Tuna Melt

Name: Tuna Melt
Total time: 20 min
Yield: 2
Ingredients: 5 oz canned tuna (drained, pressed dry); 3 tbsp mayonnaise; 2 tbsp celery (finely diced); 1 ½ tbsp onion (minced); 1 tbsp sweet relish; 1 tsp lemon (juice); 1 tsp mustard; ¼ tsp salt; ¼ tsp black pepper (ground); 4 slice rye bread (sliced); 4 slice cheddar (sliced thin); 2 tbsp butter (softened)

Sandwiches & Handhelds · American

12 ingredients · 20 minutes · 2 servings

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732kcal38.1g protein48.3g fat35.8g carbs~$2.44/ serving*

Contains gluten, dairy, egg, fish · sometimes contains soy — check the label

Restrictions

Containsgluten · dairy · egg · fishIt is in an ingredient you cannot leave out.

Sometimes contains — check the labelsoy (Mayonnaise)Some brands have it, some do not. The recipe cannot tell, so this is the one you check yourself.

Diets

PescatarianNo porkNo alcohol

Worked out from the ingredient list. It knows nothing about brands, shared equipment or cross contamination, and it is not a certification — if you have an allergy, you still have to read the label.

Ingredients

Servings:

5 oz	canned tuna (drained, pressed dry)
3 tbsp	mayonnaise
2 tbsp	celery (finely diced)
1 ½ tbsp	onion (minced)
1 tbsp	sweet relish
1 tsp	lemon (juice)
1 tsp	mustard
¼ tsp	salt
¼ tsp	black pepper (ground)
4 slice	rye bread (sliced)
4 slice	cheddar (sliced thin)
2 tbsp	butter (softened)

Optional

Not counted above. The dish works without them.

2 slice	tomato (sliced thin, blotted)
2 slice	swiss cheese (sliced)
1 unit	dill pickle (spears, alongside)
½ tsp	hot sauce
¼ tsp	celery seed

Steps

Prep3 min
press with the can lid or a fork
- canned tuna
- mayonnaise
drain tuna and press it genuinely dry — packing liquid is the whole failure mode of this sandwich, because it thins the mayonnaise into something that wicks straight through the crumb once the pan heats it
Mix3 min
cold, fork not spoon
tuna + mayonnaise + celery + onion + relish + lemon juice + mustard + salt + black pepper, flaked rather than mashed so the salad has structure = tuna salad. Taste now; it should be a shade under-seasoned, since the cheese brings its own salt
Top2 min
cheese on the inside of both slices
- rye bread
- cheddar
bread + a slice of cheddar on each face + half the tuna salad between them, so the salad never touches bread directly — the melted cheese sets up as a waterproof seal on both sides
Prep1 min
outside faces only
- butter
butter the outer surfaces of both slices right to the edge; buttering the bread rather than the pan means the fat is already where the browning happens and can't pool and burn
Fry5 min
medium-low, lid on
assembled sandwiches, first side down, covered — the lid traps enough heat to melt the cheese through the cold salad. Cook hotter and the crust darkens in two minutes while the center is still a cold brick
Fry4 min
medium-low, uncovered, press lightly
flip and finish uncovered so the steam escapes and the second face crisps; press once with a spatula to bond the cheese to the salad, but not hard, or the filling squeezes out the sides and scorches
Rest2 min
on a rack, then cut on the diagonal
rest on a rack, not a plate — a plate traps steam under the sandwich and undoes the crust you just built. The two minutes also let the cheese thicken enough to hold the halves together when cut