Tuna Patties – Delicious and Budget Friendly !

Tuna patties are a simple yet deliciously protein pack dish that can be easily whipped up in just a few minutes! Crispy on the outside and tenderly savory on the inside. These patties are made with basic pantry staples making them the perfect quick dish to make for lunch, dinner, or for meal prep.

Simple Tuna Patties Ingredients :

• Tuna – choose any brand you like!
• Carrots – adds a subtle sweetness, color, and nutrition to the dish.
• Malunggay leaves – for fiber and color.
• Garlic and Onion – adds to the flavor and taste.
• All-purpose flour – helps sip up the extra liquids, making it easier to shape in the pan.
• Cornstarch – helps with the crispiness.
• Eggs – acts as a binder to mesh all the ingredients together.
• Salt and Pepper – to taste
• Oil – for frying

How do you make Tuna Patties ?

Ingredients :

• 2 cans tuna
• 1/2 cup carrots ( grated )
• 1/2 cup malunggay leaves
• 3 cloves garlic ( minced )
• 1 piece medium onion ( chopped )
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup cornstarch
• 2 pieces eggs
• salt and pepper to taste
• oil for frying

Steps :

1. To start off, drain the tuna from its sauce. Shred large tuna pieces using forks.

2. Mix the tuna with grated carrots, minced malunggay leaves and minced garlic and onion. Add in all-purpose flour and cornstarch.

3. Crack 2 eggs into the mixture and stir well. Add pinch of ground black pepper and salt to taste. Mix until well-combined.

4. Heat the pan and put some oil. Start frying the patty mixture by scooping a good mount into the pan. Flip to cook the other side. Once the patties are completely golden brown, transfer onto plates.

5. Serve and enjoy!

You worry about the canned tunas sitting for too long in your pantry? You might want to try out this recipe. A patty is a flattened round mix of ingredients, a dish that can be served anytime of the day. It can be eaten for breakfast, lunch, or dinner, with or without hot-cooked rice on the side. The bonus part is that it’s very easy to make with the ingredients already available in your kitchen.

Just a quick trivia, the tuna industry is serving the world for over a century already and still doing a pretty job today. In the early 1900s, canned tuna only tried to substitute sardines but it worked out being one of the high demand seafood products in the world. My tuna-lover self couldn’t be more proud.

I’m not sure if it’s just me but I really love my tuna patties with crispy edges (not the burnt crisp!). That is why I make sure that whenever I cook some, I take extra efforts to flatten thin the patty mixture and cook it for longer time as intended. This way, I can achieve the quality I look for in my tuna patties.

Try our other Tuna Meals :

Questions: 

• Additional Ingredients :
  • Add more vegetables into this to make Tuna Patties with Potato ( also called “Potato and Tuna Patties” or “Tuna Potato Cakes” ). Add chopped potatoes into the mix.
  • Or add some greens like cauliflower or broccoli for “Tuna and Cauliflower Fish Cakes“.
  • Make this suit your diet by using vegetables or seasonings that you like, paprika, cumin, turmeric, spinach, green onions, cabbages, basil or anything in the pantry you might need to finish up.

• How to keep Tuna Patties from Falling Apart ?

The best way to keep these from falling apart is making sure that the batter is thick enough like a pancake batter. Make sure to strain the tuna well before adding into the mix, but you can also add 2 – 3 tablespoons all purpose flour or breadcrumbs to help thicken the batter further.

• How to make Egg Free Tuna Patties ( Tuna Patties without Eggs )

For a Tuna Patty without Egg recipe; use 1/4 to 1/3 cup eggless mayonnaise.

• How to turn these into Gluten Free Tuna Patties ?
  • A high fiber gluten free option would be Tuna Patties made with Oatmeal . Use oatmeal flour or rolled oats instead of all purpose flour.
  • You can also simple replace the all purpose flour with rice flour, store-bought gluten free all purpose flour, potato starch, tapioca starch, more cornstarch or arrowroot.

