Tuna salad is an easy dish to whip up for a quick lunch or meal prep, and to achieve the creamy texture, you won't need any mayo11:51, 02 Jun 2026Updated 11:52, 02 Jun 2026The summer season is inching closer, meaning it’s time to take advantage of all of the wonderful dishes that brighten up summer days. Moving away from hearty comfort food for lighter dishes, including plenty of protein-based dishes.‌Recipe developer and cookbook author Laurel Randolph praised the simple tuna salad for hitting all the spots. She wrote for Simply Recipes: “Tuna salad has so many things going for it: It's super easy to make, requiring no cooking and minimal (if any) chopping. It keeps well in the fridge, so it's great for meal prep.‌“And it's super affordable while being naturally high in protein. Thanks to the ease of canned tuna, you can whip it up at a moment's notice and serve as a hearty sandwich (cold or warm as a tuna melt), with greens as a salad, or with crackers as a snacky lunch or appetizer. What can't tuna salad do?”‌However, instead of using mayonnaise to achieve the desired creamy texture, Laurel opts for another ingredient. Not only will her secret ingredient provide the much-needed creaminess, but it’s also packed with protein.Laurel revealed: “It's easy, but with some flavorful additions like capers and Dijon, and a surprising ingredient that changed how I make tuna salad forever: cottage cheese.”‌Laurel explained that the reason she swaps out mayo for cottage cheese is because it’s high in protein, so this simple addition can give any recipe a “nutritional boost”. It’s also naturally creamy, so you won’t miss out on texture.Cottage cheese also has a natural saltiness, making it perfect to pair with tuna. For other protein-based recipes, Laurel tends to swap out mayo for different ingredients too.‌She said: “As a mayo liker and not lover, I don't eat too much of the stuff. I often swap some of the mayo in chicken salad for yoghurt and avoid macaroni salads at barbecues. Cottage cheese lets me add some creaminess so I can cut down on the mayo a bit for a lighter flavour profile.“Whether you're like me and don't looooove mayo or just want to add some protein and nice texture and flavour to your tuna salad, cottage cheese is the way to go.”Some people may struggle with the curd-y texture of cottage cheese, but to get around it and have a smoother texture, it can be blended. Cottage cheese can be whipped or blended like ricotta or feta.Article continues belowWhen using cottage cheese in a tuna salad recipe, Laurel recommended decreasing the amount of mayonnaise by half. Then add up to a third of a cup of cottage cheese per can of tuna.