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The weeknight and Lenten ensalada de central Mexican kitchens, flaked tuna folded with corn, carrot, peas, pickled jalapeño, and just enough mayonnaise to bind. Cold, bright, and ready in half an hour.
This is a dish from the kitchens of central Mexico. Ciudad de México, Estado de México, Puebla, the whole Bajio. Every home cook knows it. Every household has a version. Nobody calls it special and that is exactly why it deserves to be written down.
Ensalada de atún a la mexicana lives in two places on the calendar. It is a weeknight standby when the day got away from you and the kids need to eat. And it is a Lenten dish, the kind that fills the table on Viernes Santo when meat is off the menu and the family still has to be fed. The colors are not an accident. The red of the tomato, the white of the onion and mayonnaise, the green of the chile and cilantro. A la mexicana means the flag is on the plate. That is the convention and it is not negotiable.
The pickled jalapeño is what makes this dish Mexican and not the sad American tuna salad with celery and grapes. Use jalapeños en escabeche from a jar, La Costeña or San Marcos. And use the brine. The brine is half the seasoning. The brand of mayonnaise matters too. McCormick is the one in Mexican home kitchens. It is sweeter and tangier than American mayo. My mother used it. Her mother used it. The pantry knows.
This is the kind of dish that taught a generation of Mexican women that feeding a family well does not require hours at the stove. A can of tuna, what is in the refrigerator, a little planning. Saber cocinar es saber vivir. That principle is in every spoonful of this salad.
Canned tuna entered the Mexican pantry in the early 20th century through Pacific coast canneries in Ensenada and Mazatlán, and by the 1950s domestic brands like Tuny, Dolores, and Herdez had made tuna an inexpensive, shelf-stable protein in working- and middle-class households across central Mexico. The dish's prominence during Cuaresma (Lent) reflects the Catholic tradition of abstaining from red meat on Fridays, which canned tuna conveniently satisfied while costing a fraction of fresh fish. The 'a la mexicana' designation, applied to any preparation displaying the green, white, and red of the national flag through chile, onion, and tomato, was codified in 20th-century Mexican cookbooks as a way of distinguishing nationally claimed dishes from regional ones.
Quantity
2 cans (5 ounces each)
drained well
Quantity
1 medium
peeled and cut into small dice
Quantity
1/2 cup
Quantity
1 cup (from 1 large ear) or frozen
Quantity
1/2 small
finely diced
Quantity
2
seeded and finely diced
Quantity
3 to 4
finely chopped
Quantity
2 tablespoons
Quantity
1/3 cup, plus more to taste
Quantity
1/4 cup
chopped
Quantity
1 tablespoon, plus lime wedges for serving
Quantity
1 teaspoon, plus more to taste
Quantity
to taste
Quantity
for serving
Quantity
for serving
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| tuna in oildrained well | 2 cans (5 ounces each) |
| carrotpeeled and cut into small dice | 1 medium |
| fresh or frozen peas | 1/2 cup |
| fresh corn kernels | 1 cup (from 1 large ear) or frozen |
| white onionfinely diced | 1/2 small |
| Roma tomatoesseeded and finely diced | 2 |
| pickled jalapeños en escabechefinely chopped | 3 to 4 |
| brine from the pickled jalapeño jar | 2 tablespoons |
| mayonnaise (McCormick or Hellmann's) | 1/3 cup, plus more to taste |
| cilantro leaves and tender stemschopped | 1/4 cup |
| fresh lime juice | 1 tablespoon, plus lime wedges for serving |
| kosher salt | 1 teaspoon, plus more to taste |
| freshly ground black pepper | to taste |
| saltine crackers or tostadas (optional) | for serving |
| sliced avocado (optional) | for serving |
Bring a small pot of salted water to a boil. Add the diced carrot and cook for 3 minutes. Add the peas and cook 1 minute more. The carrot should be tender but still hold its shape, and the peas should be bright green. Drain and immediately rinse under cold water to stop the cooking. Pat dry. Wet vegetables will make the salad weep in the refrigerator.
If using fresh corn, drop the kernels into the same pot for 2 minutes, then drain and cool. If using frozen, thaw and pat dry. The corn in this salad is not just filler. It is a sweetness that balances the brine and the mayonnaise. Use the best corn you can find. In the markets of Ciudad de México right now in May, the early elotes are starting to come in. Use those.
Open the cans of tuna and press the lid down hard against the fish to squeeze out as much oil as possible. Then turn the tuna into a sieve and press again with the back of a spoon. Wet tuna gives you a watery salad and there is no fixing it once it is mixed. Tuna in oil, not in water. The oil-packed kind has body and flavor. The water-packed kind has neither.
Turn the drained tuna into a large mixing bowl and break it apart with a fork. You want flakes, not paste. Some pieces larger, some smaller. The texture matters. If you mash it into a uniform mush, you have made tuna salad for a hospital tray, not for a Mexican table.
Add the cooled carrot, peas, corn, white onion, tomato, chopped pickled jalapeños, and cilantro to the bowl with the tuna. Pour in the jalapeño brine and the lime juice. Add the salt and a few grinds of black pepper. Fold everything together gently with a rubber spatula. The colors should be visible: orange carrot, green peas, yellow corn, red tomato, the dark green of cilantro and chile. Esto no es comida de un solo México, pero esta ensalada es de las cocinas de todos lados.
Spoon in the mayonnaise. Fold it through until everything is just coated. You want the vegetables and tuna to be dressed, not drowned. Mexican ensalada de atún is not American tuna salad. The mayonnaise is a binder, not the main event. If you cannot see the corn through the dressing, you have used too much. Taste for salt and lime. Adjust until it is bright and balanced.
Cover the bowl and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes before serving. This is not optional. The flavors marry, the jalapeño brine settles into the carrot, the salt finds the tuna. Serve cold with saltine crackers, tostadas, or stuffed into a bolillo for a torta. Top each portion with sliced avocado and a wedge of lime. Eat with a cold Jarrito or a glass of agua de jamaica.
1 serving (about 130g)
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