Stop searching – This is the best and last Tuna Cakes recipe you’ll ever need. Only 8 ingredients and 30 minutes needed. Gluten-Free. Paleo. Whole 30. Makes 12 healthy tuna patties.
Ever wonder what you can do with a can of tuna? Well, look no further.
These healthy tuna cakes are so easy and delicious, that you’ll want to cook them again and again. It’s a perfect easy paleo and whole 30 lunch recipe.
It’s my favorite way to spruce up a plain can of tuna and transform a cheap, simple ingredient into a truly delicious, gourmet meal.
These tuna fish cakes are healthy because they contain no flour or breadcrumbs. The tuna cakes are bound with egg and sweet potato, which not only adds a delicious depth of flavor, but ensures that it is Paleo and Whole 30 compliant, as well as being gluten-free.
How To Make Tuna Cakes:
Here’s what you need to make delicious Tuna Patties:
- Canned Tuna
- Sweet Potato
- Red Bell Pepper
- Onion
- Garlic
- Fresh Chives
- Lemon
- Egg
- Paprika
- Salt and Pepper
Step-By-Step Instructions:
- PREP: Peel the sweet potatoes, cut into small cubes and toss into a small pot. Cover with water and add about 1 tsp of salt. Boil until fork tender (Approximately 10 minutes).
- While waiting for the potatoes, sauté the onion and red bell pepper until soft. (Photo 1)
- When the potatoes are cooked, drain the water and add it together will ALL the rest of the ingredients into a large mixing bowl. (Photo 2 & 3)
- Mix until well combined. I like to smash the mixture with a spoon until the potato is roughly mashed, but still a little chunky. (Photo 4)
- Use 1/4 cup per tuna cake and form into patties. (Photo 5)
- Add oil to a large skillet over a medium heat. Carefully add the fishcakes and let them cook for approximately 3 minutes per side. You want them to get a very good sear. This is one way to help the tuna patties stay together. (Photo 6 & 7)
- Serve immediately! (Photo 8). They go great with our simple Cucumber Onion Salad, or some fresh sliced avocado.
Video Instructions:
FAQs:
How Do You Keep Fish Cakes From Falling Apart?
The best way to help keep the fishcakes from falling apart is to prepare them ahead of time and keep them refrigerated until needed. They can be kept in the refrigerator for up to 2 days.
You want them to be nice and COLD when you place them in the pan. This will definitely help them keep their shape and not fall apart.
Do fishcakes freeze well?
This recipe is great for making in bulk and freezing.
When formed into patties, thoroughly wrap the tuna cakes in plastic wrap and keep in an airtight container if possible.
They can last approximately 3 months in the freezer.
When you’re ready to cook them, remove from the freezer and cook as normal. Although, they will need extra time on each side and ensure that the center of each of the tuna patties are hot throughout before eating.
Tuna cakes should have an internal temperature of 145F/63C.
Can You Reheat Cooked Tuna Patties?
Yes, to reheat already cook Tuna Patties, I would recommend you place them in a skillet with a little bit of oil over a medium high heat for approximately 10 minutes.
Turn the patties occasionally to avoid them browning any more. This will ensure that they keep stay “crispy”.
You can also reheat them in the microwave, taking care to ensure the center is the cake is hot before eating. Reheating tuna cakes in the microwave will yield a softer cake.
Looking For More Easy Canned Tuna Recipes:
For more easy tuna recipes, take a look at these yummy options from our archives as well as our personal favorites from other great bloggers:
- Avocado Tuna Melt
- Tuna Tomato Zoodle Bake
- Mediterranean Tuna Salad by BitesOfWellness.com
- Tuna Egg Salad Recipe by WholesomeYum.com
Did You Make This Tuna Cakes Recipe?
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Tuna Cakes
Ingredients
- 3 cans Tuna
- 2 Sweet Potato (Approximately 2 Cups Chopped)
- 1 Red Pepper (Finely Diced)
- 1 Yellow Onion (Finely Diced)
- 1 Garlic Clove (Minced)
- 1/4 cup Chopped Fresh Chives
- 1/2 Lime (Juice)
- 1 Egg
- 1/2 tbsp Salt (I used course salt, so use less if you’re using fine table salt)
- 1/2 tsp Ground Black Pepper
- 1 tsp Paprika
Instructions
- Dice the sweet potato into smallish cubes and boil for 10 minutes in salted water. They should be fork tender.
