I’ve been on a mission lately to use up different ingredients found around most common households. There’s been quite a few e-mails sent to me lately about tuna melts. I never really had too many of these pre-keto, but I’ve had my fair share of grilled cheese and knew exactly what to do to get something portable, easy to make, and perfect for any time of the day.
These keto tuna melt bites really fit the bill. The crispy outside matches great with the soft, creamy filling on the inside. It really is as if you made a fried tuna melt and put it on a plate. The flavors come together very nicely. It’s not overly fishy, and the spices can be interchanged for whatever flavor profile you’re going after.
I’d suggest a serving size of 3-4 tuna melt bites for a meal. Pair it with a small salad and it’s quite a filling way to reach your macros easily. They absorb quite a lot of the frying oil, which is fantastic for adding to your fat macros. You can opt to use cheddar cheese instead of Parmesan cheese in these, but the frying process will be a tad messier. The cheddar cheese tends to ooze a little bit more, so I chose to go with Parmesan – which helps hold everything together.
Yields 12 Avocado Tuna Melt Bites
The Preparation
- 10 ounces canned tuna, drained
- 1/4 cup mayonnaise
- 1/4 cup parmesan cheese
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/4 teaspoon onion powder
- salt and pepper, to taste
- 1 medium avocado, cubed
- 1/3 cup almond flour
- 1/2 cup coconut oil
The Execution
1. Drain a can of tuna and add it to a large container where you’ll be able to mix everything together.
2. Add mayonnaise, parmesan cheese, and spices to the tuna and mix together well.
3. Slice an avocado in half, remove the pit, and cube the inside.
4. Add avocado into the tuna mixture and fold together, trying to not mash the avocado into the mixture.
5. Form the tuna mixture into balls and roll into almond flour, covering completely. Set aside.
6. Heat coconut oil in a pan over medium heat. Once hot, add tuna balls and fry until crisp on all sides.
7. Remove from the pan and serve.
This makes a total of 12 servings of Avocado Tuna Melt Bites. Each serving comes out to be 195 calories, 17.6g fats, 0.8g net carbs, and 7.4g protein.
| NUTRITION | CALORIES | FAT | CARBS | FIBER | NET CARBS | PROTEIN |
| 10 ounce canned tuna | 363 | 8.4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 67 |
| 1/4 cup mayonnaise | 374 | 41.2 | 0.3 | 0 | 0.3 | 0.5 |
| 1/4 cup parmesan cheese | 108 | 7.2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 9.6 |
| 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder | 5 | 0 | 1.2 | 0.1 | 1 | 0.3 |
| 1/4 teaspoon onion powder | 2 | 0 | 0.5 | 0.1 | 0.4 | 0.1 |
| — salt and pepper | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 1 medium avocado | 301 | 27.7 | 15.6 | 12.2 | 3.3 | 3.5 |
| 1/3 cup almond flour | 214 | 18.5 | 8.1 | 4.8 | 3.3 | 7.8 |
| 1/2 cup coconut oil | 972 | 108 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Totals | 2339 | 211 | 26.6 | 17.3 | 9.4 | 88.7 |
| Per Serving (/12) | 195 | 17.6 | 2.2 | 1.4 | 0.8 | 7.4 |
Avocado Tuna Melt Bites
Ingredients
- 10 ounce canned tuna drained
- ¼ cup mayonnaise
- ¼ cup parmesan cheese
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ¼ teaspoon onion powder
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1 medium avocado cubed
- ⅓ cup almond flour
- ½ cup coconut oil
Instructions
- Drain a can of tuna and add it to a large mixing bowl.
- Add the mayonnaise, parmesan, and spices and mix together well.
- Slice an avocado in half, remove the pit, and cube the insides.
- Add the avocado to the tuna mixture and fold together gently, trying not to mash the avocado up too much.
- Form the tuna mixture into balls and roll them in the almond flour, covering them completely. Set aside.
- Heat up the coconut oil in a pan over medium heat. Once hot, add the tuna balls and fry until crispy on all sides.
- Remove from the pan and serve.
These look delicious! Do you think they would hold up well as leftovers?
I CANNOT stress how absolutely amazing these were. Honestly. WOWOWOWOWOWOW!
