Name: Hot Honey Tuna Salad (No Mayo)
Prep time: 15 min
Total time: 15 min
Ingredients: 1 cup cottage cheese; 1/4 cup Greek yogurt or sour cream; 2 tablespoons hot honey; 1 tablespoon Dijon or stone ground mustard; 1 teaspoon rice vinegar; 1/2 sweet-tart apple (such as Envy, Cosmic Crisp, Honeycrisp) (, chopped into small dice); 1 stalk celery (i.e., one rib) (, chopped into small dice); 3 inch piece of a Persian or English cucumber (or 1 small seedless mini) (, chopped into small dice); 2 tablespoons chopped pickled red onions*; 10 ounces albacore tuna (, water-packed, drained**)

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We’re all a little obsessed with protein these days — and honestly, fair enough. But if you’d rather reach for real food than a chalky protein shake, this Hot Honey Tuna Salad is here for you. It swaps mayo for creamy cottage cheese — yes, it really works! — then adds a generous helping of hot honey for a kiss of sweet heat that makes this anything-but-boring tuna salad genuinely craveable. Pile it on crackers, stuff it in a pita, or eat it straight from the bowl. No judgment here!

Overhead view of Hot Honey Tuna Salad in a rustic bowl with crackers on the side.

Cottage cheese sometimes gets the side-eye for its ubiquity on social media, but I always have and still do love the stuff. It’s rich and creamy, and actually does step up to the line of being cheese, just short of fresh mozzarella. The fact that it’s super-charged with protein is a bonus.

And when it comes to creamy salads, I’ll happily take advantage of cottage cheese’s versatility, swapping out other ingredients in favor of its protein boost. Here, it works great as a substitute for mayo, and a generous drizzle of my favorite hot honey means I’ll not miss a thing from classic tuna salad.

Recipe Highlights

Skill level: Beginner
Cook time: 0 minutes!
Prep time: 15 minutes, or less if you’re a vegetable-chopping whiz.
Servings: About 6 servings.
Flavor profile: This no-mayo tuna salad gets a protein boost and a touch of zesty sweetness thanks to cottage cheese and hot honey, replacing mayo without losing any of tuna salad’s considerable charms.

If you’re a big fan of sandwich salads like I am, you might also enjoy my Chili Crisp Chopped Chicken Salad, my Eat Your Veggies Salad (no lettuce!), and my Crab Salad Sliders.

Key Ingredients

Overhead view of ingredients measured out into separate containers, labeled with text.

Hot honey — The recipe’s namesake ingredient adds sweetness and a gentle kick of spicy heat that makes this tuna salad extra special.

Tuna — Albacore tuna is mild, lean, and easy to love, while skipjack and yellowfin land on the “fishier” end of the fish-tastes-fishy scale. I personally prefer albacore (also sometimes labeled “white tuna”), but whatever type you choose, use water-packed rather than oil-packed to keep the tuna salad light and crunchy.

Cottage cheese — Cottage cheese is still the talk of social media (sometimes with love; sometimes with an eyeroll lol), but for good reason. For this tuna salad, it’s an incredible replacement for mayonnaise: slight salty, slightly sweet, very creamy. You won’t miss the mayo!

Plain Greek yogurt or sour cream — The tang of these dairy products is a nice complement to the cottage cheese. I prefer sour cream, and it happens to be something I always have on hand.

Dijon mustard — Mustard is a highly underutilized ingredient imo. Here, it adds a slight peppery heat and lots of umami for a rave-worthy dressing.

Apple — Sometimes a controversial ingredient in creamy salads, know that my tuna salad recipe is not meant to taste like apples. Rather, a nice sweet-tart apple, such as Envy, Cosmic Crisp, SugarBee, or Honeycrisp, adds a touch of sweetness, plus a little bit of an acid burst to balance out the sugars. And lots of crunch. Peeling is up to you: I don’t peel apples because I like the fiber, but do remove the skin if you or yours have trouble with the texture. It’s all good.

Vegetables — Cucumbers and celery add a bright crunch and a hint of grassy herbaceousness to this salad. Be sure to use a seedless variety of cucumber, such as English or Persian. If you can only find a field variety, cut the cucumber in half and scrape out the seeds to keep the tuna salad from becoming too watery. You might also want to remove most or all of the skin. And finally, pickled red onions add a nice pickly bite.

