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    Home » Vegan Recipes » Vegan Lunch Ideas » Vegan Tuna Mayo

    Vegan Tuna Mayo

    Published: Jul 15, 2021 · Modified: Jul 28, 2021 by Kate Ford · This post may contain affiliate links.

    Vegan Tuna Mayo
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    This delicious vegan tuna mayo is made from chickpeas and nori (seaweed) for maximum 'fishy' flavour. Packed with protein and easy to make.

    Ever in search of new and exciting vegan sandwich fillings, I've been experimenting this week with something known by those in-the-know as "choona".... chickpea tuna. And very delicious it is too.

    Crushed chickpeas give this creamy sandwich filling a really excellent texture - a bit of bite. Shop bought vegan mayonnaises are so very good these days, that they are impossible to tell from non-vegan mayo.

    The secret 'fishy'-tasting ingredient is nori - seaweed flakes, (often used for sushi making or widely available as snack-packs). Lemon juice and mustard add to the deep, savoury flavour.

    I really recommend adding just a splash of beetroot juice, (I now save the juice from packs of pre-cooked beetroot specially for making 'choona'!). They say you eat with your eyes, and the slightly pink-ish tinge to the tuna mayo fools your brain into thinking it is the real thing!

    Jump to:
    • 📝 What you need
    • 👩🏽‍🍳 Variations
    • 🔪 What else can I make with nori?
    • 🍽 If you liked that...
    • 📖 Recipe
    • 💬 Comments and Reviews
    Vegan Tuna Mayonnaise Sandwiches

    📝 What you need

    Ingredients

    • Tinned chickpeas
    • Vegan mayonnaise (shop bought or make your own in 2 minutes with my easy Egg Free Mayo recipe!)
    • Lemon
    • Dijon mustard (check it is vegan)
    • Nori sheets (2 small as pictured, or 1 large sushi-sized sheet)
    • Beetroot juice (from cooked beetroot, NOT vinegar!)
    Ingredients for Tuna Mayo

    Equipment

    To grind the nori sheets into very small pieces it is useful to use some sort of mini-chopper. Mine is this Breville Blend Active which I mostly use for morning smoothies but is handy for lots of quick chopping jobs around the kitchen.

    Or a coffee / nut / spice blender like this one would be ideal too.

    If you don't have either of these, you can just tear and crush the nori into as small pieces as you can. A pestle and mortar can help a little but won't get a fine powder as you will with some electrical help.

    👩🏽‍🍳 Variations

    Once you have made the basic tuna mayo recipe you can add all sorts of variations to change around your sandwiches. How about trying some of these:

    • Sweetcorn for the classic tuna-sweetcorn combination
    • Finely chopped spring onions or red onion to add a punch of flavour
    • Fresh herbs like parsley or dill add green freshness
    • Chopped gherkins or capers add a salty tang
    • Cooked jackfruit adds a very realistic fibrous texture and has a very mild flavour so works really well here. If you have some leftover from cooking, go half and half with chickpeas for an excellent twist.
    Vegan Chickpea Tuna

    🔪 What else can I make with nori?

    If you've bought a packet of nori specially to make your vegan tuna you might be wondering what to do with the rest of it. How about trying:

    • My Easy Vegan Sushi Platter - much easier to make than it looks!
    • My Banana Blossom 'Fish & Chips' - with a gorgeous texture and fishy flavour

    Loved this recipe? ⭐️ Leave a star rating below! 📸 Snap a photo of your finished dish and share it with me on Instagram, tagging me @thevegspace or #thevegspace 📩 And get all my latest recipes in a weekly e-mail by subscribing to my newsletter.

    🍽 If you liked that...

    .... you might also enjoy these vegan recipes from The Veg Space:

    Easy Courgette Chutney Recipe
    Courgette Chutney
    Vegan Soda Bread
    Vegan Soda Bread
    Vegan Pate
    Sun-dried Tomato Vegan Pâté
    Vegan Coleslaw
    Vegan Coronation Coleslaw

    📖 Recipe

    Vegan Tuna Mayo

    Vegan Tuna Mayo

    Kate Ford | The Veg Space
    This delicious vegan tuna mayo is made from chickpeas and nori (seaweed) for maximum 'fishy' flavour. Packed with protein and easy to make.
    5 from 9 votes
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    Prep Time 5 mins
    Total Time 5 mins
    Course Lunch
    Cuisine British
    Servings 2 sandwich fillings
    Calories 283 kcal

    Ingredients
     
     

    • 400 g tin chickpeas
    • 2 tablespoon vegan mayonnaise
    • ½ teaspoon dijon mustard (check it is vegan)
    • ½ lemon
    • salt and black pepper
    • 2 small sheets nori (or 1 large sushi-sized sheet)
    • 3 teaspoon beetroot juice (from cooked beetroot, NOT vinegar!)

