These Healthy Tuna Lettuce Wraps make for such an easy, delicious, and healthy lunch for busy days. Make up a batch of the tuna salad in advance and eat it throughout the week! Perfect to pack in your lunch bag as a lighter low carb option. {Gluten-free, Dairy-free & Paleo}
Easy Tuna Lettuce Wraps Recipe – Low Calorie
I’ve always been a big tuna fan for a quick and easy lunch. And that’s where these healthy tuna lettuce wraps totally come in handy!
Usually, on an average day, my go-to lunch tends to be leftovers, but if those aren’t available, out comes the can of tuna. It’s one of those things that we always like to have stocked in the cupboard since it’s non-perishable and is perfect for an easy no cook meal.
Just open the can, mix with desired add-ins, and throw it on a sandwich, wrap, or salad. Doesn’t get much easier than that!
With this tuna lettuce wrap recipe, you simply assemble the tuna mixture, which can be made in advance (bonus!), and then serve it up on crunchy lettuce leaves for the ultimate light and refreshing lower-carb lunch or snack!
The simple sauce mixture consists of only four ingredients and is smooth, creamy, and flavorful, yet no mayo is required!
If you’re looking for other healthy protein-rich lunches to have on hand, be sure to check out this Healthy Tuna Macaroni Salad or Avocado Egg Salad.
Why We Love This Tuna Salad on Lettuce
- Healthy alternative: These tuna and lettuce wraps are made with a cashew-based sauce instead of mayo, and they’re wrapped in pieces of lettuce to lighten them up. They’re a wonderfully high protein, low calorie, low carb meal with nourishing healthy fats, and even better, they taste great, too!
- Perfect for meal prep: Once assembled, the delicious tuna salad can rest in the fridge for up to 4 days! This makes it so easy to make these tuna salad lettuce wraps for lunch nearly all week long.
- Full of flavor: Classic tuna salad is so heavy and rich from all the mayo, and it tends to have a strong pickle flavor that can outweigh the tuna. This healthy tuna salad recipe is still full of flavor but without the heavy weight of the mayo. The vegetables add a ton of crunch, too, which makes them so fun to eat!
Ingredient Notes
For the lettuce wraps:
- Canned tuna: Use tuna packed in water. Strain off the excess liquid.
- Vegetables: Dice fresh carrots, celery, and green onions for lots of color and crunch.
- Lettuce: The best lettuce for lettuce wraps is usually any type of butter lettuce, like Boston or Bibb lettuce. Romaine lettuce leaves are also sturdy enough and iceberg lettuce can work in a pinch.
- Dill pickles (optional): If you like a little tanginess in your tuna salad, add some finely diced dill pickle.
For the creamy sauce:
- Soaked cashews: Use unsalted cashews and make sure they soak for at least 2 hours to get nice and tender.
- Water: To help thin out the cashew sauce.
- Minced garlic: This adds a nice savory note to the sauce.
- Salt: For extra flavor.
How to Make Creamy Mayo-Free Sauce
- In a small bowl, measure out cashews and allow them to soak in water for at least two hours.
- In a blender or Ninja (one of my favourite kitchen tools!) blend together all of the ingredients for the cream sauce until smooth.
How to Make Tuna Lettuce Wraps
- In a bowl or container, break up the tuna with a fork. Add in diced celery, carrots, green onion and diced pickles, if desired.
- Add the cream sauce to the tuna mixture and mix until well combined.
- Evenly distribute mixture into lettuce leaves and serve immediately or store tuna salad mixture in fridge for later use.
Recipe Notes:
- Make sure you soak the cashews in water for a couple of hours. I usually just measure out the cashews when I get up in the morning and let them sit in some water for the day so they’re good to go for when I’m ready to make the sauce.
- I recommend using a high power blender, or a Ninja or magic bullet to get the smoothest and creamiest sauce. I’ve tried using a food processor but I find it doesn’t make it super smooth and sometimes small chunks of cashews still remain, which is not the consistency we’re going for.
- You can also make double the amount of cream sauce and use it as a replacement for sauce in all of your favourite creamy-based dishes. The options for this sauce are endless, but I especially like to use it for this Cranberry Apple Chicken Salad or Dairy-Free Salmon Florentine! It should keep in the fridge for up to two weeks so it’s perfect for meal prep or if you’d like to incorporate it into other recipes.
Recipe FAQ
What type of tuna should I use?