• Can you turn these into Keto tuna patties ?

To make a keto tuna patty, substitute the all purpose flour with almond flour or coconut flour, for the cornstarch-substitute this with more almond flour, or chia seeds, or flaxseeds.

• How to turn Tuna Cakes Paleo ?
  • Paleo Tuna Cakes Almond Flour – instead of using all purpose flour – use almond flour, use tapioca starch or cassava flour instead of cornstarch, and avoid using vegetable oil and use coconut oil instead.
  • Paleo Tuna Cakes Sweet Potato – follow the substitutes above but add chopped sweet potatoes into the mix to make these more filling and nutritious. If you want to make sure that the sweet potatoes are cooked, you can boil the cubes sweet potatoes until soft, drain and add into the mix or mash then add into the mix.

• What to serve with Tuna Patties ?

Add these in between bread with some sauce or lettuce and tomatoes to make a Tuna cake Sandwich, you can also pair these with salads, baked potatoes, cucumber yoghurt salad, quinoa, or rice.

• Other ways of Cooking these Patties ?
  • Tuna Patties in Oven – preheat oven at 400°F or 205°C, place scoops of the patties over a baking tray lined with parchment. You can also choose to pour the batter into a baking tray lined with parchment instead of making circles. Bake for 15 minutes before flipping and baking for another 10 minutes.
  • Microwave Tuna Cakes – get a microwavable plate or tray, line these with parchment or grease the plate with oil. Scoop the tuna cakes in or if you are using a slightly high plate, you can pour all the batter in. Microwave in 2 minutes intervals until these are solid enough to flip. Flip then microwave for 3 – 5 minutes or until these have fully cooked.

• Sauce for Tuna Patties

For some tuna patty sauce to pair with the patties. You can go simple : tuna patties with mayo, siracha, ranch, sour cream, but you can go with spicy aioli, lemon dill sauce, wasabi mayo, lemon garlic sauce, sweet chili oil, sweet and sour chili sauce, or any of your favorite sauce.

• Turn these into Freezable Tuna Patties ?

After frying the patties, let it cool down over a rack to remove any of the excess oils. Place in an airtight container lined with parchment or kitchen towel. To reheat; place in a microwavable container with a lid and microwave for 1 – 2 minutes until as hot as you like. you can also pan-fry these without any oils until these are hot enough.

As we already know, tuna fish is already packed with lots of healthful benefits, so adding Malunggay leaves can boost the nutritional content of your patties even more. Which makes these Tuna Patties the perfect go-to recipe when you want something quick, tasty, and affordable. Whether you’re feeding a family or looking for a easy to do weeknight meal, these versatile patties will satisfy your taste buds and are easy on the budget. Plus, they’re great paired with rice, salad, or tucked into a sandwich.

How to make Malunggay Pandesal ( Tagalog )

Mga Sangkap :

• 2 lata ng tuna
• 1/2 tasa ng karot ( ginadad )
• 1/2 tasa ng dahon ng malunggay
• 3cloves bawang ( minced )
• 1 piraso ng sibuyas ( hiniwa ng maliliit )
• 1/2 tasa ng harina
• 1/4 tasa ng cornstarch
• 2 pirsong itlog
• Asin at paminta pang palasa
• Mantika pang prito

Paano Lutuin :

1. Una, salain ang tuna. Himayin ang malalaking piraso gamit ang tinidor.
2. Haluin ang tuna kasama ng karot, malunggay, hiniwang bawang at sibuyas. Haluin din dito ang harina at cornstarch.
3. Isama dito ang mga itlog at haluin ng mabuti. I-season ng paminta at asin pang palasa. Haluin ng mabuti.
4. Uminit ng mantika sa kawali at iprito ang mga patty. Mag scoop ng ginawang batter at bumuo ng bilog. Pagbaliktarin para maluto ang magkabilaan. Pag nag golden na ito, ilipat sa plato.
5. Ihanda at i-enjoy !