This Ultimate Gluten Free Tuna Melt is an easy dinner recipe when you need something quickly. Pile all but one of the ingredients open face style on a piece of bread and pop it in the oven, then put a fried egg on top when it’s all done. It might not be super healthy, but it is super delicious.
The first step to this recipe? Turning on the oven. I know that might seem obvious, but nearly every time I make this I am so focused on putting the ingredients together that I get done with the assembly and realize I’ve got a cold oven. Which makes me even hangrier. So please, remember to preheat the oven to 350 degrees F before you get started.
Next up, the tuna.
How To Break Up Tuna With A Fork
Start by draining the water out of the tuna. I usually do this by cutting the lid, then pressing it down on top of the tuna to squeeze out the water. Don’t drain the tuna in your garbage as it will make it reek to high heaven. I don’t know why you would do that, but just in case anyone gets any ideas.
Empty the tuna into a medium bowl, scraping out any bits that are clinging to the can with a fork. Then break up the large pieces with that fork, until the tuna gets to your desired consistency (see second photo below). Next add in the half cup of mayo, which you can certainly use less of if you desire. My family just happens to like a little more mayo.
After you have the mayo mixture, set it aside and start toasting the bread. In a toaster. I know this seems counter intuitive since you’re putting the assembled tuna melt into the oven, but with gluten free bread I’ve found it really needs to be toasted beforehand so it doesn’t get soggy. Just a lightly brown toast will do it, so maybe a minute or two (depending on your toaster).
While the bread is toasting, prep the avocado and tomato. I have pictures and instructions on how to do that in my Citrusy Simple Guacamole recipe. You’ll want to cut open the avocado then slice it into thinner slices (leaving them in the avocado, don’t scrape them out with a spoon quite yet). You’ll use maybe a quarter of an avocado per tuna melt. If there’s any left over, gobble it up before anyone else realizes there’s leftover avocado. It’s okay to be greedy here, you’re the one doing the cooking. Then wash, deseed, and slice the tomato.
Next comes the compilation.
How To Assemble A Tuna Melt
This part is pretty simple, and there are pictures to show you what each step looks like.
- Place the toasted bread on the sheet pan.
- Spread the tuna mixture into an even layer on the toasted bread.
- Scoop out the avocado slices and place them in an even layer on top of the tuna mixture.
- Place one slice of tomato on top of the avocados.
- Lay one cheese slice on top of the tomato.
- Put the sheet pan in the preheated oven and cook for 15 minutes (this step is obviously not pictured),
- Remove the sheet pan from the oven when the timer goes off.
- Place the cooked egg on top (see directions below).
Which of course, brings us to the final step, cooking the egg.
How To Fry An Egg
Start with a medium frying pan over medium heat on the stove. Place the butter in it and let the pan heat up until it gets hot. You don’t want to try and fry an egg in a cold pan. It will take forever and not heat evenly.
Once the butter’s melted and the pan is hot, tip the pan around so that the butter covers the bottom of the pan (as in the second picture below).
For this recipe you can fry two eggs at once if your pan is big enough. Otherwise, do one egg at a time.
Crack the egg into the pan carefully, making sure not to break the yolk and not to drop any egg shells into the pan. If you don’t know how to crack an egg, watch this tutorial.
The only thing to be careful of in the tutorial is they break the yolks. To make sure you don’t, take care when breaking the shell apart and gently glide the egg into the pan.
Once the egg is in the pan, cover it with a lid. As you can see in the fourth picture below, I could not find the lid for this particular pan. I’m blaming my kids, who love to pretend the lids are wheels and hijack them for whatever adventures they’re going on. But even a lid that’s bigger than the pan itself will still work.
Let the egg cook until the whites are set and the yolk is still soft. This will take approximately 4 minutes, depending on your stove. If you don’t like a runny yolk, you can cook it longer until the yolk is set. Once it’s done cooking, remove it from the pan and cook the remaining eggs. Add in the remaining half tablespoon of butter for the second two eggs, so they don’t stick to the pan when cooking.
And there you have it! It’s a simple dish but it’s packed with flavor and takes a regular boring tuna melt up about a gazillion notches.
I mean, look at how freaking delicious this looks.
