Greek Yogurt Tuna Melt
- Total
- 20 min
- Cost
- Difficulty
Mayo swapped for nonfat Greek yogurt: roughly 10g less fat per tablespoon replaced, plus protein instead of none. Cold application, so yogurt is right here (cottage cheese is for hot sauces). The salad batches ahead for leftover lunches and doubles as an omega-3 source. One serving of the salad goes on each melt.
485cals per serving
4servings
- broiler
- high protein
- quick
- sandwich
- seafood
Nutrition
| Calories | Carbs | Fat | Protein | Ratio C/F/P | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Melt on hoagie roll (default) | ~485 | 51g | 13g | 41g | 42 / 24 / 34 |
| Melt on sourdough | ~415 | 42g | 10g | 40g | 40 / 22 / 38 |
| Cold sandwich, whole wheat | ~345 | 39g | 5g | 36g | 45 / 13 / 42 |
| Salad only (1 serving) | ~185 | 11g | 3g | 28g | 24 / 15 / 61 |
| Whole batch (×4) | ~1,940 | 204g | 52g | 164g | - |
| Traditional melt (mayo, hoagie) | ~655 | 48g | 38g | 30g | 29 / 52 / 18 |
Ingredients
Salad (makes 4)
6 tuna, mixed: 3 Thai sweet & spicy pouches + 2 hickory smoked pouches + 1 can albacore, drained
2/3 cup nonfat Greek yogurt
3 stalks celery, diced
1/2 onion, diced
3 pickle spears, diced (or 2 tbsp relish)
Juice of 1/2 lemon
Per sandwich (pick a build)
Hoagie melt (default): 1 hoagie roll + 1 slice provolone (~0.75 oz), cut in half and overlapped + ~1/2 tsp olive oil to brush the top (2 tsp covers the batch of 4)
Sourdough melt: 2 slices sourdough + 1 slice provolone (~0.75 oz), half on each slice
Cold: 2 slices whole wheat, no cheese
Plus 1 serving tuna salad
Spice mix (for the salad)
Dill, garlic powder, salt, pepper
Steps
Prep (~10 min)
If using cans, drain hard. Press the tuna. Excess water makes the salad soupy and you'll be tempted to add more yogurt to fix it. Pouches go straight in.
Dice the celery, onion, and pickles (or measure the relish). Juice the lemon.
Cut the provolone in half if building the hoagie melt.
Cook (~10 min)
Mix the tuna, Greek yogurt, celery, onion, pickles, lemon, and seasoning. Chill if you have time; it tastes better after 30 min.
Build it in the roll. Split the hoagie along one side but keep it hinged, not flattened open. Lightly brush just the top of the roll with olive oil. That's the surface facing the element, and lean bread scorches there before the cheese crisps; the oil browns it evenly instead. Fill with tuna salad. Lay the two halved provolone pieces over the top with an overlap down the middle, where the filling is deepest.
Broil a few inches from the element until the cheese bubbles, then browns and crisps. Watch it the whole time; it goes from melted to burnt fast.
Sourdough version: broil it open-faced across both slices — tuna salad plus half the cheese on one slice, the other half of the cheese on the second slice — then close them together after they come out. No oil brush needed; sourdough browns more forgivingly than a lean hoagie roll.
Notes
Make or break
Broiler heat is what crisps the cheese. Direct top heat browns and crisps the surface; melting it any other way just leaves it soft. Keeping the hoagie hinged instead of flattened means less surface to cover, so a single slice halved and overlapped runs the length of the roll with a double layer through the middle
A light oil brush keeps the roll from burning. Lean hoagie bread scorches under the broiler before the cheese crisps; ~1/2 tsp olive oil brushed on just the top browns it evenly and conducts heat so the two finish together. Sourdough browns more forgivingly and doesn't need it
Lemon carries the salad. Greek yogurt is tangier and less rich than mayo, so the lemon, dill, and pepper make it taste intentional rather than like a substitution. Flavored pouches handle this for you
Don't over-yogurt it. Start with 2/3 cup. It should coat, not drown. Well-drained tuna needs less than you'd think
Chunk light over albacore if you eat tuna weekly; it runs lower in mercury
Provolone is the pick for melt quality; cheddar or swiss swap in with near-identical macros. Celery, onion, and pickle are free volume, so load them up
Levers
Tuna options
Per unit Calories Carbs Fat Protein Thai sweet & spicy pouch 90 7g 1g 14g Hickory smoked pouch 110 0g 4.5g 17g Albacore (canned, drained) 110 0g 1g 26g Chunk light (canned, drained) 90 0g 0.5g 20g Pouches are 2.6 oz ready-to-use; a 5 oz can drains to ~3.4 oz. Leaner and higher-protein: lean on albacore or chunk light. More flavor, less prep: lean on the pouches.
Nutrition numbers are estimates tracked in MyFitnessPal. Your brands and portions will shift them a little.