I don’t know about you, but I’m ALWAYS craving seafood in the summer. Something I don’t crave: spending hours cooking in my hot kitchen with the oven on… SO these air fried, oil-free tuna burgers are the perfect quick & healthy summer night dinner solution in my house!
Easy, Flavorful, & Healthy Tuna Burgers
I love getting seafood burgers at restaurants & in the frozen section of Trader Joe’s BUT it’s hard to find pre-prepared burgers that aren’t also made using a ton of inflammatory oils (i.e. soybean, canola, safflower oil & more).
That’s one of the biggest reasons why I’ve spent so long trying to create some delicious homemade alternatives. My recipe for crispy Mediterranean tuna cakes has been a favorite dinner for me to make for my whole family recently, but I felt like I needed to expand my flavor horizons, ya know?
& IT’S COMPLETELY OIL-FREE!
& it’s made with canned tuna… shh!
Honestly, canned tuna is one of my favorite healthy eating hacks. Its convenient, cheap, and I can barely tell it apart from a restaurant-quality crab cake!
These Thai tuna burgers topped with savory peanut sauce & a warm purple cabbage zucchini slaw on a homemade almond flour bun ended up being such a good variation! It’s an incredibly fast “made-from-scratch” meal that I cannot get enough of.
PLUS this meal is 100% specific carbohydrate diet friendly, high protein, and full of various different nutrients from the lightly steamed veggie slaw. I’m so so excited to be sharing this one!
How to Make Air Fried Tuna Burgers
Note: these tuna burgers can be baked as well, but they may not be as crispy as they get in the air fryer!
Step 1: Make your almond flour bun, the Thai peanut sauce, and the warm purple cabbage zucchini slaw. Making homemade “bread”, a sauce, and slaw sounds extremely complicated BUT I promise it takes just 10 minutes!
- Start with the bun: use the recipe for my microwave walnut flour sandwich buns, but sub in almond flour for the walnut flour.
- While the almond flour bun is in the microwave, use a potato peeler to make the zucchini ribbons & chop up the purple cabbage. Add to a bowl along with shredded carrots, coconut aminos, lime juice, chili powder, and black pepper. Toss with a fork and steam on a non-stick pan over low heat for 5 minutes.
- Mix up the sauce ingredients: 1 tbsp. powdered peanut butter, 1 tbsp. water, coconut aminos, ginger, garlic powder, chili powder, and lime zest.
Step 2: Make the burgers: combine the canned tuna, egg, coconut flour, shredded carrots, shredded spinach, coconut aminos, ground ginger, red onion, chili powder, black pepper, and cinnamon in a bowl. Mix well with a fork to “shred” the tuna.
Step 3: Using your hands, form the tuna burgers. I’ve found that this recipe makes about 3 medium sized patties. Place the burgers in the air fryer to cook.
Step 4: Assemble the burgers: slice the almond flour bun in half & fill with the tuna burger, warm slaw, and top with the Thai peanut sauce.
Printscd thai tuna burgers
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 9 minutes
- Total Time: 29 minutes
- Yield: 2–3 burgers 1x
Description
The easiest homemade Thai inspired air fried tuna burgers! Oil-free and specific-carbohydrate-diet-friendly recipe for one, but it can easily be multiplied to serve many.
Ingredients
Tuna Burgers:
- 1 can of solid white albacore tuna, in water
- 1 egg
- 1/2 tbsp. coconut flour
- 2 tbsp. shredded carrots
- 2 tbsp. finely chopped spinach
- 1/2 tbsp. diced red onion
- 1/2 tsp. coconut aminos
- 1/4 tsp. chili powder
- 1/8 tsp. ground ginger
- 1/8 tsp. black pepper
- 1/8 tsp. cinnamon
Warm Purple Cabbage & Zucchini Slaw:
- 1 small zucchini, sliced into ribbons with a potato peeler
- 1/2 cup finely chopped purple cabbage
- 1/4 cup shredded carrots
- 1 tsp. coconut aminos
- 1 tsp. lime juice
- 1/8 tsp. black pepper
- 1/8 tsp. chili powder
Thai Peanut Sauce:
- 1 tbsp. powdered peanut butter
- 1 tbsp. water
- 1/2 tsp. coconut aminos
- 1/8 tsp. ground ginger
- 1/8 tsp. garlic powder
- 1/8 tsp. chili powder
- 1/8 tsp. lime zest
Instructions
- Combine all of the slaw ingredients in a non-stick pan. Cover & cook for about 5 minutes, until the veggies are lightly steamed, but still crunchy.
- In a small bowl, mix the ingredients for the sauce until well-combined. Set aside.
- In another bowl, combine the ingredients for the tuna burgers. Mix well with a fork to shred the tuna.
- With your hands, form 2-3 medium sized burger patties and place in the basket of an air fryer.
- Cook at 400F for 9 minutes.
- Top the tuna burgers with the warm slaw & sauce. Enjoy warm!
Notes
Oven instructions: cook for 425F for 10 minutes; broil on high for 2 minutes until crispy.
Peanut butter can be used in place of powdered peanut butter- adjust the amount of water according to desired consistency.
To make my homemade almond flour bun, I used the recipe for my 5-minute walnut flour buns but substituted almond flour for walnut flour… (obviously!)
- Category: entrees, single-serve
- Method: air fry
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 2-3 burgers
- Calories: 220
- Sugar: 0
- Fat: 6
- Carbohydrates: 2
- Fiber: 1
- Protein: 32
Keywords: specific carbohydrate diet, healthy dinner recipe, oil-free tuna cakes, healthy burger recipe, paleo tuna burgers, easy dinner recipe, single-serve recipe, air fryer recipe