I Made Ina Garten’s Easy 10-Minute Tuna Melt Recipe for Quick Lunch

I Made Ina Garten’s Easy 10-Minute Tuna Melt Recipe for Quick Lunch


  • I attempted making Ina Garten’s tuna soften recipe, which was fast and straightforward to organize.
  • It ended up being the most effective tuna melts I’ve ever had and was fast and straightforward to place collectively.
  • I am going to additionally use the recipe sooner or later to make common tuna salad sandwiches.

Ina Garten has change into a family title for cooking comfort food staples.

As a lot as I might love considered one of her gourmet meals in the course of every day, utilizing my whole lunch hour to whip up one thing from the TV persona’s arsenal of recipes is not all the time real looking.

Thankfully, Garten has a couple of fast recipes up her sleeves, together with a 10-minute tackle a tuna soften.

The recipe makes use of pantry staples I often have readily available, in addition to recent parts like inexperienced onions, microgreens, celery, and dill.

As somebody who loves tuna salad sandwich, I used to be curious to see if this dish might exchange my costly lunchtime takeout orders. This is the way it went.

I began by gathering my components.


Pepper, celery, dill, cheese, bread, Swiss Gruyere AOP cheese, tuna, chives, anchovy paste, avocado oil mayonnaise, and lemon on a table.

The whole value of the components ended up being a little bit bit dear.

Lara Walsh

Garten’s recipe says to make use of imported canned tuna packed in olive oil, so I selected two cans of Genova yellowfin tuna as a substitute of the water-based ones I usually use.

It was additionally shockingly laborious to search out Swiss cheese that wasn’t within the type of sandwich slices at my Jewel-Osco — not to mention the Emmentaler that she recommended. I made a decision to make use of a Swiss Gruyere AOP as a substitute, which had an analogous taste.

I additionally picked up celery, scallions, recent dill, a lemon, anchovy paste, and bread. I already had avocado oil mayo at dwelling, so I used that for the recipe.

The recipe additionally referred to as for microgreens, however I left them out since I am not a fan of their grassy taste.

My receipt ended up popping out to about $35, or roughly $8.75 per serving — which I discovered to be a little bit dear for a tuna melt sandwich.

I started by draining the oil from the tuna and flaking it with a fork.


A mixture of tuna, celery, green onion, and dill in a bowl.

The tuna’s creamy texture made it simple to flake.

Lara Walsh

Although I drained many of the oil, the tuna appeared to have a creamy texture and flaked simply.

I chopped the celery into ¼-inch items, diced the inexperienced onions and dill, and added them to the tuna combination.

Subsequent, I lower a recent lemon and squeezed out 2 tablespoons of lemon juice. I then added 1½ teaspoons of salt and ¾ of a teaspoon of pepper, mixing to mix the components.

I added the mayo and anchovy paste to make the combination creamy.


A tuna mixture with mayonnaise and a teaspoon of anchovy paste being added in.

The anchovy paste did not look interesting at first, however it rapidly blended in with the remainder of the combination.

Lara Walsh

I added the mayo, which made the combination creamy, and the anchovy paste, which seemed a little bit unappetizing at first. Nevertheless, it rapidly assimilated into the tuna combination.

I preheated the broiler and toasted two slices of bread.


A tuna mixture being spread onto two slices of bread with a fork.

I put a wholesome serving of tuna on every slice of bread.

Lara Walsh

After the bread was completed toasting, I put the slices in a baking dish and unfold a thick layer of the tuna combination on each bit.

Though Garten suggests utilizing a couple of quarter of the combination for every slice of bread, I added a little bit extra tuna because it in any other case appeared to be a small serving.

After grating cheese over the tuna combination, I popped the sandwiches within the oven.


Tuna melts coming out of the oven as cheese started to melt.

I took the tuna melts out of the oven simply because the cheese began to soften.

Lara Walsh

I grated the cheese on prime of the tuna combination, then positioned the open-faced sandwiches within the oven to broil for about three minutes.

I waited till the cheese simply began to soften and brown earlier than taking them out of the oven to serve.

My first chew of Garten’s tuna soften was heavenly.


Lara standing in front of a window holding her tuna melt.

The flavors meshed collectively nicely, and the components shaped an awesome texture.

Lara Walsh

The mixture of olive oil, melted cheese, and creamy mayonnaise made the tuna style a lot richer than what I am used to.

The recent lemon juice lower by means of a few of that richness, whereas the inexperienced onions, recent dill, and diced celery added some taste and texture.

I additionally favored that the bread did not get soggy, even after I completed up some emails earlier than consuming my second slice. I believe this was in all probability as a result of the bread was toasted.

The sandwich was scrumptious, however I might make a couple of adjustments subsequent time.


Lara shreds cheese on her tuna melts before putting them in the oven.

Subsequent time, I am going to scale back the quantity of salt used and perhaps add chives.

Lara Walsh

The anchovy paste added a little bit further savory umami taste to the sandwich, however it additionally made it saltier. Sooner or later, I am going to scale back the quantity of salt I exploit.

I additionally suppose that including a briney component like capers might make this sandwich even higher, regardless that it was already scrumptious as is.

I actually did not miss the microgreens, because of all of the recent components and crunch within the sandwich, and I believe it could have simply been an costly throwaway topping that added to the price of the meal.

My essential criticism was that Garten’s tuna sandwich recipe didn’t yield as a lot filling as I’d anticipated.


Lara holding up a slice of tuna melt over a plate.

I am going to nonetheless add the sandwich to my lunch rotation.

Lara Walsh

I used to be disillusioned there wasn’t extra of the tuna soften left after my boyfriend and I scarfed it down — particularly given its comparatively excessive price ticket and the truth that it is presupposed to be sufficient for 4 parts.

Nevertheless, contemplating how fast it was to make and the way scrumptious the outcomes had been, this tuna soften sandwich will certainly change into a daily in my lunch rotation. Subsequent time, I am going to simply make some changes to make it a little bit extra budget-friendly.

This story was initially printed on July 5, 2024 and most just lately up to date on March 12, 2025.





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