Recipe: Grilled Apple Tuna Melts

A couple of days ago I posted my recipe for Tuna Salad… one of my fellow bloggers and regular reader… Dave from Year on the Grill… commented he liked apple in his tuna salad…. I had some tuna salad leftover and thought the suggestion was a terrific one and decided to try it out….

I decided to add a Granny Smith apple diced into my tuna salad… then I had to decide on the cheese… I make my tuna melts with all kinds of different cheeses… all of them good… for this one … I decided on cheddar cheese… it always pairs well with apples.

Now to decide on the cooking method… when I was doing research … I came across dozens of recipes for tuna melts… all kinds of ingredients… and to my surprise… all kinds of cooking methods.

I always had made them with English muffins… open face sandwiches with cheese over the tuna salad and then put under the broiler to melt the cheese. I was surprised to see so many that grilled them as sandwiches… so I decided grilled apple tuna melts it was. Since I was going to try a new method (for me anyway)… I’d now have to choose a bread as well… I decided a fresh sliced rye bread it would be…

And so I made my Grilled Apple Tuna melts….

TIP

I would recommend one Granny Smith apple per can of tuna used.

Many thanks to Dave for making the suggestion….it was totally delicious!.... Although he said I’d never go back to tuna salad without apples… I will… but I now have a variation I will use from time to time… the apples give the salad a really refreshing taste…. you really need to try it!








Recipe: Grilled Apple Tuna Melts

All you need:

For the Basic Tuna Salad:

2 cans of solid white tuna in water, well drained and flaked
2 hard-boiled eggs, finely chopped
1 tablespoon fresh parsley, chopped
1 celery stalk, finely diced
2 small or 1 large shallot, finely chopped
3-5 tablespoons Hellman’s Real Mayonnaise
Salt to taste
Freshly ground pepper to taste

For the Tuna Salad with Apple Added:


2 Granny Smith apples, small dice

For the Tuna Melt:

Bread (your favorite kind)
Margarine or Butter
Cheese (your favorite kind)

All you need to do:

To Make the Tuna Salad:

Combine all ingredients, including the diced apple, in a bowl until well mixed.

To Make the Tuna Melt:


Generously spread margarine on one side of the slices of bread.

Put a small amount of shredded cheese or a slice of cheese on the on the dry side of one piece of bread….margarine side down.

Put a generous helping of Apple Tuna Salad on top of the cheese.

Put a layer of shredded cheese or a slice of cheese on top of the tuna.



Place on a hot grill pan …







Put the second piece of bread over the cheese … dry side down…. margarine side up.

Grill over medium high heat until the bottom is golden brown.




Carefully flip the sandwich and grill the other side until is also golden and cheese has melted.

Gently press the sandwich with a spatula.


Serve immediately.