Classic Tuna Melt – The Best, Quick & Easy Recipe

What do you get by combining a Grilled Cheese and a Tuna Salad? My delicious Tuna Melt! I include a Simple Tuna Salad recipe. A normal Tuna Melt uses cheddar cheese, but I like American Cheese. And check out my food blog for all the yummy photos & tasty text: http://the99centchef.blogspot.com/2023/05/tuna-melt-sandwich-recipe.html

Ingredients
Tuna – a 5-ounce can “chunk.” Drain the cooked tuna of liquid. I press down the tuna with the can lid to squeeze out water – be careful as the can lid can be sharp.
American Cheese – 1 slice per sandwich. Okay to use any favorite including cheddar, Swiss, mozzarella, or pepper Jack.
Onion – 1 tablespoon chopped. Purple, white, green, or yellow onion.
Sweet Pickle Relish – 1 tablespoon. okay to use chopped pickle.
Mayonnaise – 1 tablespoon. Add more or less to suit your taste.
Pepper to taste – about half a teaspoon. I find canned tuna salty enough, so I leave out the salt.
*For a can of “Solid” Tuna double the amounts of onion, relish, and mayonnaise.

Directions
Fine-chop onion. It’s okay to leave out the onion if you don’t like it.

Drain one can of tuna. “Chunk” tuna is loosely packed. If you use “Solid” tuna you will get twice as much in a can so you should almost double the amounts of chopped onion, pickle relish, and mayo.

Add drained tuna and chopped onion to a bowl.

Add one tablespoon of mayo. Okay to add a teaspoon at a time to reach the desired creaminess.
Mix all ingredients and taste.

Add more mayonnaise if needed. I like to add black pepper but no salt, as I find canned tuna is salty enough.

Store Tuna Salad in the refrigerator until ready to use in a Tuna Melt.

Grilling Tuna Melt
To complete the recipe build and grill the Tuna Melt. I start with a pat of butter in a frying pan or stovetop grill, over medium heat. It’s okay to toast bread without butter or oil.

When the butter is melted drag the bread slices through the butter. Now assemble the Tuna Melt.

With the buttered side down, I like to add a slice of cheese to the bread first. Next, I pile on some Tuna Salad. Finally, top it all with another lightly buttered slice of bread.

Having the cheese on the bottom nearest the flame gets it to start melting– that’s what makes a Tuna Melt so special.

It only takes a few minutes to toast the bread, so peek under it as it cooks so you don’t burn the sandwich.

You may find Tuna Salad breaking down a little bit during toasting as it warms, so be careful when turning the sandwich, as some Tuna Salad may spill out.