Tuna Newberg With Rice

For a dinner that comes together fast, requires minimal cooking, and makes everyone happy, look no further than Tuna Newberg.

Tuna Newberg is my ultimate practical dinner. Ninety percent of the ingredients are shelf-stable pantry staples (try saying that three times fast) you probably already have on hand. It's the perfect recipe for those nights when you toss your more complicated dinner plans out the window in favor of staying in and keeping it simple.

You probably won't ever serve tuna newberg to guests. But it’s the kind of dish you turn to when you've had a bad day, or you're feeling tired, or you want to make something affordable that you can eat all week long. You can even serve it as a sort of cozy creamed tuna on toast situation.

It's like a warm, weighted security blanket in food form.

If you're looking for other comforting tuna dishes, check out tuna patties, deli tuna salad, and tuna melt hand pies.

⭐ Why I Love Tuna Newberg

It's hard to put what I love about Tuna Newberg — an absolute favorite dinner of mine since before I could talk — into words that sound immediately and universally appealing. It's my family’s ultimate go-to comfort food. It's that one dish we all request when we're home.

My siblings and I have a running joke that Tuna Newberg is so good that if any of us were ever to appear on Chopped, we'd forgo the basket ingredients to make Tuna Newberg, and win with it every round. So what is Tuna Newberg, exactly? It's a thick, creamy tuna sauce served warm, over rice.

Tuna Newberg probably won't necessarily look pretty on Instagram (good luck, future me, trying to photograph it!) and it might use more mayo than you're used to. But it is a delicious creamed tuna sauce that tastes as good as a hug feels.

My grandma made tuna newberg for my mom and her brothers, my mom made it for me and my siblings, we now all make it for ourselves, and now I am passing it along to all of you. It's even caught on with my husband's grandparents who now make it regularly.

You will not find this recipe anywhere else in the world. Believe me, I've tried.

For a while, my best guess as to where this Tuna Newberg recipe came from was that my grandma found the recipe on the back of a jar of mayo or a can of tuna. I've tried looking up over the years with zero luck. In writing this post, I wanted to track it down, once and for all, but again, the internet turned up nothing.

Finally, my mom suggested I reach out to an old family friend, a woman named Irene, who used to help my grandma around the house. Not only did Irene remember it immediately, it turns out that it's an original recipe that my grandma came up with — or at least, that's what my grandma told her.

🦞 Tuna Newberg vs. Traditional Seafood Newberg

I wish I could ask my grandma where her inspiration for Tuna Newberg came from or how she developed the recipe. Unfortunately, I can't. But what I can tell you is that it's the much-more-affordable, easy-to-make cousin of a traditional newberg, like a Lobster Newberg or seafood newberg.

My sister remembers making a traditional seafood newberg with my grandma once (her verdict: Tuna Newberg was better) so I know my grandma at least knew what a seafood newberg was and how to make one.

Like traditional newbergs, Tuna Newberg features a cream based sauce that's thickened with flour. But, where other newbergs use butter and heavy cream, Tuna Newberg uses milk and mayo. Where traditional newbergs feature acidic flavors like sherry, cognac, Worcestershire sauce, or lemon juice, Tuna Newberg just says no to all types of acid.

The final key difference: Tuna Newberg is best served over rice, while traditional newbergs are more likely to be served over long, buttery noodles.

🥘 Ingredients

Here's what you'll need to make tuna newberg. Don't forget the rice! See recipe card for quantities!

• Canned tuna - I like to use chunk light tuna in olive oil for tuna newberg, but whatever your preferred canned tuna is will be just fine.
• Sweet onion - While any onion will work, I do have to credit my brother with discovering that the overall Tuna Newberg experience is enhanced when you use a sweet onion instead of a white or yellow onion.
• Mayonnaise - This helps thicken the sauce and adds a lot of that creamy texture.
• Milk - Whatever kind of milk you like best! I haven't tried this with plant based milks, but if you're dairy-free, Lactaid works just fine.
• Flour - The flour is what thickens the tuna newberg into a creamy sauce. DO NOT SKIP THE FLOUR. If you skip it, you will have a sad, thin, milky tuna sauce. Gluten free flour will work. So will corn starch (but you'll want to use half as much).
• Paprika and oregano - In the original version of this recipe, paprika and oregano weren't even mentioned. My parents served them "on the side" to garnish, but I find it's just easier to add them right into the sauce. Use any kind of paprika you have on hand, and you can use fresh or dried oregano. If using fresh oregano, less is more, and you'll definitely want to mince it up first.
• Salt and pepper - I use Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt and freshly cracked black pepper. The original version of this recipe didn't call for any salt or pepper. The salt and pepper are very much just done "to taste," so feel free to add as much or as little as you like.
• Rice - For serving. Any grain will work here; barley, quinoa, freekeh, even rice cakes, etc.