For the purpose of this recipe, you can use whichever type of tuna you prefer. Keep in mind that albacore tuna does tend to be higher in mercury than light tuna so it’s important to limit intake of albacore tuna especially in more vulnerable populations like young children and women who are pregnant and breastfeeding. You can read more about the guidelines here.
When in doubt, stick to canned light tuna, preferably packed in water to limit sodium and fat consumption.
What type of lettuce is best for making lettuce wraps?
Generally, I find that using Bibb or Boston lettuce works best since the leaves have just the right shape for holding the tuna mixture. I tend to prefer using the leaves closer to the inside of the head of lettuce since they’re a little more crunchy.
This type of lettuce is also quite flexible, so it’s easy to fold around the mixture when shoveling it into your mouth, making for the perfect tuna lettuce cups!
If you can’t find Boston or Bibb lettuce, you can also use romaine lettuce for the tuna wraps.
Can these tuna lettuce wraps be made in advance?
Although the mayo-free tuna salad can be made ahead of time, I recommend placing the tuna mixture on the lettuce wraps just before serving to keep the lettuce nice and crispy and prevent it from getting soggy.
Storage Guidelines
The tuna salad can be stored in an airtight container or in a bowl wrapped tightly with saran wrap for up to four days.
Serving Suggestions
This easy recipe for tuna lettuce wraps was designed to be a meal all on its own, but it can also be served as an appetizer, afternoon snack, or with these delicious recipes!
- Raw veggies and dip (try this spicy garlic hummus or healthy tzatziki sauce)
- Blueberry Walnut Salad
- Broccoli Salad without Bacon
- Healthy Roasted Potatoes
- Asparagus Tomato Salad
Recipe Variations
- Add more veggies: Consider this recipe to be your jumping-off place! You can easily add way more veggies, like diced red onion, bell peppers, water chestnuts, cucumbers, and more. Just be aware that watery veggies, like cucumbers, can weep, so it’s best to add them fresh.
- Add herbs: Some fresh dill, parsley, or a little chopped cilantro would add a pop of flavor to this easy low-carb lunch!
- Make it tangy: The pickles in the tuna mixture add a nice tang, but you can easily add a little pickle brine or lemon juice for a bright, tangy flavor.
- Eat it as a snack: Break your lettuce into smaller pieces or grab some cucumber slices or whole grain crackers to eat the creamy tuna salad as an appetizer or snack. This is also great for a light dinner!
More Healthy Seafood Recipes
- Tuna Avocado Salad
- Lemon Garlic Sauce for Fish
- Chili Lime Shrimp Skewers
- Spicy Shrimp Tacos
- Parmesan Crusted Cod
- Mini Salmon Cakes
- Healthy Fish Sticks
- Sun-dried Tomato Pesto Salmon
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Healthy Tuna Lettuce Wraps {without Mayo}
Ingredients
For the lettuce wraps:
- 2 5 oz cans tuna packed in water
- 2 ribs of celery diced
- 1/2 cup finely chopped carrots
- 2 green onions thinly sliced (green and white parts)
- 8 Bibb, Boston, or romaine lettuce leaves
- 1/2 cup finely diced dill pickles (optional)
For the creamy sauce:
- 1/2 cup unsalted cashews soaked in water for at least 2 hours
- 1/2 cup water
- 1 garlic clove minced
- 1/4 tsp salt
Instructions
- In a small bowl, measure out cashews and allow them to soak in water for at least two hours. In a blender or magic bullet, blend all of the ingredients for the cream sauce until smooth.
- In a bowl or container, break up tuna with a fork. Add in diced celery, carrots, and green onion and diced pickles, if desired.
- Add the cream sauce to the tuna mixture and mix until well combined. Evenly distribute mixture into Bibb, Boston or romaine lettuce leaves. Serve immediately or store tuna mixture in fridge for later use.
Notes
Nutrition
This recipe was originally posted in September 2018 but was updated in January 2024 with more helpful tips and photos.
Is the nutrition information per wrap? How do you measure how much tuna to put on the lettuce?
Yes, it’s for each wrap. The tuna mixture makes about 8 lettuce wraps, so you’d use about 1/8th of the tuna mixture for each wrap. Hope that helps!
Can I use cashew butter in place of cashews?
I haven’t personally tried subbing in cashew butter for the cashews. It would most likely lend a different consistency so I’m not sure if it would work in this case as we’re looking for a bit more of a creamy sauce. If you do try it out, please keep me posted on how it turns out!
This was amazingly yummy! Thank you so much for sharing!!!!
Thanks so much Kim! So happy you enjoyed the recipe!