Tuna Potato Salad With Dill Buttermilk Dressing

This tuna potato salad recipe is a complete meal that is perfect for lunch or a light dinner. A satisfying combination of baby potatoes, green beans, tuna, radishes and red onion all tossed together with a delicious dill buttermilk dressing.

This salad is one of my favourites when I am looking for a salad that is satisfying enough to serve as a main dish. It’s a healthy and delicious meal that can be enjoyed year round but is especially nice in the spring/summer when a lot of the ingredients are in season.

The dill buttermilk dressing really transforms this tuna potato salad into something special. I could drink the stuff…it is so good! Sometimes I make double the dressing just so that I have extra to drizzle over my salad.

Ready to make this quick and easy meal salad? Let’s do it…

Ingredients Needed

You will need the following ingredients to make this salad…

• Potatoes: Use small potatoes of some sort. Baby potatoes, fingerling potatoes, kipfler potatoes or warba potatoes are all great options.
• Green Beans: Trimmed and cut into bite-size pieces.
• Tuna: Two cans of solid tuna, drained and broken into chunks with a fork.
• Radishes: Chopped radishes add some crunchy texture.
• Onion: I like to use either red onion or sweet onion.
• Dill Buttermilk Dressing: This delicious dressing is simply a mixture of buttermilk, greek yogurt, fresh lemon juice, onion powder, fresh dill and some salt and cayenne pepper.

What type of canned tuna to use?

I highly recommend using “solid” or “chunked” tuna instead of flaked. It just makes the salad look nicer and more rustic when there are chunks of tuna distributed throughout instead of tons of tiny little flakes. Other than that, the type of tuna you use comes down to personal preference. My preference is to use solid skipjack tuna that has been packed in water.

The reason why I tend to purchase skipjack tuna is because it is a smaller tuna and therefore has significantly lower levels of mercury versus albacore or yellowfin. Here are two sustainably sourced options: US | Canada.

How To Make This Tuna Potato Salad

Ready to make this delicious, hearty main dish salad? It’s so good! Simply…

1. Cook the potatoes: Place the potatoes in a pot and cover with cold water. Bring to a boil over high heat, salt the water (tbsp of salt) and lower heat to maintain a simmer. Cook until potatoes are just fork tender (approx. 10-12 min). Remove potatoes with a slotted spoon and set aside to cool. Once cooled to room temperature, slice into halves or quarters.
2. Blanch the green beans: Return the water to a boil and add the green beans. Cook until tender crisp (about 2-3 minutes). Remove beans with a slotted spoon and place into an ice bath or colander under cold running water for a minute to stop the cooking process. Drain and set aside.
3. Make the dressing: Whisk together all the dressing ingredients in a small bowl or shake together in a jar.
4. Toss everything together: Place the potatoes, green beans, tuna, radishes and red onion in a large bowl. Pour over the dressing and toss gently to combine. Adjust salt and pepper to taste and enjoy!

Detailed ingredient list and directions located in the recipe card below.

A few tips…

• To speed things up, prep your ingredients and make the dressing while the potatoes are cooking.
• Make sure the potatoes are cooled down to room temperature before mixing the salad. I like to pop the potatoes into the fridge immediately after they are done cooking so that they cool down faster. However, you can also just let them come to room temperature on the counter if you have more time.

Can You Make It Ahead?

All of the components can be prepped ahead of time and stored separately in the fridge for up to 3 days. Boil the potatoes, blanch the green beans, chop up the radishes and onions and make the dressing ahead of time and store each individually. Once you are ready to eat the salad, simply take everything out of the fridge, grab your tuna and toss everything gently to combine.

I don’t recommend mixing the dressing into the salad ahead of time though since it will completely absorb and the crunchier veggies will lose their texture. This salad is best served immediately once it has been mixed.

Possible Variations

This salad can easily be customized in a number of ways. Here are a few ideas…

• Use different veggies: You could swap the green beans for asparagus. Or just use any veggies that you like or happen to have on hand – cucumber, celery, cherry tomatoes, bell peppers, etc would all work nicely.
• Add lots of fresh herbs: If your herb garden is flourishing then this is a great salad to add some to. Chopped parsley, chives and extra dill would all be nice.
• Switch to salmon: You could swap the tuna for canned or grilled salmon.
• Add hard boiled eggs: Turn it into more of a Nicoise-style salad by adding some quartered or halved hard boiled eggs.

More Meal Salads

Here are a few more salads that can be served as a satisfying main dish for lunch or dinner…

• Roasted Asparagus with Egg and Parmesan Salad
• Build Your Own Healthy Nourish Bowl
• Roasted Pumpkin and Beetroot Salad

Did you try this tuna potato salad recipe? Let me know in the comments!

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