I’m going to be honest with you. Growing up, the only tuna-related recipe I loved was my Dad’s tuna pasta salad that he used to make in the summertime. I’d gobble it up the noodles, tangy flavor (probably thanks to mayo) and of course the addicting umami flavor of tuna.
Dad loved making that tuna salad for me and I loved eating it.
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Years later my taste buds have gone into full blown adulthood and I can’t get enough tuna. There are days when Abra and I are so busy working away that we don’t have time to prep a big lunch so we usually mix a can of tuna with avocado or greek yogurt and nosh on it over a salad, or mixed with another creation from the week (like this broccoli chickpea salad!).
Today I’ve got another EASY tuna recipe for you that can literally be made in 10 minutes. Perfect for lunch or an easy dinner post-workout. And guess what? It all starts with my favorite can of Genova Yellowfin Tuna. Most of you probably know that I’ve been working with Genova for a few years now and for good reason:
- They have EASY OPEN CANS. No can opener required which means I can bring it on the go if necessary. A can of tuna + 1 avocado + bread = easy hiking lunch. Also great mixed with greek yogurt, honey, dijon and chopped apples!
- Genova Tuna is made with just olive oil, tuna and sea salt. That’s right, three simple ingredients make the tuna taste AMAZING, fresh and flavorful. And a little bit of olive oil helps to keep the tuna moist and keep flavor.
- Finally, I love Genova because they are committed to to sustainable seafood and are MSC Certified, the world’s leading certification standard for sustainable, wild-caught seafood. You can even trace their seafood on the Genova Seafood website!
These thai tuna patties are packed with fresh flavor from cilantro, a little spice thanks to cayenne pepper and savory thai flavor thanks to turmeric, ginger and garlic.
I’m OBSESSED and you will be too, especially after you top them with my easy-to-make cilantro cabbage slaw.
WATCH THE VIDEO TO SEE HOW TO MAKE THE THAI TUNA PATTIES:
More delicious tuna recipes to try:
Honey Mustard Apple Tuna Salad
Stovetop Southwest Tuna Mac and Cheese
Pesto Tuna Caprese Cucumber Bites
Farmer’s Market Spicy Tuna Wraps with Homemade Chipotle Greek Yogurt Ranch
Green Goddess Tuna Quinoa Salad
Ambitious Kitchen
Cookbook
125 Ridiculously Good For You, Sometimes Indulgent, and Absolutely Never Boring Recipes for Every Meal of the Day
Thai Tuna Patties with Cilantro Cabbage Slaw
Ingredients
- For the slaw
- ½ cup shredded carrots
- ½ cup shredded cabbage
- ¼ cup chopped cilantro
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- 1 teaspoon coconut sugar
- 1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
- Salt
- Freshly ground pepper
- A few dashes of hot sauce, if you like it spicy
- For the burgers
- 2 (5 ounce) cans Genova Yellowfin Tuna
- 1 egg
- 1 tablespoon coconut flour (or ¼ cup Panko breadcrumbs)
- ¼ cup freshly chopped cilantro
- ½ tablespoon freshly grated ginger
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- ¼ teaspoon turmeric
- ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
- Salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 1 teaspoon coconut oil
- For topping:
- 1 avocado, sliced
- Optional:
- 4 whole wheat or gluten-free hamburger buns
Instructions
- Make your slaw. In a small bowl combine carrots, cabbage, cilantro, apple cider vinegar, coconut sugar, sesame oil, salt, pepper and hot sauce. Set aside to marinate for a few minutes.
- In a medium bowl mix together tuna, egg, coconut flour, cilantro, ginger, garlic, turmeric, salt and pepper until well combined. Break up the tuna with a fork and mix together until well combined.
- Use your hand to form four even patties. If they don’t seem like they are sticking together well, place in the fridge for 5-10 minutes.
- Add coconut oil to a nonstick skillet or griddle and place over medium heat. Add each patty to the skillet and cook for about 2-4 minutes, until golden brown, then carefully flip patty and cook for another 2-4 minutes.
- Remove from heat and transfer to buns or lettuce wraps. Add avocado slices and cilantro cabbage mixture. Serve with extra hot sauce, aioli or mayo if you’d like. Serves 4.
Nutrition
This recipe is in partnership with Genova Seafood. Thanks for supporting Ambitious Kitchen and the brands that help make this site possible!
I’ve been patiently (not really ha) waiting for this one! YAYE! Will be making them tonight!
Nooooot to be dramatic but I’ve also been creepily waiting for this one. woohoo!
Right? I just went on a self imposed ‘break’ at work for Genova Yellowfin Tuna and a red pepper, have all the rest, can’t wait to get home and make them!
Haha I’ve been so excited to post it since I teased it on Instagram! Hope you love it 🙂
So much flavor!! The slaw looks super addicting! I bet it would be good with shrimp tacos as well!
Omg YES it would be delicious with tacos!
I made this as soon as I saw it posted. I had a hard time keeping it from falling apart even after putting it in the fridge for 10 minutes. Hope others don’t have the same problem.
I had trouble with them
Binding as well. Going to try and play with the binding materials next time — more egg or flour. Otherwise amazing.
We had the same problem. Stopped before trying to cook and put them in the freezer.
And! I made them! Doubled the slaw recipe because…it looks like I need to eat it plain as well, and I do. This recipe is THE SHIT! An ‘aha’ moment while eating it, omg everything perfecto and then some!!!
YES can’t get enough of that slaw! So happy you liked this one Denise 🙂
Perfect quick weekday dinner ! Thank you so much !
