Crispy Tuna Cakes

I plan to add a beaten egg or two to bind the mixture, then I’ll chill it in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes before frying. Not surprised about your caveat that they’re delicate—but adding egg and chilling the mixture should make them considerably less prone to breaking.

Try this: When making these or crab cakes, use a small size biscuit cutter and pack the mix into it to the top. Put some panko on a plate, put the biscuit cutter on the panko, fill with fish mix, pat panko on top. This makes a pattie that is firm and holds its shape. They will be super crispy on the outside.

I keep a bag of powdered buttermilk on my pantry shelf: "Bob's Red Mill Sweet Cream Buttermilk Powder." Just mix with milk. If I have plain yoghurt, I sometimes use that.

If I’m reading the NYTimes correctly, and one never knows, I understand that I’m to eat THE MEDITERRANEAN DIET!!! Which drew me to this recipe. You gotta like canned tuna and dill to like this but luckily I do. I used my hands to mash the tuna mixture. It wasn’t dry for me but I did dip the patties into a beaten egg before frying and as frying I topped with more breadcrumbs for crunch. The sauce was delicious. Plenty of salt needed all around to pop the flavors.

Made last night, stuck with the recipe apart from subbing parsley for dill and adding a few hot pepper flakes. Used hands to bring the mix together and chilled for 3 hours. Cakes were NOT dry, did NOT fall apart so I suggest making from original before adding eggs. Excellent pantry dinner. Served with sweet potato air fries and blistered green beans. Dressing served as sauce for the cakes. Made as mini cakes will be excellent with tartar sauce as part of tapas spread.

Parsley and lemon!

I did add the egg, plus substituted one can crab meat for one can tuna! Delicious! Made spicy cocktail sauce and tartare sauce to go with it.

I made this tonight and it was very flavorful indeed. The buttermilk dressing was perfect and I look forward to using the leftovers. I used 1 egg to bind per the comments but I think next time I would use 2. I also used panko crumbs and parsley plus a little dill as I ran out of dill from preparing the dressing first. Mashing the beans completely is also key to help bind the ingredients. I added Mama Lil’s peppers on the salad as a topping and that was a hit.

Carol - modern store bought buttermilk is just a type of cultured milk, as is yogurt. If you have any type of yogurt on hand, you can use it. If it's greek or skyr, just water or "milk" it back. There's generally enough acid in there to still perform the same task.

We made the tuna cakes only and sauteed zucchini instead of the dressing a iceberg. The tuna cakes will be our new go-to for tuna.

Try some fresh chopped parsley; I always combine parsley and tuna. Maybe a little onion powder, too.

I would go with tarragon, and use much less due to the licoricey flavour, which can be overpowering

Delicious! Made no modifications and had no problem forming patties or keeping them intact. We did really enjoy the dressing—olives and buttermilk make for a zesty tang and as a dill lover, I was a happy consumer. Definitely going to be a repeater recipe.

Loved these. It was tricky squashing the beans but I used my hands and then a fork and got it done. I didn’t find the patties to be very delicate but I did chill them in the freezer for half an hour first and then cooked them slowly in a cast iron pan. Especially loved the dill and lemon. I could eat these every day.

This sounds great except for one thing: my family absolutely hates dill! Anyone out there have any substitutes? I suppose I could just leave it out?