The Japanese Ingredient You Need To Give Tuna Salad A Major Flavor Boost

If you want to elevate your tuna salad, add miso — a Japanese fermented soybean paste made by combining soybeans, koji, and salt. Koji is a magical mold grown on soybeans, rice, or barley that allows fermentation. It essentially turns soybean paste into miso, much like yeast turns grape juice into wine.

Miso is categorized by the type of koji, color (white, yellow, red), and saltiness. The more koji, the sweeter the miso. And the longer the fermentation, the deeper the flavor and color. The best thing about miso is its complexity. Not only does it contain all four basic tastes — sweet, sour, bitter, and salty — but it also has the fifth taste, umami, which adds depth and savoriness to your tuna salad.

A great type of miso for tuna salad is shiro, or white miso, a mild paste made with rice koji. It's readily available, provides a light sweetness, and doesn't overpower your tuna salad. Plus, there's a beautiful flavor explosion when you combine miso with anything from the sea.

To elevate your tuna salad, start by making miso mayonnaise. The general consensus is to add two tablespoons of miso to one cup of your favorite mayo (we think Kewpie is the best mayo for tuna salad), but feel free to adjust to taste. Now, mix ¼ cup of your miso mayo with one can of tuna of your choice (check out our recommendations for the top canned tuna brands to buy if you need help choosing). There you have it — an extremely simple, rich, and luxurious tuna salad that takes less than five minutes to prepare.

If you want to jazz it up, add thin ribbons of roasted seaweed right before serving to maintain the crunch. You could also try black pepper, cubed cucumber, red onion, sesame seeds, thinly sliced green onions, or a drizzle of sesame oil with a touch of black lava salt to finish. You can serve your tuna salad on sourdough bread, a potato bun, cucumber rounds, or seeded crackers — or, add a scoop on top of a fresh salad.

For a fresh-style tuna salad, whisk miso into your dressing and drizzle over seared tuna, or mix miso into your soy sauce and serve on the side. You could even add a dollop of miso mayo on a grilled salt and pepper tuna steak served with a side salad for a dinner treat. Regardless of how you make your miso tuna salad, it will be a hit.