Overhead view of Hot Honey Tuna Salad on crackers and crispbread.

Karen’s Notes

Remember that cottage cheese is somewhat salty — definitely saltier than mayo — so be sure to taste the salad before automatically reaching for the salt shaker, as you might with other tuna salads.
Different brands of hot honey will have their own unique levels of heat, so taste a few drops before adding it to your tuna salad. It’s worth mentioning, however, that dairy ingredients naturally tame spicy heat, so the dressing will not be an eye-watering situation. Even my usual go-to, Mike’s Extra Hot Honey. If you’re sensitive to chili spices, start with one tablespoon of hot honey in the dressing, taste, and work your way up from there.
I’ve skipped my usual tuna salad herb blend here — fresh dill, tarragon, and garlic powder — because it just doesn’t need it, and I’d rather sneak in a spoonful of chili crisp when I’m feeling extra. However, a little celery seed, dill, parsley, and even basil or mint are lovely, spring-y additions.
I love pickled onions in creamy salads, but if you’d rather go more herbal than pickly (note: the salad already has rice vinegar, which leans more pickly than sharp), chop up some chives or green onions for a fresh allium touch.

Serving Suggestions

Of course, this Hot Honey Tuna Salad without mayo is fabulous in a tuna melt. And here are some other family-favorite options:

Layered onto toasty, buttered bread, English muffins, or bagels.
Spooned into lettuce cups (use the nice, rounded butter or Boston lettuce leaves).
Stuffed into pita bread.
Scooped up with tortilla chips or Fritos Scoops.
Spread onto crispbreads (I like the big Norwegian crispbread crackers that Trader Joe’s carries), or other crackers.
Piled high on rice cakes.

The last three options are my lunch go-tos, as I have to watch my carbs and salt intake. Chips are generally a no-no for me because of the salt content, but after finding Garden of Eatin’s no salt-added tortilla chips, I have been in chip dip heaven. Just a PSA for my fellow salty snack lovers who also must cruelly avoid the salty snacks lol.

How to Make Hot Honey Tuna Salad Without Mayo

Ready to make the recipe? Skip to the recipe card now to see the full ingredient list, quantities, prep/cooking times, and printable, detailed instructions. Or, keep scrolling for a visual walk-through and summary of making the salad.

Make the dressing

Add the dressing ingredients to the bowl of a small food chopper or blending jar and blend until smooth.

Overhead view of the dressing ingredients in the bowl of a small food chopper.

Dressing ingredients blended smooth in the chopper.

Assemble the salad

Place the salad ingredients in a medium bowl, breaking up any clumps of tuna. Pour the dressing over the salad and stir to mix thoroughly. The salad will keep in the fridge up to 3 days.

The tuna salad ingredients in a clear glass bow.

Spooning the dressing over the salad ingredients.

A close-up of the finished tuna salad on a white spatula.

Cook’s FAQs

My personal preference is albacore because it’s milder in “fishiness” than the other types of commercial tuna. Skipjack (sometimes labeled “chunk light”) and yellowfin (a.k.a., Ahi) tuna are fattier and stronger tasting than albacore. Which makes them, in my book, a little hard to fully appreciate in a creamy tuna salad. But, of course, your preference can override my suggestion without a problem! Whatever kind of tuna you choose, I recommend water-packed (vs. oil-packed) to allow the flavors of the vegetables and dressing to shine through rather than be bogged down with an oily coating.

Yes, with a small caveat. Full-fat cottage cheese gives the dressing the richest, creamiest texture and the best flavor, but low-fat cottage cheese (sometimes labeled “2%,” meaning 2% milkfat) works well and is what many people keep on hand. Nonfat cottage cheese will be noticeably thinner and a little more watery once blended, which can make the dressing slightly looser — if that happens, start with a little less rice vinegar to compensate. Whichever fat level you use, the blending step is key: it smooths out the curds completely and gives the dressing a texture that closely mimics a mayo-based one.