- While the sweet potato boils, sauté the diced red pepper and onion in a little bit of oil until the onion is soft.
- Now mix everything together in a mixing bowl until well combined. I use a wooden spoon to smash the potato as I mix, leaving slightly chunky.
- Form the mixture into fish cakes. I used 1/4 cup per cake and this yielded 12 cakes.
- Heat up oil in skillet over a medium high heat. Once the pan is hot – carefully place the fish cakes in the pan and allow them to get a good sear on each side. Let them sit for at least 3 minutes per side.
Tips and Tricks:
1. I used 6oz water packed tuna cans. I drained the water. Although, it is not an exact science. Slightly smaller, or oil packed cans will work fine. 2. When draining the tuna, be sure to drain the tuna cans WELL, or the mixture might be too runny. 3. Mash the potato with the spoon while combining the ingredients. This help bind the ingredients together in order to form the cakes. 4. To help keep the Tuna Cakes from falling apart, prepare the patties well ahead and refrigerate until ready to cook. When the cakes are cold throughout before cooking, they tend to keep their shape better.Nutrition
This Tuna Cakes recipe was first published on October 17, 2018 and was updated on January 28, 2020 to include detailed step-by-step photos and faqs.
Just made them and had no trouble with them sticking together. This is what I did:
Instead of mashing the mixture with a fork, I used a potato masher and mashed everything together like I would potatoes. I used a quarter cup measuring cup, filled it to the brim with mixture, and packed it in. Then, turned the measuring cup upside down on a plate, gave it a good tap, and out the mixture came in a solid piece. I pushed it down slightly with the palm of my hand and it worked perfectly!
Made it exactly as the recipe and it turned out delicious. Thank you!
On the upside, the flavor of this mixture is excellent! I would not have thought of combining sweet potato with tuna. On the downside, there was no way this mixture could be formed into balls. They completely fell apart. We cooked it as tuna hash. I went back to look at the recipe, and nowhere does it say that I needed to mash the potato (or most of it anyway). Mashing is kind of mentioned in the blog, but not in the recipe, where it needs to be. I am making notes on my recipe so that next time I know to do that. So 3 stars for flavor; 2 stars subtracted for lack of clarity in the recipe.
Hi Summer, I am so sorry that the recipe card wasn’t clear enough. It is a definite problem with our older recipes and we’ve been hard at work updating our recipe cards and blog posts with very clear steps, step by step photos and FAQs. We’re working down a list of most to least popular content, and this recipe‘s revision is coming up soon. Thank you so much for your feedback.
Thank you! Looking forward to the revised recipe.
How many patties are in a serving?
Hello Tyrone, I have it at 3 patties per serving.
They came out a little soft, but it didn’t matter- they tasted delicious!!
We made these tonight with a pint of home canned, water packed tuna drained. They were very tasty and we will make them again. The only problem we had was the were very soft and difficult to flip in the pan. Next time we will try adding a bit of panko to stiffen them up a bit. Thanks!
Hi David – glad you enjoyed the flavor of these tuna cakes. When we make them, they are definitely on the softer side as well, but we usually do not have issues with flipping them. If you are ok with panko in your diet, it will definitely help stiffen them up:)
Hi, I loved these!!! So delicious and healthy! Mine did crumble a bit so next time I’d add another egg. The mixture was also quite watery before i made the cakes – I think it was maybe my potato – i might mash it next time or use the rind of the lime instead of the juice. I didn’t have paprika so I used 1/2 tsp of Cayenne Pepper. I really appreciated you sharing this recipe. It was very pantry friendly, healthy and tasty!
Thank you so much for the feedback, Kiera! 😀
I followed your recipe to a tee. They fell apart. I didn’t like this recipe. Ended up adding almond flour to get it to bind.
Hello Therese. I’m so sorry the recipe didn’t work for you! Since I wasn’t in the kitchen with you, it’s impossible to know what went wrong. This recipe is part of our personal lunch menu rotation, and they’ve never failed. I will add them to our menu for this week and recheck the quantities on my recipe card to be sure. Thanks for the feedback.
What size cans? Oil or water packed? Drained or undrained?
I used 6oz cans, water packed and I drained it. It’s not an exact science though – I’ve used 5oz oil packed cans as well. Also, I’ve never NOT drained tuna cans, but I’ll be sure to add this information to the recipe card.
Thanks.