Do you miss keto tuna salad melts?? Then be prepare, these keto tuna melt are gonna blow your mind!!
This low carb recipes so satisfying, super quick, and packed with good for you tuna… Heck, it may be one of my best low carb lunch ideas yet!
We’re taking some cues from the tuna melt sandwich, but ditching the carby bread for flavorful onions instead. Melted cheddar cheese on both sides is the savory icing on top. Trust me when I tell you, these guys are hea-ven-ly.
You have to taste it to believe it, and once you do, you’ll have a new kitchen staple… Let’s get cookin’!
Looking for more keto lunch ideas? Check out my keto tuna salad, avocado tuna salad, or my Chinese chicken salad.
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What I Love About This Keto Tuna Melt Recipe
It has all the best parts of a tuna melt, minus those unnecessary carbs! Plus:
- 10 minutes of prep! Kick those feet up and let your oven do the work.
- Customize them how you want – add different veggies, avocado, or low carb buns!
- Tastes like comfort food at it’s very best! But LOW CARB, ya baby!
Recipe Notes
This healthy recipe tastes very NOT good for you, but is packed with nutrients and is SO easy!
Ingredient Notes
Tuna – Drain and flake your canned tuna to make sure there is no extra moisture getting into your salad.
Onions – You’ll need a large onion to get 9 sets of onion rings. Be sure to remove the papery outer edge before stuffing the rings.
Mayonnaise – This is a classic condiment in tuna recipes, and adds a wonderful creaminess and flavor. If you want, you can swap it for low carb greek yogurt instead. (Psst — Greek yogurt will add some carbs to this dish)
Dill Pickles – Tuna salad often has relish, but there is a lot of added sugar in those. So we’ll mimic relish with diced dill pickles instead — just be sure to grab a product with no added sugar.
Tools To Make
Just 1 or 2 simple tools to get these tuna salad stuffed onions on the table:
- Baking sheet – this recipe makes 9 stuffed onions, so you’ll want a large enough baking pan to accommodate that.
- Parchment paper – this silicone coated paper will help keep our keto tuna melt from sticking to the pan, especially when we flip it part way through cooking.
Storing Tips
Store leftovers in the fridge in airtight containers, keeping components separate until you’re ready to bake them fresh.
Can You Freeze them?
You would not want to freeze these tuna melt stuffed onions, for a few reasons. One: mayonnaise gets weird in the freezer. There is a high likelihood your tuna salad would “break” when it thaws and you’d have extra unpleasant moisture.
Also, we are crisping up the cheese to make a nice little “bun” and we would lose all of that in the freezer.
These really are best served fresh, but luckily, they are super quick and easy to make!
Serving Recommendations
These tuna melt stuffed onions are best served straight from the oven. The onions combine with the cheese to make a “top and bottom” to the tuna salad, but there are other ways to serve these…
Try stuffing the whole cheesy thing into keto sandwich bread or between keto hamburger buns for an unforgettable lunch. Serve with turnip fries for a perfect side dish.
And however you eat it, serve it with keto ketchup I can’t stress this enough – it’s SO good!
Recipe Variations
Want to mix things up a bit? Here are a few ideas for you:
- Take the creaminess to the next level by adding avocados to your tuna mix. Check out the details in my avocado tuna salad recipe.
- You can make stuffed peppers (instead of using the onion slices) if you’d rather. Try making low carb stuffed peppers like in my salsa verde stuffed peppers without rice.
- Feel free to add other chopped keto vegetables to your tuna salad. Diced bell pepper, cucumbers, or tomatoes are great options.
- If you don’t want to use cheddar, you can swap it out with any other kind of keto cheese. Or mix it up and blend a few!
More Keto Lunch Recipes
Who doesn’t need more salad recipes? Branch out from old stand-bys and try some of these new versions I dreamed up!
Keto Tuna Melt
Print Recipe Pin RecipeIngredients
- 1 Large Yellow Onion
- 7 1/2 Ounces Tuna* drained and flaked
- 6 Tablespoons Mayonnaise
- 2 Tablespoons Parmesan grated
- 1/4 Cup Celery large, finely chopped
- 6 Tablespoons Dill Pickles finely chopped
- 1 Tablespoon Lemon Juice
- 1/2 Teaspoon Curry Powder
- 1 1/2 Teaspoon Dill chopped
- 1 Teaspoon Garlic Powder
- 3 Cups Sharp Cheddar Cheese shredded
Serving Recommendations:
- Keto Ketchup may sound weird, but it's great!
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Peel and slice large yellow onion (1) into 3/4" rings.
- Grab 2 outer onion rings at a time, and place them on the prepared baking sheet -- you should be able to get at least 9 sets of rings before they start to get too small.
- Combine tuna (7 1/2 Ounces), mayonnaise (6 tablespoons), grated parmesan (2 tablespoons), finely chopped celery (1/4 cup), finely chopped pickles (6 tablespoons), lemon juice (1 tablespoon), curry powder (1/2 tablespoon), chopped dill (1 1/2 teaspoon), and garlic powder (1 teaspoon) together in a large bowl.
- Scoop the tuna salad into the center of each onion ring and press down to flatten out the tops.
- Evenly distribute half the cheese over the onion rings.
- Bake in preheated oven for 10 minutes.
- Remove baked melts from the oven and allow them to cool for about 5 minutes. Then flip them over, and sprinkle the remaining cheese on top. Return to the oven for another 10-12 minutes. You'll know they're done once the tops are golden brown.
- Allow them to cool slightly on the baking sheet (this will give the cheese time to harden). Enjoy!
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Lindsey's Tips
- Pickles - Many pickles contain added sugar, check the labels before purchasing a product. We love Vlasic.
- Nutritional information is for 1 stuffed onion if you make 9 using this recipe:
Thanks for sharing! it’s soooo good! ?
You’re welcome Heather! I’m so glad you love it as much as I do!?
This was so good I made it for lunch 2 days in a row!
YAY! So happy you enjoyed it Sara! ?