These Chipotle Tuna Salad Stuffed Avocados are loaded with flavor and nutrients, and they only take five minutes to prepare! Paleo and/or Whole30-compliant mayo keeps this recipe Paleo and Whole30-friendly as well as low-carb, keto, gluten-free, dairy-free and grain-free. It's the perfect summer lunch or light dinner!
Stuffed avocados might be the next best thing to sliced bread. You can stuff them with anything from brisket for dinner or chicken salad for lunch to an egg for breakfast. Stuffed avocados are super satisfying, packed full of nutrients and so incredibly versatile. Depending on what you stuff in an avocado, they can go beyond grain-free and gluten-free to become a complete vegan, Paleo, Whole30, AIP, low-carb or keto-friendly meal. Do you see why I say stuffed avocados might be the next best thing to sliced bread?! And out of all of the recipes out there, this recipe for Chipotle Tuna Salad Stuffed Avocados might be one of the best. The chipotle peppers shine in this recipe with tons of flavor and just enough spice. It's so good!
This recipe is the best kind of good because it's also super easy. Chipotle powder instead of canned chipotle peppers in adobo means you won't need your blender to puree anything. Instead, you just mix all of the ingredients together, slice the avocados, and five minutes later, you have a delicious lunch or light dinner!
But wait! Doesn't tuna contain a lot of mercury? I'm one step ahead of you. Some tuna contains a whole lot of mercury, but there are choices you can make that drastically reduce the amount of mercury. So keep reading to learn how to choose the best tuna and most importantly, how to make this easy, nutritious and incredibly flavorful recipe for Chipotle Tuna Salad Stuffed Avocados!
Mmmmmm...don't those look delicious? They are, and they're also really good for you!
Health Benefits & Nutrition Information
I've mentioned in previous posts that avocados are sometimes classified as "superfoods". When you look at the number of nutrients in avocados, you can understand why! Avocados provide protein, fiber and healthy fat, all of which keep your blood sugar balanced and help you feel full. The fat in avocados is primarily monounsaturated fat, the same type found in olive oil, and research has shown that it's great for keeping your heart healthy and inflammation under control. But that's not all. Avocados are also a great source of B-vitamins, vitamin K, and the antioxidant vitamins C and E. (source)
Tuna has gotten a bad reputation due to the amount of mercury it can have. But not all tuna contains concerning amounts of mercury. More on that in the next section. For now, let's not throw the baby out with the bath water. Tuna is a an inexpensive source of protein that provides a lot of nutrients, such as heart-healthy omega-3 fats and iodine, which is needed for the production of thyroid hormones. Tuna is also a great source of B-vitamins, especially B3 (niacin), B6 and B12. Those B-vitamins are used all over the body for things like detoxification, keeping the skin and nerves healthy, turning food into energy and making neurotransmitters that regulate mood. Most impressive, however, is the amount of selenium found in tuna in a form (selenoneine) that may bind to mercury and protect against the damage mercury could otherwise cause. (source)
Even the mayo that I recommend in this recipe is healthy since both options are made with heart-healthy avocado oil!
With plenty of nutrients, protein, healthy fat and fiber from the avocado, these easy Chipotle Tuna Salad Stuffed Avocados will leave you feeling satisfied and nourished!
Tips, Tricks & Tools
This recipe is super easy to make, but there are a few tricks that can make sourcing the ingredients and preparing them even easier.
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Avocados: Choosing & Serving
The first and probably most important trick you need to know to make this recipe is how to choose a ripe avocado. I'll give you a hint: steer clear of the green ones, they're usually not ripe and hard as a rock. You actually want avocados that look almost black because turning a dark color is what avocados do when they ripen. They also start to soften. You know a ripe avocado when it gives a little. It shouldn't be squishy, though, and it certainly shouldn't have dents in the top near the stem. This video does a great job of explaining how to choose avocados that are perfectly ripe.
All this talk about a perfectly ripe avocado is a great segway into my next tip, which is that you have two choices when serving these Chipotle Tuna Salad Stuffed Avocados: leave them in the skin, or scoop each half out of the skin so dark spots can be detected and removed before serving. I prefer the latter option, but the choice is yours.
How to Choose Tuna with Less Mercury...or Use Canned Salmon
Tuna is an inexpensive source of protein, but it can contain large amounts of mercury. Thankfully, there are stores you can shop at and types of tuna you can buy that can help you choose tuna with three times less mercury.
Natural Grocers is my favorite place to buy canned tuna because they only sell tuna from fish that are caught with a line and pole. That means smaller fish, and smaller fish contain less mercury. That is the first way to choose canned tuna with less mercury: buy tuna from fish that is line caught.
The second secret to choosing tuna with significantly less mercury is avoiding albacore tuna and choosing smaller varieties of tuna instead, such as skipjack, tongol, or chunk light (which is made from skipjack or tongol). These varieties are smaller and younger than albacore tuna fish, which means almost three times less mercury than the amount found in albacore tuna!
Still scared of consuming canned tuna? This recipe can also be made with canned skinless and boneless salmon, so you can still enjoy these delicious stuffed avocados!
Mayo that is Paleo and/or Whole30 Friendly
The mayo you choose to make this recipe will determine whether or not it's Paleo or Whole30 friendly. Primal Kitchen Avocado Oil Mayo is the only mayo available in stores that's Whole30-friendly since it's short list of ingredients does not include any type of sweetener. If Paleo is all you need, you can choose Primal Kitchen Mayo or Chosen Foods Avocado Oil Mayo, which is made with honey.
Easy Chipotle Tuna Salad Stuffed Avocados
These Chipotle Tuna Salad Stuffed Avocados are easy to make, nutritious, incredibly flavorful and friendly to special diets because they're gluten-free, grain-free, dairy-free, low-carb, keto, Paleo and Whole30 compliant. If you want to know how to make them, check out the recipe below!
Chipotle Tuna Salad Stuffed Avocados
These Chipotle Tuna Salad Stuffed Avocados are loaded with flavor and nutrients, and they only take five minutes to prepare! Paleo and/or Whole30-compliant mayo keeps this recipe Paleo and Whole30-friendly as well as low-carb, keto, gluten-free, dairy-free and grain-free. It's the perfect summer lunch or light dinner!
Ingredients
- 1 large avocado
- 1 can skipjack or tongol tuna in water, drained
- 2 Tbsp mayo (use Primal Kitchen or Chosen Foods Avocado Oil Mayo)
- 2 tsp lime juice
- 1 tsp chipotle powder
- ½ tsp garlic salt
- 2 Tbsp scallions, slivered
- 2 Tbsp fresh cilantro, chopped
Instructions
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Mix the tuna, mayo, lime juice, chipotle powder and garlic salt in a bowl.
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Cut the avocado in half and remove the seed. Scoop each half out so any dark spots can be removed, or leave in the skin. Sprinkle very lightly with salt, if desired.
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Fill each half avocado with half of the tuna salad. For four smaller portions, split the tuna salad into four, cut another avocado in half and top with tuna salad.
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Garnish with slivered scallions and fresh cilantro and serve.
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