When was the last time you made tuna salad? It’s one of the easiest and healthiest meals you could make, and Starkist offers tuna salad packets in a wide variety of tasty flavors. They’ve recently released several new flavors, so you could have tuna salad a few times a week without getting tired of it.
Starkist’s 2.6 ounce tuna and salmon pouches are shelf stable, so you can keep unopened packets in a desk drawer at work or in the pantry at home for months, with no refrigeration necessary. They’re a far cry from mixing tuna with mayo and spreading it on bread, too.
I like to eat Starkist tuna and salmon packets straight up, since bread isn’t on my menu. My 5-year-old progeny and testing partner ate hers using a celery stick as her utensil, munching on the celery as she went. Those on low carb eating plans can also choose to wrap the tuna salad in lettuce leaves. For everyone else, you can put tuna salad on bread or buns, or make it into a wrap.
My daughter loves tuna salad. She went through a stage several months ago when she wanted to have tuna salad just about every day for lunch. Though Starkist’s new products include two that are aimed at kids – called Kid’s Creations – my daughter chose Starkist Salmon Creations Lemon Dill to try first. I don’t think she noticed that it was not tuna.
The Lemon Dill packets contain 90 calories, 2.5 fat grams, 14 grams of protein and 1.5 carb grams, plus salmon is loaded with healthy omega 3. Starkist also sells plain boneless, skinless salmon packets, which are great for adding filling protein to a green salad. Sometimes, I also add a packet to my morning scrambled eggs along with a couple spoons of ricotta cheese. Starkist’s plain salmon packets boast 15 grams of protein with their scant 70 calories, 1 fat gram and 0.5 grams of carbs.
Mini Me did get around to trying the Kid’s Creations as well. Grown-ups and kids alike can enjoy all varieties of Starkist tuna and salmon packets, though the Kid’s Creations are somewhat higher in fat and calories than some of the regular choices. Kids probably aren’t counting carbs, calories or fat grams. You can pack tuna salad in your child’s lunch with some bottled water and veggie sticks for a healthy, delicious and filling meal.
Starkist Kid’s Creations Honey BBQ tuna salad packets, with their delectable hint of barbecue flavor, contain 4 grams of carbs, 90 calories, 2 fat grams and 14 grams of protein. The yummy Kid’s Creations Bacon Ranch tuna salad tastes kind of like bacon ranch salad dressing and contains 2 carb grams, 5 fat grams, 14 grams of protein and 110 calories.
My favorite of the new Starkist tuna salad options is the Hot Buffalo Style, seasoned with garlic, paprika and cayenne pepper sauce for an extremely tasty tuna salad with a bit of a spicy punch to it. It contains just 70 calories, plus 15 grams of protein, 0 grams of carbs and 0.5 grams of fats. I’m glad I picked this as my favorite given how low in fat and carbs it is!
Starkist Salmon Creations Mango Chipotle is quite low in calories and fat, with just 80 calories and 1.5 fat grams, along with 13 grams of protein and 4 carb grams. As with the lemon dill packets, you don’t really think about it being salmon rather than tuna. It just tastes really delightful. My daughter and I loved the new Starkist salmon and tuna creations varieties, and they’ll probably grace our lunches many times in the future.
Here’s a recipe courtesy of Starkist, using their new Buffalo tuna salad variety.
Buffalo Tuna Taquitos Recipe
1/4 of recipe (2 taquitos): 187 calories, 4g fat, 515mg sodium, 22g carbs, 2.5g fiber, 2g sugars, 13g protein
Prep: 15 minutes
Cook: 20 minutes
Ingredients:
- 3 wedges light spreadable Swiss cheese
- Two 2.6-oz. pouches StarKist Hot Buffalo Tuna Creations®
- 1/4 cup shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese
- 1/4 cup finely chopped carrots
- 1/4 cup finely chopped celery
- Eight 6-inch corn tortillas
- Optional topping: hot sauce
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spray a baking sheet with nonstick spray.
- In a medium bowl, stir cheese wedges until smooth. Add tuna and mozzarella cheese. Stir until uniform. Mix in carrots and celery.
- Place tortillas between 2 damp paper towels. Microwave for 1 minute, or until warm and pliable.
- Evenly distribute tuna mixture among the tortillas. Tightly roll up each into a tube, and place on the baking sheet, seam side down. Secure with toothpicks, if needed.
- Bake until crispy, 14 – 16 minutes.
MAKES 4 SERVINGS
I received sample packets of Starkist products in return for my honest review.
If you enjoyed this post, could you please click here to give it a G+1?
Don’t miss all the latest tips, giveaways, reviews, deals and more. Subscribe to weekly email updates here!