The Smooth Spread That'll Switch Up Your Next Tuna Salad

Ever since its invention around the turn of the 20th century, tuna salad has been a delicious sandwich filling that many people enjoy each day, and the recipe's simplicity is among the core reasons why. Everyone does tuna salad a bit differently (Martha Stewart, for example, uses fresh basil and chopped apples in her recipe), but one ingredient that is oftentimes relied on heavily is mayonnaise. However, there is arguably a better choice for your tuna salad's binder and overall vehicle for your salad — cream cheese.

We spoke with Adam Gallagher, the co-founder and recipe developer at Inspired Taste, about the choice to replace mayonnaise with cream cheese in tuna salad. He told us that cream cheese isn't only a suitable substitute for mayonnaise, but it can actively improve your tuna salad in a few key ways, as well. "If you swap mayo for cream cheese in your tuna salad, you're going to come away with a much thicker and spreadable salad," Gallagher explained. "It'll have the consistency of a dip rather than a loose, traditional tuna salad."

Thus, while many people insist that avocados are the strongest mayonnaise substitute for tuna salad, cream cheese can arguably be even better than the popular vegetable. However, Gallagher did note that using cream cheese over mayo will mean you lose out on the unique flavor that mayonnaise provides to the iconic tuna salad sandwich. However, while the flavor that cream cheese provides is quite different from that of mayonnaise, there is plenty of value to the taste it provides to the spread. "Cream cheese has a denser, richer texture, with a different flavor profile than mayo," Gallagher reminded. "It'll become tangier, more savory, and creamier."

So, if you're ready to replace mayonnaise with cream cheese for your next tuna salad, there are a few things you need to keep in mind. For starters, the hardness of your cream cheese can be an initial hurdle for those looking to use the ingredient; Adam Gallagher notes that softening it can be crucial to allowing it to be a suitable binder for your other ingredients; because the cream cheese becomes less lumpy when it's softened, it becomes both more malleable and more appetizing as part of tuna salad.

Speaking of ingredients, Gallagher suggests that using cream cheese demands a greater focus on what the texture and flavor of each mix-in provides to your tuna salad. "Cream cheese is best complemented with something crunchy or acidic," Gallagher reminded. "I love tossing in celery, homemade dill pickles with a splash of their juice, and scallions for extra flavor ... A squeeze of lemon or a spoonful of Dijon mustard can also cut through the creaminess of your salad to wake everything up a bit."

Furthermore, while using cream cheese as a direct substitute for mayonnaise can yield incredible results, some suggest using both cream cheese and mayo to make the recipe resemble a classic tuna salad. This is essentially the best of both worlds, with the tanginess and thicker texture of cream cheese combining with the eggy flavor of mayonnaise to make an incredible binder for the salad.