This vegan tunacado sandwich is refreshingly satisfying with the tofu “tuna”, bright lemony pesto, tomato, and avocado. I didn’t understand the hype until I made it!
I always resist the viral TikTok recipes like the feta pasta or my washed flour seitan but then I make them and then I get it. TikTok is the wild wild west but they do know a good viral recipe.
Origin of the Viral Tunacado Sandwich
This tunacado sandwich is based off of a sandwich from Joe & The Juice, where they have a signature thin, crispy bread, topped with a thin pesto, avocado, tomato, and their tuna mousse (which is not blended FYI).
I don’t have their fancy thin crispy bread, and honestly, slicing very hot toasted bread sounds like the worst time. So instead, I’ve opted for naan from Costco, because it’s what I had in my house.
Vegan Tuna
Tuna is a big favourite in this house (both pre-vegan and post-vegan), so I have a lot of different versions of “tuna” on the blog. We have the chickpea tuna melt, tuna casserole, and this sushi bake.
One of my favourite ways to make a satisfying sandwich filling is using chickpeas or grated smoked tofu. Smoked tofu has the advantage of being ready in the fridge, whereas I only have dried beans these days, so chickpeas require about an hour in the instant pot prior to being sandwich-ified.
There are also various vegan tuna alternatives out there, my favourite currently is the OmniTuna (I’d link to their page but it seems they have deleted that product page). This would also be FANTASTIC in this sandwich.
But for accessibility and ease of use, we’re using smoked tofu (or simply grated extra firm tofu if you can’t find smoked tofu).
I use both shallots and scallion (green onion) for colour and flavour. It adds boldness to this tofu “tuna” filling to shine through the richness of the avocado. My pesto is extra lemony so it shines through all these ingredients to create a mouth-watering, bright sandwich.
Eddie isn’t normally a fan of pesto, but he ate 4 out of the 6 sandwiches I made out of my latest batch of this vegan tunacado sandwich filling. The pesto really does make a huge impact on this sandwich, and even Eddie admitted he was into it.
We also ran out of pesto (fresh basil is hard to come by lately), so Eddie had more of this sandwich with just mustard and butter on the bread and said it was delicious. So even without anything else, the tofu “tuna” is just a solid sandwich filling.
Vegan Tunacado Sandwich
Ingredients
For the pesto
- 1 heaping cup basil leaves
- 1/2 lemon juiced
- 2 tbsp pumpkin seeds
- 1/4 cup olive oil adjust to your preferred taste/texture
- 40 g vegan parmesan grated, about 1 cup finely grated
- salt and pepper to taste
For the tofu “tuna”
- 1 block 180 g smoked tofu, grated*
- 1/3 cup vegan mayo
- 1 medium shallot finely diced
- 2 scallions finely diced
- 1/2 lemon juiced
- 1.5 tsp Dijon mustard
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
- Optional: 1/2 tsp Old Bay seasoning
Per sandwich
- 1 piece naan bread sliced in half
- 1 tbsp pesto
- 1/2 cup tofu “tuna”
- 1 small tomato sliced
- 1/4 avocado sliced
- Salt and Pepper to taste
Instructions
For the pesto
- In a food processor, combine basil leaves, lemon juice, pumpkin seeds, olive oil, grated vegan parmesan and blitz until finely pureed. Scrape down the sides as needed to fully blend. Add salt and pepper to taste if desired.
For the tofu "tuna"
- Grate 1 block of smoked tofu, then combine with vegan mayo, diced shallots, diced scallions, lemon juice, Dijon mustard, black pepper and Old Bay seasoning (if using). Mix well and set aside. For best flavour, refrigerate for at least 30 min to allow the flavours to marinate.
To make the vegan tunacado sandwich
- Slice the naan in half moons and toast until crisp (but not burnt). On one side, spread the pesto, then add the tofu "tuna", and top with sliced tomato. To the other side, add sliced avocado. Add salt and pepper to taste, close the sandwich and enjoy!
Sandra B Dombro says
Hi, Lisa. This looks delicious, and I will try it. One request, though: because it’s hard to know what constitutes “a block” of whatever tofu you are using, could you indicate the weight? I often have this problem with published recipes, and as a result must experiment too try to get proportions similar to those in the recipe. I don’t live in the US, I do have access to a variety of products, but the packaging is not similar to the packaging in the US.
Many thanks for this and all of your delicious recipes
Lisa Le says
Oops sorry! I meant to include that. It’s 180 g of smoked tofu, which is a very dense tofu (as you might be able to see in the video I shared on Instagram/TikTok)
Gina says
Love ‘tuna’, as you said, both pre- and post-vegan. There are so many variations around.
This sounds very replication-worthy (in the near future). And love that you used naan. Thanks.
Jenn says
This is SO GOOD! I just made it for lunch and wanted to comment while I had the recipe pulled up. Finding smoked tofu is dang near impossible for me…and I didn’t want to liquid-smoke-DIY. I did press some tofu for a couple hours and then “baked” the block in an air fryer on 300*F to dry it out a bit. I did 10 min and then flipped it for another 5 min. Other than that, followed it exactly (including Old Bay) and I am embarrassed with how little leftovers there are. :). Thank you! My first recipe from you and I am excited to try more. The way you speak of veganism is right in line with how my husband and I are. Veganizing my pre-vegan faves is so fun!