Rustling up a tuna salad is a quick and healthy way to enjoy lunch. Whether you use tinned tuna or tuna steak, a tuna salad is a protein-packed lunch option that is an ideal meal option to include in your weekly plan. But what’s the best way to preserve it?
Can You Freeze Tuna Salad?
No, you shouldn’t freeze tuna salad. Although it depends on what you include in your salad, the reality is that most salad options don’t freeze well at all and are likely to go soggy. The likes of lettuce and cucumber shouldn’t be frozen due to their high water content.
Does Tuna Salad Freeze Well? No
Can You Refreeze Tuna Salad? No
Why You Shouldn’t Freeze Tuna Salad
Unfortunately, tuna salad doesn’t freeze well at all. This is largely due to the fact that salad doesn’t do well in the freezer.
If you go to the effort of making up a delicious tuna salad to try and save yourself a little bit of time during the week, you definitely shouldn’t freeze it in an attempt to preserve it.
You can, however, freeze tuna. Whether you have tuna steaks or flakes, they do really well in the freezer when you wrap them tightly to protect them from freezer burn. So, if you have too much tuna fish to use in any one go, it’s best to freeze the fish and leave the salad in the fridge.Â
Then, when you’re ready to prepare your tuna salad for the upcoming week, you can defrost the fish and add it to fresh salad that you’ve just prepared. This way, you can enjoy a delicious tuna salad without worrying about it going soggy in the freezer.
How to Store Tuna Salad
The best way to preserve a tuna salad is to place it in the fridge. You can rustle up a tuna salad with your favourite ingredients before placing it in an airtight container. You can preserve a tuna salad in the freezer for around 24 hours, but you shouldn’t leave it for much longer than this.
As is the case when you freeze salad, it’s likely that the lettuce and some of the other salad items will lose their crunch and will be far from appetising if you leave them in the fridge for too long.
You should never store tuna salad at room temperature, as both the fish and salad are likely to spoil.
Does Tuna Salad Freeze Well?
As explained above, tuna salad does not freeze well at all. While some of the individual components of tuna salad can be frozen – the tuna fish, for instance – you shouldn’t place a pre-prepared tuna salad directly in the freezer.
Instead, if you prepare a tuna salad in advance, you should preserve it in the fridge until you’re ready to enjoy it.
Related FAQs
If you’ve still got questions about freezing tuna salad or salad in general, then these may help:
Although it won’t make you ill and you won’t have any issues with freezing it, it won’t defrost well which is why we would avoid freezing any mayonnaise sauces and dressings.
You won’t have any issues freezing the eggs in a tuna salad. However, you may encounter some issues with the tuna salad itself which is why we would avoid freezing it, unfortunately.
