What makes comfort food even better? Letting the air fryer do all the work! Our Air Fryer Tuna Melt is packed with the creamy cozy flavors you love, sandwiched between two extra toasty slices of buttery bread.
With a slight twist from our traditional tuna melt, this recipe gets a massive upgrade, with the air fryer making the bread extra crispy while the cheese and tuna warms and melts inside. From crab rangoon to chicken tenders, the air fryer does a fantastic job at adding all the crispiness of a deep frier without the time, mess, or extra grease.
Pickled red onion, dill, and chives add extra zip to the creamy tuna salad that’s absolutely craveable. The two kinds of cheese melted on top and fresh juicy tomato slices make this one of our favorite toasted sandwiches yet!
How to Make Our Air Fryer Tuna Melt
Ingredients
Process
- Add tuna, mayonnaise, celery, pickled red onion, dill, and chives to a medium-sized mixing bowl. Season with salt and pepper and stir to combine.
- Spread 1/2 tablespoon butter over each slice of bread and turn the two slices butter side down.
- Top each butter side down slice of bread with tuna mixture.
- Then top with sliced tomatoes, shredded cheese and remaining slices of bread.
- Preheat the air fryer to 400˚F (if needed). Spray the air fry basket with cooking spray and place sandwiches in the coated fryer basket.
- Air fry tuna melt for 4 minutes. Flip the sandwich and continue to air fry for an additional 3 minutes.
- Remove your tuna melt from the air fryer, cut it in half, and serve.
Why We Love the Air Fryer Tuna Melt?
- The tuna salad can be made two days in advance. Making the salad ahead of time makes mealtime quick and easy. This irresistible lunch can be ready in less than 10 minutes!
- The air fryer makes the bread extra toasty. Unlike toasting the bread on a pan, the air circulation makes the bread incredibly toasty without being greasy.
- You can easily customize the tuna salad any way you’d like! If you don’t like the herbs included, leave them out or swap them for something else. Use different cheeses, whole wheat or sourdough bread, or add some lettuce if you’d like. Start with our recipe and make it your own!
Variations and Substitutions
Make this air fryer tuna melt your own with any of these variations!
- Swap the vegetables. While we love tomato slices on our tuna melts, you can add cucumbers, lettuce, sprouts, and raw onions.
- Change the cheeses. Freshley shredded mozzarella and cheddar add great flavor and an extra cheesy creamy texture, but you can swap the cheese (or leave it out!) for anything you’d like. Try mozzarella, sharp cheddar, pepper Jack, Monterey Jack, Havarti, Swiss, or Colby Jack are all great choices. Try any one of them or a combination!
- Bread or no bread. While we love thick slices of sourdough or Italian bread for this sandwich, you can use a tortilla and make a wrap, or make it a low-carb lunch and wrap your tuna salad in a big crunchy romaine lettuce leaf.
Prep Ahead Instructions
To make mealtime as easy as possible, you can prepare your tuna salad up to two days in advance. Just prepare the tuna salad as per the directions, then store it in an airtight container for up to two days in the refrigerator.
When you’re ready to make your sandwich, add the tuna to your bread and proceed with the directions.
Tips and Tricks for the Best Air Fryer Tuna Melt
- Go light on the mayo. We want the creamy texture that the mayonnaise adds, but if you add too much, the tuna salad will be wet and soggy, which isn’t what we’re going for!
- The onions, celery and chives add taste AND texture. You could add these ingredients powdered for the flavor, but chopping them up and mixing them in the salad adds a fresh crunch that really complements the creamy salad and toasty bread.
- Don’t forget the flip! Flipping your tuna melt halfway through will help both sides get equally toasty.
- Choose a hearty bread. If you pick a thin or really lightweight bread, it may not hold up to the heavy filling. Thick slices of Italian or sourdough are perfect for this sandwich.
Our Favorite Side Dishes to Serve with Our Tuna Melt
You can’t go wrong with potato chips and pickles, but to make this tuna melt a complete meal, try some of our favorite sides:
- Caesar Salad
- Broccoli Cheddar Soup
- Caprese Salad
- Fried Pickle Chips
- Tomato Soup
- Fruit Salad
- Corn Salad
More Delicious Sandwich Recipes You Will Love
Air Fryer Tuna Melt
This Air Fryer Tuna Melt is the perfect pairing of toasty buttery bread and creamy cheesy tuna salad. You'll love the combination of flavors and texture in this easy and comforting lunch!
Servings:
INGREDIENTS
tuna salad
- 5 ounces canned tuna drained
- 1/4 cup diced pickled red onions
- 3 1/2 tablespoons mayonnaise
- 3 tablespoons diced celery
- 1 1/2 tablespoons minced dill
- 1 tablespoons thinly sliced chives
- salt and pepper to taste
sandwich assembly
- 4 slices bread of choice
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1/2 beefsteak tomato (or 1 vine ripe tomato) sliced
- 2 ounces shredded cheddar
- 2 ounces shredded mozzarella
- salt and pepper to taste
INSTRUCTIONS
- In a mixing bowl combine tuna, mayonnaise, celery, pickled red onion, dill, and chives. Season with salt and pepper and stir together.
- Spread 1/2 tablespoon butter over each slice of bread and turn two slices butter side down.
- Top each butter side down slice of bread with tuna mixture.
- Top with sliced tomatoes, shredded cheese and remaining slices of bread.
- Preheat air fryer to 400˚F (if needed).
- Spray air fry basket with cooking spray and place sandwiches in coated fryer basket.
- Air fry tuna melt for 4 minutes.
- Flip sandwich and continue to air fry for an additional 3 minutes.
- Remove from air fryer, cut in half and serve.
NOTES
Tips and Tricks
- Go light on the mayo. We want the creamy texture that the mayonnaise adds, but if you add too much, the tuna salad will be wet and soggy, which isn’t what we’re going for!
- The onions, celery and chives add taste AND texture. You could add these ingredients powdered for the flavor, but chopping them up and mixing them in the salad adds a fresh crunch that really complements the creamy salad and toasty bread.
- Don’t forget the flip! Flipping your tuna melt halfway through will help both sides get equally toasty.
- Choose a hearty bread. If you pick a thin or really lightweight bread, it may not hold up to the heavy filling. Thick slices of Italian or sourdough are perfect for this sandwich.
Calories: 699kcal Carbohydrates: 31g Protein: 35g Fat: 49g Saturated Fat: 20g Polyunsaturated Fat: 13g Monounsaturated Fat: 11g Trans Fat: 1g Cholesterol: 117mg Sodium: 4431mg Potassium: 586mg Fiber: 5g Sugar: 6g Vitamin A: 1734IU Vitamin C: 15mg Calcium: 475mg Iron: 3mg
CUISINE: American
KEYWORD: air fryer recipes, air fryer sandwich, canned tuna recipes
COURSE: lunch
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I find the idea of melted cheese on fish abhorrent, so I added, crumbled feta cheese instead. Also, used homemade mayo, which is so easy to make and really elevates taste. Best grilled tuna sandwich I’ve ever had! By using the air fryer, the bread, Kris, the whole way through, almost like a crouton. Amazing! I may never make another grilled sandwich on the stove top again.
Even tzatziki is great, a similar taste to feta!
This sounds delicious~ I cannot wait to fix it. Have you tried ghee instead of butter? I find it makes things REALLY crispy! Thank you for all you do!
I just wanted to add that in the one picture with all of the ingredients, the cheese is written as fettuccine. Thought you might want to fix this mistake. I do intend to make this, but w/out the air fryer, due to the fact I do not have one. Looks Delicious!