These will be a staple snack for me. <3
These were amazing! I usually HATE tuna but in this aaah I have no words, just delicious. I made them in the morning and had them for lunch cold. Also tried the Ginger Garlic Salmon – again, amazing, seriously my go to for recipes now 😀
10/10 would eat every day! So goooodddddddd!
Wondering if you could use canned chicken for this instead of tuna?
Might try that. Same consistency.
These are delicious! They broke apart while frying but i was in a rush so it was probably my fault. But very tasty and filling!
I just made these on my lunch break and they were amazing!!!! I edited the amounts a little because I just wanted to make enough for my lunch so I just used a normal 4oz can of tuna and then updated the ingredients that way. I added a salad on the side and I am stuffed!
Just made these tonight, and they were so tasty! Wish my macros allowed me to eat more of them haha. Thank you!
I did have a minor issue with the flower amount not being enough to roll all 12 of them, and the first few of them kinda falling apart as I fried them. Though the last half of them came out nicely.
When I rolled the balls, I was pretty light with the coating. I think if you roll them in the coating nice and lightly you won’t have a problem next time. Glad to hear you liked them! 🙂
I made these with salmon, cream cheese and capers… a nod to a former Sunday brunch favorite of bagel with lox. I did put the cubes of cream cheese in the freezer for a bit so they wouldn’t melt too quickly in the pan.
That sounds like an awesome spin on this – I’ll definitely have to give it a try!
Literally just made these (they are even still cooling off :P), but I had to say I already snuck a bite and they are AMAZING. My boyfriend and I started eating keto about a month ago and your recipes have saved my sanity!! I also love your raspberry cheescake cupcake recipe, they were delicious! Please keep doing what you’re doing! It’s helping me so much. Thanks again, and anyone skeptical about trying this, DO IT! It was a tad hard keeping the balls together, but I think it was because my avocado was a little too ripe. Otherwise, it went off without a hitch!
Thank you!
I just made these and unfortunately they stuck all over the pan 🙁 I didn’t use a non-stick (my boyfriend does not have one, definitely something to get), so maybe that was the reason. It’s unfortunate because even the messy bits taste good!
Bah, I’m really sorry to hear! Was the pan hot enough? I made these in a cast iron not too long back and they didn’t have much issue in there.
Yes, the oil was super-hot. Maybe it was really just a matter of pan … I will try my non-stick next time … but they were tasty anyway!
Hope they turn out whole next time. Glad you enjoyed either way 🙂
Just made these again and used a non-stick pan this time and also flattened the balls just a little. They turned out great!
Awesome to hear! 😀
Great recipe, but I would recommend doing it casserole style as apposed to balls, They stick to the pan and fall apart easily.
I’ll have to give that a try. It seems you and another have fallen victim to them falling apart. I wonder if it might be about tuna consistency/egg size?
Egg? You didn’t include egg in the recipe. Mine fell apart too. Egg would have made sense..like crab cakes! Still tastes good though!
It stuck together really easily from me from the tuna + mayo alone. I didn’t want to include eggs because we don’t cook them for too long of a time.
These fell apart for me too, unfortunately 🙁 They were delicious though. I tried them as patties and they were only marginally more successful.
These seemed like an interesting dish so I decided to give it a try. When I was forming the mixture into balls I was a little skeptical that they were going to turn out well but WOW they were good! I fried them in a deep fryer with peanut oil instead of the pan and coconut oil, but I was really impressed and will definitely make them again.
Woah! That sounds good! Thanks for sharing 😀
Trying to find something that I will like Avocado in… I found even with the oil hot the flour was coming off of the balls while cooking and is sitting in the bottom of the pan. Also the balls aren’t absorbing much, if any oil. I did try one and finally I have found something that I like Avocado in 🙂
That’s great! I wonder if they would be easier for you to cook if you flatten them in to patties? (That way you just have to flip them.)
One of my go-to quick lunch/dinners that my 5 year old loved was tuna fish sandwiches (lovingly referred to as “pickle toast”…). Though they are not quite as quick to whip up, these have been a great alternative! He eats every bite, and sometimes we battle over who gets the last one.