Absolutely! Hope you love ’em 🙂
I´m a huge fan of tuna, but have never seen it served like this before, it looks so delicious, and that cilantro cabbage slaw….amazing
Such a fun way to use it! That cilantro cabbage slaw might be my new favorite topping 😉
I’ve never thought about making salmon burgers like this before. Thanks for another creative delicious recipe!
You bet! I actually use tuna in these patties 🙂 but salmon would probably work too!
Gah! I meant tuna! Can you tell I worked a million hours this week?!
Super Tuna burger !
Thank you for sharing this amazing recipe.Unfortunately, Genova tuna is nowhere to be found in Alberta.
Made these tonight and they were DELICIOUS!!! Adding hot sauce to the slaw was such a great idea!
So glad you liked them!! And YES I like mine with some heat too 🙂
Loved these so much .. I’m keeping the recipe to try with minced turkey also.
Monique your adventure risk free !
So glad you loved these! Let me know how it goes with the minced turkey!
So good! I don’t eat tuna often because I only know a few dishes to make with it, so I’m glad that I found these as a tasty and creative addition to my tuna repertoire! I’m only cooking for one so I froze the other three patties to take out and cook throughout the week. I did have a bit of trouble getting the patties to stick together, if anyone has any tips on that. They weren’t completely falling apart though so I wasn’t too bothered. The coleslaw was also excellent and so easy, definitely something I could bring to a cookout in the future.
These are perfect for experimenting with tuna! Fun and delicious 🙂 They will be a bit soft, so I would just handle them carefully. Glad you enjoyed!
Why did I wait so long to try these??!! They are AMAZING!! I love the toasted sesame oil flavor in the burgers, and the slaw is simple but delish! I too had trouble making them into patties, but realized that I had forgotten the egg! Oops! They came together great with the egg. This is a definite keeper of a recipe! Thanks for your creativity! I would rate them higher than a 5 if I could. 😉
So happy to hear that!! These do hold up better with an egg 😉 and that slaw would be delicious on tacos, other burgers, etc. too!
Excellent. So much flavor. After the first bite, it instantly became one of my favorite foods!
Amazing! So glad you loved it.
This recipe is so good! We loved all the complex flavors. We skipped the avocado as there is so much to satisfy, great flavor and texture. We made this twice this week! Thank you!
So glad you love these! Perfect for an easy, weekday meal 🙂
Fantastic recipe!! I didn’t have any buns, so I placed the tuna patty on a piece of toast and had it open faced. LOVE the slaw on top, I think I’ll double it next time.
Perfect! So delicious.
Love the flavors in the tuna patties! I opted to serve them with the slaw on the side and with some homemade sweet potato fries rather than on a bun
Love that idea! Yum.
CV 19 dinner tonight. Tasty, easy and I used tortillas rather than buns so it was like a fish taco. We added sriracha sauce and lime and doubled the claw. Yum.
Delicious! Love that idea!
Thank you, thank you, thank you Monique! This was so delicious, fast and easy! Because of the covid-19 quarantine, I’ve been discovering that cooking fancy, yummy dinners actually doesn’t take that much time! 🙂 I added some diced onion into the patty for a little extra something, and it turned out great! Also had to use homemade breadcrumbs (from toasted whole wheat bread) because we didn’t have any coconut flour or panko. The patties held up well and didn’t fall apart at all 🙂
Perfect! So glad you loved these 🙂 a great way to use pantry staples!
WOW me and my parents are SUPER impressed by this recipe!!!! It was incredible, such a light and fresh dish! I wasn’t going to do the slaw for time purposes and I’m so happy I did! It MADE the dish. This is the 3rd recipe I made from ambitious kitchen that I adore. Thank you it was amazing and I will definitely be making it again!
Amazing! So happy to hear that!
This recipe came out so flavorful!! I wasn’t quite sure about tuna patties but I loved it and would definitely make it again. I used albacore tuna and it was a bit dry so the patty didn’t quite stay together so well. Maybe I’ll use something like lime juice or something to make the mixture less dry next time. The slaw was awesome and so easy to make. Also, I made the tuna mixture in the kitchen aid stand mixer.
So glad you enjoyed! The tuna we used for this recipe was packed with olive oil so perhaps that’s why yours was a bit more try. I suggest adding a splash of EVOO next time if you use the same brand.
This is such a good and easy recipe! Such a good combo of flavors 🙂
One of my favorite lunches!
I should have doubled the recipe. Delicious!
Glad you loved it!
Outstanding recipe! Made it as written except we cooked in the airfryer. We have already decided to make it again next week.
Aw thank you so much! Love the idea of air frying these 🙂 Hope they’re just as good the second time around!!
So good!! I didn’t have the ingredients for the slaw on hand, so I topped my patties with avocado, red onion, greens, and sriracha mayo on a bun. Will definitely keep in rotation!! Thanks for such great recipes!
Perfect! Love that idea.
This is a great weeknight recipe. If the patties aren’t binding I add an extra egg and that always works. Highly recommend these thai tuna patties!
This is probably the first recipe I made that Monique created, and it’s what got me hooked on her food! It’s a great twist using tuna, and the slaw really makes this dish! I did leave out the cilantro and ginger (I really can’t stand either one), and this recipe was still very tasty.
What is your go-to hot sauce? This recipe sounds like a lot of fun – i’ll be making it soon!
Yay! Excited for you to try them 🙂 I think Sriracha would be amazing in here!