 30 g
- ½ chopped celery stalk
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- â…› teaspoon ground black pepper
For the sandwich:
- 8 whole wheat bread slices
- Lettuce leaves
- 2 sliced tomatoes
Instructions
- Place all the vegan tuna ingredients in a food processor or blender and blend until you get a thick spread, as you can see in the third picture.
- Toast the bread in a toaster, frying pan or panini press.
- Place the lettuce leaves onto four pieces of bread, then the vegan tuna and finally the tomato slices. Top with the other four slices of bread.
- This sandwich is better fresh, although it's also a great lunch recipe to bring to work or school.
- Store the vegan tuna in a sealed container in the fridge for up to 4 days.
Notes
- Feel free to use vegan mayo, vegan oil-free aioli or any creamy sauce you like instead of the tahini.
- To make nori flakes, I just blend a nori sheet in a blender, but you can use store-bought flakes as well. Any other dried seaweed is okay.
- You don't have to use red onion, any type of onion will do.
- If you don't eat gluten, use any gluten-free instead of the whole wheat bread slices, or even some corn tortillas.
- Add your favorite veggies.
Kevin says
Superb easy to follow recipe.Thank you so much
Iosune says
Hi Kevin! So glad you liked it 🙂
Nancy says
Omg best recipe ever! This is so delicious and easy to make! My husband isn't vegan, but he devoured two huge sandwiches!
Iosune says
Hi Nancy! So glad you enjoyed it so much 🙂
ferryboat George says
I absolutely love this recipe. I just finished a sandwich for lunch. I did make a few changes:
left out the onion, used bread and butter pickles instead of dill, and used some sesame seeds since I didn't have enough tahini. I also skipped the salt because i used salted seaweed snacks.
My favorite way to eat tuna: mix in sprouts, diced bell pepper, and diced zucchini.
When you make a recipe like this, you can never scrape all of it out of the blender, so I made a vegan cheese sauce on top of the leftovers and used it to make cheesy rice (I was going for tuna rice casserole, but the tuna flavor disappeared in the cheese sauce). It was delicious anyway.
Iosune says
Hi! Sounds amazing 🙂 Thanks a lot for your comment!
Marilyn Mendelson says
I love how adaptable you are with your recipes! If you don't eat soy, just use salt. Use any onion, doesn't have to be red. Use vegan mayo instead of tahini, if you like. You do that a lot, and I really appreciate it. I plan to try this later, possibly w/o pickles and nori. I imagine it will still taste great, whether or not I make it to the store. And, I do plan to use Vegannaise, thank you very much! I'm not sure I would have thought of that if you hadn't mentioned it.
Iosune says
Hi Marilyn! Thanks a lot for your kind words, I want to give alternatives, that way everybody is able to make my recipes 🙂 Have a nice day!
donna says
Ingredients list is confusing. Says 1/4 chopped red onion. Is that 1/4 cup or 1/4 of the whole onion? Also 1/2 chopped celery stalk. Again 1/2 of the stalk or 1/2 cup? Thanks
Iosune says
Hi Donna! When it's 1/4 or 1/2 cup of some ingredient I say 1/4 or 1/2 CUP. It's 1/4 of the whole onion and 1/2 of the celery stalk. Have a nice day!
Gauchagirl says
I made it several times now. I tried it with wakame. Not as good. Perhaps I just used too much. I may try it again. \
The last time I made it, I left the onion and celery to the end of the blending process so they would not blend as much thus finding chunks of it while having the sandwich. Also, used a bit more nori this last batch. It is my favorite. Thank you Simple Vegan.
Also, I just cook my garbanzos from scratch.
Iosune says
Hi Gauchagirl! I'm so glad you enjoyed the sandwich 🙂
gloria of Veghead, Etc. says
Love your blog!
Totally inspired by your "tuna" recipe for weekend lunch. Loved it!
Made a few changes based on what I had on hand: half tahini and half vegan mayo; Dijon mustard (no yellow); pickled red jalapeños (no pickles); barely spicy long, thin green Anaheim pepper (no celery); and dulse sea vegetable (instead of nori). I added finely chopped cucumber and pink radishes to the mix.
Served it as lettuce cups inside of romaine lettuce leaves plus as an open-faced sandwich.
Really yummy! Keeping a printed copy of the recipe for future use. Thank you so much!
Iosune says
Hi Gloria! Sounds SO good 🙂 Thanks a lot for your comment and have a nice day!