It’s honey infused with chili peppers, giving it a gentle heat that plays beautifully against its natural sweetness. It’s become widely available in the last few years, and you’ll find it in most well-stocked grocery stores (often near the regular honey or in the deli or specialty foods section) and online. Mike’s Hot Honey is probably the best-known brand and a reliable choice; Truff also makes a popular version. That said, many stores carry their own house brands at a friendlier price point, and they work just as well here. Just keep in mind that heat levels vary quite a bit between brands, so give yours a taste before adding it to the salad.

Yes, the salad will hold for two or three days in the fridge before the tuna starts getting a little too assertive. The dressing, however, can be made well ahead of time without issue, and I often whip up a few days’ worth, leaving the salad to be made fresh each day — water-heavy apples, celery, and cucumbers are at their best when prepared as needed. If you do keep the tuna salad overnight, you might notice some patches of liquids that have separated out (from the cukes and celery). No problem — just give everything a good stir again, and it’s all right as rain.

I wouldn’t recommend it. The dairy, apple, cucumber, and celery ingredients won’t return to a fresh and snappy state after thawing, and the whole salad is likely to be unrecoverably soggy.

Yes, quite easily! Replace the tuna with a can of drained chickpeas, smashed with a little sprinkle of salt. To add a taste of the sea, crumble one or two sheets of seaweed snacks, which are available in most grocery stores, over the chickpeas as you smash them. (Pro tip: for the best salad texture, peel the chickpeas before using: spread out the drained chickpeas on a kitchen towel and use one end to gently roll your hand over the beans. This will loosen most of the skins, which can be plucked away. This is also the secret for making extra-smooth hummus!)

Side-angled view of Hot Honey Tuna Salad in a rustic bowl.

Homemade tuna salad is an easy recipe to pull together, and by swapping mayo with cottage cheese, you get an extra boost of protein. Hot honey adds a zesty sweetness and makes the tuna salad a versatile spread or snack. If you make this recipe, I hope you’ll stop back and let me know how it goes by leaving a comment!

Overhead view of a bowl of Hot Honey Tuna Salad.

Hot Honey Tuna Salad (No Mayo)

by Karen Gibson

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Hot Honey Tuna Salad is a no-mayo tuna salad made with creamy cottage cheese, Greek yogurt or sour cream, and hot honey for sweet heat. Loaded with crisp apples, celery, cucumber, and pickled red onions, this easy, protein-packed recipe comes together in 15 minutes with no cooking required. Perfect for sandwiches, a guilt-free snack, or meal prep.

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Prep Time 15

Cook Time 0

Total Time 15

Ingredients

1 cup cottage cheese
1/4 cup Greek yogurt or sour cream
2 tablespoons hot honey
1 tablespoon Dijon or stone ground mustard
1 teaspoon rice vinegar
1/2 sweet-tart apple (such as Envy, Cosmic Crisp, Honeycrisp) , chopped into small dice
1 stalk celery (i.e., one rib) , chopped into small dice
3 inch piece of a Persian or English cucumber (or 1 small seedless mini) , chopped into small dice
2 tablespoons chopped pickled red onions*
10 ounces albacore tuna , water-packed, drained**

Helpful Equipment

Instructions

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Add the cottage cheese, yogurt, mustard, honey, and vinegar to the bowl of a small food processor or chopper. Blend until smooth.
In a medium bowl, mix the apples, celery, cucumbers, and tuna together, breaking up the clumps of tuna as you go.
Stir in the dressing until evenly distributed.
Serve immediately, or refrigerate for 2 to 3 days in an airtight container.

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Notes

* If you don’t want to buy prepared pickled red onions, you can make them at home. You’ll need two tablespoons for the recipe, but you can make extra and store in the fridge: place sliced or chopped red onions in a bowl and cover with a solution of 50% water and 50% white vinegar, plus a pinch of salt. Let marinate for 15-30 minutes. Drain off the liquids and pat the onions dry with a paper towel. (If storing, move the onions to an airtight container and fill with a fresh mixture of 50% water and 50% vinegar. Seal, and keep in the fridge.)

** In the U.S., tuna usually is available in 5-ounce cans or 3-ounce pouches. Use two cans or three pouches, or mix and match. I don’t recommend oil-packed tuna for this recipe because it makes tuna salad a little weird, imo.

Keyword hot honey tuna salad, tuna salad

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