Can You Use Canned Tuna For Tacos?

Tuna fish tacos, particularly if they're made from the canned stuff, might seem like an anomaly to those of us who grew up eating crunchy tacos stuffed with seasoned ground beef. However, fish tacos have been a staple of Baja cuisine in Mexico for decades, if not centuries, coming into prominence in the 1950s. The canned tuna taco just represents one of the latest iterations of the dish. And as anyone who has taken a closer look at food history can tell you, food is adaptable and recipes change based on the availability of ingredients. Or preference. More specifically, as Jose Horrach, the executive chef at Chica & The Don, tells Chowhound, "When it comes to food, don't be afraid to use what you like, even if it's canned tuna."

Making canned tuna tacos starts with browning the tuna lightly in olive oil in a skillet. Break apart the large chunks as you brown the fish so that you don't get big bites of tuna in your taco and little else. Additionally, some recipes call for adding taco seasonings like salt and pepper as well as chili powder and cumin as you brown the fish. Some don't, though, so the route you go on this is up to you. In particular, Horrach recommends sautéing a few flavor-forward ingredients into the mix. "Heat the tuna up with some onions, garlic, a nice cheese, some jalapeño, and whatever vegetable you'd like," he suggests.

Finally, as far as toppings go, black beans, corn, chopped tomatoes, onions, grated cheese, avocado, salsa, radishes, Chipotle mayo, and red cabbage are all fair game in this taco build. These usually get snuggled into a hard-shell corn tortilla, but, again, you should use what you like, so if flour tortillas are your thing, use them. As Horrach says, "A taco shell is a vessel for flavor, so go nuts!"

One of the advantages of using canned tuna in your fish tacos is convenience. Tuna counts among the staple canned food items that many people keep in their pantries. However, other canned seafood items also make for some excellent tacos, so if you'd like something different and still want to go with the convenience of canned, swap out the tuna with another kind of seafood. Canned shrimp, crab, lobster, clams, cod, and mackerel are all tasty substitutions and available in canned form. If you're not a seafood fan, canned chicken works in place of the tuna here.

It's also worth mentioning that there are a number of flavored tunas on the market. Bumble Bee brand, for example, makes tuna flavors like jalapeño, spicy Thai chili, and lemon and pepper. Additionally, Starkist tuna sells herb and garlic tuna in single-serving pouches. The advantage of cooking with ready-made seasoned tuna is that you save time and money, because the additional flavors you would have added to the fish are already included in the can or pouch.

Finally, once your fish tacos are ready, serve them with some kind of cerveza, like Corona, or a Mexican Margarita. So, break out your favorite adult beverage, fry up some canned tuna tacos, and have what chef Jose Horrach calls "a tuna melt, but in a taco!" It'll taste as good as a day on the beach, no matter the time of year.