That’s amazing! Your 5 year old has good taste. ;D
Does this reheat well? I do most of my meal the day before or in the AM before lunch and dinner.
I don’t think that they’d reheat very well, just because of the avocado inside. I usually don’t have great luck when re-heating recipes with avocado.
Tasty, but tongs for frying would be useful. The suggestion of a side salad to complete the meal is right on.
Do these reheat well? I am looking for good items to send to work with my husband.
I wouldn’t personally reheat a lot of these. They may taste okay, but after re-heating the smell and flavor of the tuna will intensify.
I think chicken would work great!
The balls started to fall apart when I was frying them. I think it’s probably because of the avocado not being mashed.
Oh no! I’m sorry that happened 🙁
Have you ever tried to freeze these? Thanks for the great recipe!
Yes, the balls want to fall apart during & after cooking. Adding an egg to the mix would help, right? Otherwise they are delicious!
I agree, adding an egg should help!
I actually made these with canned crab and they were awesome. I just swapped out the macros on the recipe. Thank you so much for the great recipe.
Made these yesterday, just added onions and a few Indian spices for flavor. Turned out really yummy but I couldn’t get a good crust. The crust was thin and the melts were kinda very easily breaking. Any tips to make it more crusty on the outside?
Sounds like it’d be great with some Indian flavors! For the crust, you could crust them as shown in the recipe, then do an egg dip and crust them a second time. This should help get a much thicker crust on them.
I can’t wait to try this recipe! Like the idea of the egg and I think refrigerating them for 20 before cooking might help.
Hope you ended up liking it!
Made these the other night. Tonight I’m making another batch but double the amount. Can’t get enough. I don’t have almond flour on hand but coconut flour also does the trick. Added some soy sauce, peanut sauce and Sriracha sauce. Sooo good.
I’m new to the keto game, plus I’m no chef…But this recipe was so good and easy for me to do! I also didn’t have some of the same ingredients like instead of almond flour, I used coconut flour. And even when I ran out of flour I just breaded the rest of the tuna balls in Parmesan cheese. I also dipped all of them into egg so they can hold their shape better. I didn’t have avacado either so I just added seasoning and then some red pepper for a kick. My whole family were so skeptical about it but after taking a bite they loved it, Thanks! https://uploads.disquscdn.c…
So does the third cup of almond flour actually go into the mix? Or is it used just to coat them?
It’s just used to coat the balls once you form them. You have to drain the tuna very well so it’s dry enough and takes in the moisture of the mayo.
This looks awesome, but I need some clarification. The upper part of the recipe, with the pictures, does not include the almond flour being added to the tuna mix but only being used for coating. However, the lower, print-only part of the recipe says to mix all the ingredients for the melts. Maybe this would explain why some have had problems with the melts falling apart while cooking? As for me, I’m going to make them and add crushed pork rinds to the almond flour for the coating, wish me luck!
I’m not sure really why people have issues with the wetness of these. I think I may have just drained my tuna especially well, or had dry tuna. The almond flour was only used in the coating. The mayo and parmesan was enough to keep the tuna mixture together for me.
I made these and they were a big hit! I did NOT add almond flour to the mix, and the tuna mixture held together very well. I think next time I will use a bit more cheese because the parm flavor didn’t come through as strong as I would like. And the pork rinds really were a great addition to the coating; I used chili flavored rinds which tasted great, and the carb count was even lower!
I’m so glad to hear you made them and that the mixture came out fine. I think maybe other people are buying tuna in oil and not draining the tuna enough. You can definitely add some more parm – if anything it will just help the mixture stay together even more. Really happy you enjoyed the recipe!
Please fix the print version, because I followed it to the letter and added the almond flour to the mix. Perhaps that’s the confusion. Now I added more for the outside.. l am sticking them in my air dryer with a good coating of avocado oil in hopes I can salvage all my precious ingredients!
Sorry about that – I’ve gone ahead and updated the ingredients. I hope that they came out alright.
It’s ok! They tasted good, a bit grainy instead, but flavor was still good. I’m gonna try again, btw, I popped in air fryer and they came out nice and crispy on outside!
Great idea using the air fryer! Feel free to keep us updated on how they come out next time.