Tuna salad, made and dressed in the style of Jimmy John's sandwich shop.
Tuna Salad Jimmy John's Style
While I have passed by their location in Biloxi several times, I have never eaten at a Jimmy John's and it has nothing to do with any kind of controversy with the original owner.
Truth is, I cook so much so we rarely eat out anywhere, unless I'm just exhausted and there aren't any leftovers that appeal to me! Plus, it ain't cheap to eat out these days now is it?
Heck, fast food isn't even a cheaper option anymore either. A family-sized dinner from a great fried chicken restaurant can be $40 or more y'all!
My husband aka known here as 'The Cajun,' loves fast food. It's one of his very few guilty pleasures. Every once in awhile I'll see one pop up on the credit card statement and I'll tease him about it.
"Um... I don't remember getting a phone call asking if I wanted a burger from (random fast-food joint)" yesterday."... to which he'll just give me that mischievous grin of his.
Cravings are cravings.
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Anyway... I've seen ads locally for Jimmy John's but hadn't managed to make it there.
Yeah, I don't get out much anymore either.
Apparently one of their most popular menu items is the Jimmy John's Totally Tuna sandwich and while I know a lot of folks order tuna salad sandwiches for lunches outside of the home, I never quite understood that.
Tuna salad is just something that I always make at home and if I'm going out, I'm more likely gonna go for something like an Italian or Club or something with more substance for the money, like a Jimmy Cubano, maybe? That sure does sound good!
So... I have no idea what a Jimmy John's house-made tuna salad tastes like, or how it's presented in The Totally Tuna sandwich.
I'll get around to visiting that sandwich shop one day, but if you do an internet search for it, you'll find a ton of copycat recipes each differing a bit from each other, and you'll find that most every copycat recipe claims that the one secret ingredient that sets it apart from other tuna salads.
Soy sauce.Yep. Soy sauce.
Now, I don't know if that's a fact or not, but it is what the copycats claim.
The use of soy sauce certainly got my curiosity up enough to warrant a try, and while it provides a nice umami contrast to the usual tuna flavor, and really enhances the whole tuna salad, it didn't necessarily stand out to me.
In other words, it didn't taste like soy sauce tuna salad!
Y'all. Even though I have my pretty standard tuna salad that I make most of the time, I'm always playing around with variations, and this was really good! I've enjoyed it multiple times already and I hope that you'll give it a try!
Here's what you'll need to make my Tuna Salad, Jimmy John's Style:
For the Tuna:
- 3 (5 ounce) cans chunk tuna, drained - I use tuna in oil
- 3 tablespoons low sodium soy sauce, or to taste
- 1/4 teaspoon Creole or Cajun seasoning, or to taste
- 1/2 teaspoon Old Bay seasoning, or to taste
- 1/2 teaspoon dried mixed herbs (parsley, chives, tarragon, dill, rosemary, basil, thyme), optional
- 1 rib celery, chopped
- 1/2 cup minced sweet or yellow onion
- 1/4 cup more or less real mayonnaise, to taste
- 1 teaspoon yellow mustard
- 2 tablespoons chopped sweet or dill pickles or pickle relish, with juices
- 1 green onion, sliced
- Kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper, to taste
For Sandwiches:
- 4 soft buns, French bread or thick-sliced white or wheat bread
- 1 large tomato, sliced
- 1 cucumber, scrubbed and thinly sliced
- 1 cup shredded lettuce
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We're starting with well drained tuna and I'm using my Easy Greasy (#ad), one of the greatest colanders ever invented. I'm also using my Kuhn Rikon can opener (#ad) which I love. The hook on the end is a ring top pull and the can opener also functions as a lid lifter.
I'm using just standard grocery store tuna in oil here that I already had in my pantry. I find the tuna in oil more flavorful than in water, but use whatever you've got!
By the way, I've recently tried a great brand of 100% pole and line caught tuna from Natural Catch that you've probably seen featured on social media for awhile. This tuna is a little higher in cost than your standard grocery store tuna, but man is it high quality and the flavor is outstanding. I'll be featuring that brand on the website soon to tell you more about it, so stay tuned!
Break up the tuna so it drains off nicely and stir it around with a fork to release the excess liquid. The tuna needs to be very dry.
Transfer tuna to a lidded storage bowl and add the soy sauce. Copycats of this tuna salad use anywhere from just a tablespoon or two, to up to a full 1/2 cup for just a few cans of tuna, so every variation uses a different level of soy sauce. My suggestion is to start with about 3 tablespoons to 1/4 cup and make adjustments from there. I also prefer to use the low sodium version.
Add the seasonings. I'm using Justin Wilson's Cajun seasoning here but any good version will work (#ad) just fine so use your favorite, or omit it altogether if you'd like less heat. I'm also adding Old Bay seasoning and since I don't have a fresh herb garden going, dried mixed herbs in the form of Bragg Sprinkles (#ad) 24 herb and spices blend.
Add the seasonings to the tuna and soy mixture.
Toss.
Add the onion and celery and toss.
Add mayonnaise, Creole or yellow mustard, sweet or dill pickles or pickle relish, with juices and 1 green onion, sliced.
Mix together, cover and refrigerate for several hours to allow flavors to meld.
Serve as a sandwich spread, or with crackers, on whole wheat toast or in lettuce cups. At JJ's website, The Totally Tuna is offered on either French bread or sandwich bread. Today we're using some nice artesian rolls.
Their sandwich is also served with tomato, cucumber, tuna and shredded lettuce, so get that prepped.
Add a layer of tomatoes on the bottom of the bun.
Top with thin slices of cucumber. I don't recall having ever used cucumber on any kind of sandwich except a cucumber sandwich of course, so that seemed odd to me, but you know... it works!
Every single time that I remade this sandwich to test out increases in the soy sauce, I dressed it the same way.
Spread the tuna salad on top of the cucumbers.
Top with shredded lettuce.
Time to eat!
For more of my favorite tuna recipes, check out the collection on my Pinterest page!
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