    Optional extra ingredients (try some rather than all of these!):

    • 4 tablespoon sweetcorn
    • 2 spring onions finely chopped
    • ½ red onion finely chopped
    • 1 tablespoon parsley finely chopped
    • 1 tablespoon dill finely chopped
    • 2 tablespoon chopped gherkins
    • 2 tablespoon chopped capers
    • 3 tablespoon cooked jackfruit

    Instructions
     

    • Drain and rinse the tinned chickpeas and tip into a bowl. Use a fork or potato masher to crush them into a chunky mash.
    • Add the mayonnaise, mustard and juice of half a lemon, then season with salt and black pepper.
    • Crumble the nori sheets with your hands then crush them in a mini-chopper. If they aren't crushing well, take a spoonful of the chickpea mixture and add it to the mini-chopper - this will give them something to bind to.
    • Stir the nori and (optional) beetroot juice through the chickpea mayonnaise mixture. Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary. Add any of the optional extras at this point.
    • Serve in sandwiches or as a salad.

    ENVIRONMENTAL INFORMATION

    Video

    Nutrition

    Serving: 1portionCalories: 283kcalCarbohydrates: 37gProtein: 9gFat: 12gSaturated Fat: 1gPolyunsaturated Fat: 1gMonounsaturated Fat: 1gSodium: 862mgPotassium: 512mgFiber: 9gSugar: 9gVitamin A: 614IUVitamin C: 28mgCalcium: 82mgIron: 3mg
    Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was! Mention @thevegspace or #thevegspace
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    Vegan in 15 by Kate Ford

    For more quick and easy vegan recipes take a look at my latest book Vegan in 15.

    "Brilliant! Chock full of easy recipes and great tips and advice"  Hello! Magazine

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    About Kate Ford

    Hi! I'm Kate, vegan home cook and blogger behind The Veg Space and author of Vegan in 15. I'm passionate about creating easy vegan recipes that even a first-time cook can follow.

    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Sue says

      October 31, 2021 at 10:12 am

      Hi Kate
      Thanks for this great recipe. However, I did chop and change a couple of ingredients as we are not keen on the fishy flavour of the nori and didn't have any beetroot juice in the kitchen or Dijon mustard, so I added instead 3 splashes of soy sauce and used wholegrain mustard. All very vegan of course!!

      Reply
      • Kate Ford says

        November 01, 2021 at 11:28 am

        That's great Sue, a very versatile recipe so you can definitely tweak it to your own taste! Thanks for the feedback.

        Reply
    2. desicart says

      July 28, 2021 at 6:04 am

      so yummy!! i love it! i ll definitely try it!!

      Reply
    3. Marita says

      July 19, 2021 at 7:27 pm

      Oh wow! I can just imagine the flavours in this dish. Sounds delicious. Cannot wait to try it. Thanks for sharing it on #cookblogshare.

      Reply
    4. Danielle Wolter says

      July 15, 2021 at 10:00 am

      What an awesome idea! I am just loving the flavors in this and will totally be having this for lunch next week!

      Reply
    5. Jac says

      July 15, 2021 at 8:54 am

      Oh I am always on the lookout for vegan tuna mayo recipes as they are always just so tasty. Love the idea of the lemon as not tried that before. Having this for lunch as happily I have all the ingredients in 🙂

      Reply
    6. Jeannette says

      July 15, 2021 at 8:42 am

      This is perfect with sushi rice wrapped in some seaweed. You can't go wrong when you mix anything with mayo!

      Reply
    7. Maria says

      July 15, 2021 at 5:53 am

      This is a great combination I haven't tried this before, but I'm going to try now.

      Reply
    8. Zeke B. says

      July 15, 2021 at 5:11 am

      Wow! I must admit that I am a fan of the "real thing", but this recipe looks awesome! I would love to make this and see if I find it an acceptable substitute! You're also right about the mayo - my mother-in-law bought some vegan mayo the other day and it tastes like the original!

      Reply

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