I started with Linda Sue’s tuna muffin recipe and adjusted it for my family. I can’t digest onions unless they’ve been well-cooked (incorporated raw into a muffin doesn’t count), so I left them out. I was concerned the kids wouldn’t like the green peppers, so I eliminated those too. That left me with a five-ingredient recipe, which is ideal. It’s easy to remember and easy to make. Fewer ingredients usually means less cleanup too.
I like Chicken of the Sea water-packed albacore tuna, and Costo sells it in packs of six 7-oz. cans, so I had three extra ounces of tuna compared to Linda Sue’s recipe. Next time I will add another egg because the muffins didn’t puff up and they were really hard to get out of the tin. That may be because I used butter to grease it; next time I”ll try Pam.
I used more Old Bay Seasoning than Linda called for. I have never cooked with it and it sounded so good, 1/4 teaspoon just didn’t seem like enough. With 1/2 teaspoon, they were not at all too spicy for our tastes. The seasoning was good, even if I did have to substitute Kroger’s Chesapeake Bay knockoff.
But overall these were a huge hit with Rick and all three kids. The tartar sauce was more popular than the chipotle sour cream, but both were good. Next time I’d just double the tartar sauce recipe. I served these with lemon-buttered green beans and cut cantaloupe.
Five-Ingredient Tuna Muffins
- Three 7-ounce cans tuna, well-drained and flaked with a fork
- 3 eggs (I will try four next time — was not enough to puff up)
- 1 stalk celery, finely chopped
- 1/2 tsp Old Bay seasoning
- 1/2 cup cheddar cheese, shredded
Mix all of the ingredients along with 1/2 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp pepper and spoon into 12 well-greased muffin cups. Bake at 350 degrees F for about 30 minutes, until lightly browned around the edges and puffed.
Serve with tartar sauce (mayo, dill pickle relish, dill weed) or chipotle-lemon sour cream (sour cream, chopped chipotle pepper, squeeze of lemon). I also offered lemon wedges on the side–sometimes if people are iffy on tuna they like it with extra lemon.
Yield: 12 muffins.