🔪 Instructions

First, chop and sweat a sweet onion in a large, deep skillet until it is soft and slightly translucent.

Then, add the drained tuna straight from the cans to the skillet and cook (well, heat) it using a spatula to break up the bigger chunks. I like to add a little salt and pepper at this stage (as you can see in the photo below), but you don't have to.

Then, whisk together the milk, mayonnaise, flour, oregano, paprika, salt, and pepper. I like to do this in a large 4-cup measuring cup so it's easier to pour.

Whisk very well to make sure the flour lumps are completely broken up.

Add the milk mixture to the tuna and onions and stir well. The milk and mayo will cool the pan on contact.

Give the tuna newberg some time to come back up to temperature over a low-medium heat. It will start out quite pale and liquid, but will thicken as the starches from the flour heat up.

Stir frequently to make sure nothing is getting stuck to the bottom of the pan as the mixture warms up.

You want it to reach a very low simmer — a few bubbles coming to the surface every few minutes. Adjust the heat as needed to keep that very slow bubbling going.

Cook covered for 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally, then uncovered until thickened (5-10 minutes more). Adjust seasoning to taste. Don't be afraid to really amp up the oregano or paprika if that's what speaks to you!

Serve over rice. Or serve the next day cold, on rice cakes or with crackers.

👩🏻‍🍳 Recipe notes

• Tuna Newberg is a great not just for kids, but to make with kids. It's like maybe half a step more complicated to make than Kraft Mac & Cheese. The only chopping required is a sweet onion, and the rest of the measuring and mixing is so simple. Plus, it cooks over low-to-medium heat so no hissing, popping oil to worry about. It's a great way for kids to build some foundational cooking experience and gain confidence in the kitchen. Younger kids will love whisking the milk mixture, while older kids will enjoy the responsibility of stirring a hot pan. And you, the adult, can supervise without worrying that someone's going to stick a hand that touched something raw in their eye because every single ingredient is safe to eat uncooked.
• The one ingredient you absolutely cannot skip is the flour. My mom tried making Tuna Newberg on vacation once (we didn't want to buy a whole bag of flour for a one-week lake trip), and that was the moment we learned that flour is key for helping the sauce thicken as it simmers. In hindsight, yes, duh, but in the moment... we did what we did.
• If you want to reduce the recipe or make a smaller amount (Why would you? It's great as leftovers, or eaten cold on rice cakes) the milk/mayo/flour mixture is perfectly proportioned for easily cutting down by thirds. Just reduce the amount of tuna and onion by roughly ⅓ to match.
  • 3 cups milk + 1 cup mayo + 3 tablespoon flour = 5-6 servings
  • 2 cups milk + ⅔ cup mayo + 2 TSBP flour = 4-5 servings
  • 1 cup milk + ⅓ cup mayo + 1 tablespoon flour = 3-4 servings
• I've written this recipe with the ingredients and ingredient quantities that I always use, but I encourage you to think of them as guidelines more than rules. It's hard to mess this up, so don't sweat it if you don't have everything in just the right amounts.

📖 Substitutions and variations

• Don't like large pieces of onion? Do a small dice instead of a large chop. Use a quarter of an onion instead of half. You do you. A sweet onion is ideal, but if you only have a white onion on hand, you'll be fine.
• Don't like paprika or basil? Don't use them! They're gone. Add them at the end as a garnish if you want to but someone else eating with you doesn't.
• Really like paprika and basil? Add some to the onions in the pan before you add the tuna AND to the milk mixture, instead of just to the milk mixture.
• Don't like mayo? I once had a friend make this recipe using feta cheese instead of mayo and he said it worked great. Yeah! I know! It sounds weird. I can't personally say whether or not it was delicious, but he said he liked it.
• Want more tuna for a thicker sauce? Use 3 large cans. Want less tuna? Use 2 large cans (12 oz) and 1 regular-sized can (5 oz). Grocery store had a deal on 5 oz cans? Use 6 or 7 of them instead of buying the big ones.
• Want a spicy tuna newberg? Finish with a pinch of cayenne, or some crushed red pepper flakes at the end.

💭 Recipe FAQ

📖 Recipe

This post was updated on 1/26/2022 with new photos, even more ingredient notes, tips, and more.

More than any other recipe on this entire blog, Tuna Newberg is the one I'd love to hear about if you make. Please leave a comment below, or tag @the.practical.kitchen in your Tuna Newberg pics on Instagram or Facebook with the hashtag #thepracticalkitchen!