If you’re looking for more simple and delicious recipes, check out the following:
- Easy Gluten Free Breakfast Quesadilla
- Cashew Grape Chicken Salad
- Easy Sheet Pan Dinner with Sausage & Veggies
- Quick & Easy Meat Sauce
A couple last notes about this Ultimate Gluten Free Tuna Melt recipe:
- This is a great recipe to make for just one or two people. If you’re super hungry you can eat two tuna melts, or you can save the remaining ingredients for the next day and have everything come together even more quickly. The only thing I would suggest is to cook the eggs the day of, as reheating them and leaving the yolks soft would be difficult (and potentially gross).
- As I mentioned previously, you can reduce the amount of mayonnaise you use to your liking. I think even as little as ¼ cup would probably be fine, though I would advocate for about ⅓ of a cup. Regardless, do whatever is your preference since you’re the one eating it.
- Another repeat note – don’t crack your egg into a cold (or even slightly warm) pan! You want your pan hot so that it starts cooking right away, otherwise it can take forever to cook or cook unevenly. Put your butter in, then let it get hot, THEN put your egg(s) in. Word of warning: if you’re using a non-stick pan, don’t heat it over high heat. Using medium heat will be more than hot enough to fry your egg.
If you try this Ultimate Gluten Free Tuna Melt recipe (or any other recipe) then don’t forget to rate the recipe and let me know how it went in the comments below. I love hearing what you think!
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Recipe for Ultimate Gluten Free Tuna Melt
Ultimate Gluten Free Tuna Melt
Ingredients
- 5.5 ounces canned tuna in water
- ½ cup mayonnaise
- 1 avocado large
- 1 tomato large
- 4 slices gluten free bread
- 4 slices cheddar cheese thin, and about the size and shape of the bread
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 4 eggs
Instructions
Items Needed:
- Can opener
- A medium bowl
- A fork
- Measuring cups
- A toaster
- A sheet pan
- A cutting board
- A small sharp knife
- A spoon
- A medium pan with a lid
- A spatula
Directions:
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
- Open the tuna with a can opener, then drain off any excess water. Dump the tuna into a medium-sized bowl, using a fork to get remaining bits out if necessary.
- Break up any large tuna pieces with the fork, then measure out the half cup of mayonnaise with a measuring cup.
- Mix the mayonnaise into the tuna until both are well combined. Set aside.
- Toast the individual slices of bread in a toaster, until they start to brown slightly. This will help ensure the bread doesn’t get soggy
- Once bread is toasted, place evenly on a sheet pan, with several inches between each slice.
- While the bread is toasting, prepare the avocado and tomato.
- Using a cutting board and small sharp knife, cut the avocado in half. Take the pit out of the other half of the avocado (carefully!) with a spoon or the knife. Or for a safer method, see a tutorial here.
- Cut the avocado into roughly ⅛ inch thin slices with the knife. You will be cutting it in it’s peel, being careful not to pierce the skin. Set aside.
- Wash the tomato and place it on the cutting board. Use a very sharp knife to slice up the tomato. First cut a quarter-inch slice off the top, then seed it by scooping out the seeds with a spoon. Then slice the rest of the tomato and set aside.
- Place the tuna mixture onto each slice of bread with the fork, dividing it evenly between the four pieces and spreading it out into an even layer.
- Scoop the avocado slices out with a spoon and place them in a single layer on top of each piece of toast over the tuna mixture.
- Place one slice of tomato on top of each toast, then top with a slice of cheese.
- Put the sheet pan in the oven and set the timer for 15 minutes.
- While the tuna melts are in the oven, place a medium pan over medium heat. Once it’s warmed, add in half the butter and let it melt.
- After the butter is melted, twist the pan so that the butter covers the entire bottom. Then crack one egg into the pan without breaking the yolk. If your pan is big enough, you can do two eggs at a time, just make sure the eggs don’t touch otherwise they’ll meld together and be difficult to get out of the pan.
- Place a lid over the pan and cook the egg(s) until the whites are done but the yolks are still soft, roughly 4 minutes. You can cook the egg(s) longer if you prefer a hard yolk.
- After the first two eggs are done cooking, use a spatula to carefully place them on a plate and set them aside. Then put the remaining butter in the pan and repeat the process for the remaining two eggs.
- When the timer goes off, remove the sheet pan from the oven and place an egg on top of each gluten free tuna melt, then serve!
Rachel
I love your list of ingredients. This looks fabulous. It will make a great lunch while all the kids are home. You’ve definitely taken tuna melts to the next level
Taryn Solie
Thank you!