Tuna Stuffed Jalapenos
Spicy and Oh. So. Delicious. These tuna stuffed jalapenos are a scrumptious and healthy appetizer made with canned tuna!
During my early years in Sri Lanka, my mom used to make a delicious version of stuffed and fried capsicum chili peppers.
While the traditional Sri Lankan version of this dish involved Maldive fish, my mom would often use tuna. The spice of the chilies, with the creamy tuna stuffing, and the crunchy fried dough exterior, was such a treat for my young tastebuds!
These Tuna Stuffed Jalapenos are my attempt at replicating my mom’s stuffed and fried capsicum chili peppers. Like my mom, I used a mixture of canned tuna (in water and not oil) and potatoes for the stuffing, but, I left the potatoes and tuna chunkier.
Also, instead of breading them and frying them, I partially coated them with almond meal and baked them. And, then I had my mom taste-test them… and.. she deemed them blog-worthy!
These do have a bit of a kick to them as I didn’t completely scrape all the seeds out of the jalapenos, but, that didn’t stop my daughter from standing over the sink and wolfing down 3 in a row!
Canned tuna (as well as other canned seafood), are a convenient, affordable, nutritious and delicious way to make sure we get our minimum seafood servings in for the week.
Ingredients
- 2 teaspoons olive oil
- 1/2 onion finely chopped
- 2 cloves garlic chopped
- 1 can Bumble Bee® Solid White Albacore Tuna in Water
- 1/4 large baking potato cut into small cubes or 1 small yellow or red one
- 1/4 teaspoon cumin
- 1/4 + 1/4 teaspoon paprika
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 egg white
- 1/4 cup almond meal
- 6 large jalapenos
- 1 teaspoon parsley for garnish
- a teaspoon of chopped jalapeno for garnish
Instructions
- Pre-heat oven to 360.
- Wash the jalapenos and slice a part off vertically – from top stem to bottom tip
- For this next step, you might want to wear gloves or be very careful
- Scoop out the jalapeno seeds with a small knife – take them all out if you don’t want these spicy. And, if you want them with a little kick, leave some in
- Set jalapeno "boats" aside.
- Pour olive oil in a pan and when heated, add in the onion and garlic
- Saute till garlic is translucent (about 10 minutes)
- Add in tuna and cubed potato
- Toss in 1/4 teaspoon paprika (save the other 1/4 teaspoon of it)
- Then toss in the cumin and salt and saute a couple of minutes
- Spoon tuna mixture into jalapeno "boats"
- In a bowl, add the egg white and 1/4 teaspoon paprika and beat well
- Dip the bottoms of the jalapeno "boats" into the egg white
- In yet another bowl add the almond meal
- And dip the jalapeno bottoms in the almond meal
- Bake for 15-20 minutes
- Garnish with parsley and chopped jalapenos
- Enjoy them warm
I love jalepenos especially when they’re stuffed, but have never considered stuffing them with tuna. Yum!
First off, Sri Lanka is totally on my travel bucket list (esp. when I read about all the local recipes on your blog 🙂 Such a clever twist on the traditional pepper poppers
I make a recipe with tuna at least once a week—- I can’t wait to try this recipe because a. it brings the heat [which I love] and b. it will be the perfect app for our summer BBQ this weekend!
I love how you got your mum to taste-test these! She is so lucky I would easily change places! Lynne tastes all my food, it doesn’t get published on the blog until she’s happy, lol. What a great job your mum and Lynne have! 🙂
What an awesome way to stuff jalapenos! We are big tuna fans!
Great idea! We get a nice harvest of zucchini each year and it’s awesome to see new ways to make them fun. These look DELISH!
Dude! I love everything about this post, Shashi! I’ve never thought about stuffing jalapenos with tuna, but it sounds incredible. It’s like a tuna salad sandwich minus the bread. Leave it to you to replace bread with jalapenos! 🙂 Seriously, though, these sound incredible. I kinda wish I had some for breakfast this morning!
What a fun recipe! I like spicy food and the flavors in this recipe are calling my name!!
I had no idea that seafood consumption was at its lowest. I guess it may be due to the increase of vegetarian and vegan in general ?
I love the kick the seeds give..Painful, but good 🙂
I’m so sad seafood is at a low. We need to change that! it’s the best,and this recipe just screams perfection. Especially for my husband. YUM! he loves jalapenos
Normally jalapenos are stuffed with cheese, but I am loving that these are protein-stuffed!
I love that you recreated a favorite–mom recipes are the best. I also love tuna soooo these sound absolutely delicious!
Bumble Bee Tuna is one of my faves!!! your mom’s recipe sounds fabulous but I LOVE your stuffed jalapenos!!! Delicious!!!!
I’d definitely stand by your daughter and eat them. what a creative way to utilize tuna 🙂
Shashi – these look SO delicious! I hope you win the contest. It is certainly an original recipe and mom approved! 🙂
I love EVERYTHING about these stuffed jalapenos!