Tuna Melt on Sourdough | Easy Sourdough Tuna Melt Recipe
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Tuna Melt on Sourdough
Creamy, savory tuna salad topped with plenty of gooey melted cheese and tucked between crispy golden sourdough. The classic tuna melt just got a serious bread upgrade.
A tuna melt is what happens when a tuna salad sandwich decides it would like to become comfort food.
Creamy tuna, crisp celery, a little Dijon, melted cheese, and golden toasted sourdough come together in a sandwich that is warm, savory, cheesy, and wildly more satisfying than the ingredient list has any right to be.
The sourdough is especially important here. It brings enough tang to cut through the creamy tuna and melted cheese, plus enough structure to keep the whole sandwich crisp instead of turning into a warm, floppy situation.
🐟 Tuna Melt on Sourdough
Creamy tuna salad, melted cheese, and crispy golden sourdough.
🥪 Ingredients
- 4 thick slices sourdough bread
- 2 cans tuna, 5 ounces each, well drained
- 1/3 cup mayonnaise
- 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
- 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
- 1 celery stalk, finely diced
- 2 tablespoons finely chopped red onion
- 1 tablespoon chopped dill pickles or relish, optional
- 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt, or to taste
- 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 4 slices sharp cheddar, Swiss, or provolone cheese
- 1 1/2 tablespoons softened butter for the bread
- 4 thin tomato slices, optional
🔥 How to Make It
-
Drain the tuna well.
Press out as much excess liquid as possible. This matters more than it sounds unless your goal is a tuna melt with a damp basement. -
Make the tuna salad.
In a bowl, combine the tuna, mayonnaise, Dijon, lemon juice, celery, red onion, pickles or relish if using, garlic powder, salt, and black pepper. -
Taste and adjust.
Add a little more lemon, Dijon, salt, or pepper if needed. The tuna should taste good before cheese gets involved. -
Butter the sourdough.
Spread softened butter over one side of each slice of bread, reaching all the way to the edges. -
Build the sandwiches.
Place two slices of bread butter-side down. Add a slice of cheese, divide the tuna salad between them, add tomato if using, then top with another slice of cheese. -
Close the sandwiches.
Add the remaining sourdough slices with the buttered sides facing out. -
Cook low and slow.
Heat a skillet over medium-low heat and cook the sandwiches for about 3–5 minutes per side until the bread is deeply golden and the cheese is melted. -
Finish the melt.
If the bread is perfectly toasted before the cheese has fully melted, cover the skillet for 30–60 seconds. Then rest for a minute, slice, and serve.
🐟 Drain the Tuna Like You Mean It
Excess moisture is the enemy of a crisp tuna melt.
Drain the tuna thoroughly before mixing it with mayonnaise. If your tuna salad starts wet, no amount of heroic sourdough is going to completely save the bottom slice.
Creamy is good. Watery is a different recipe.
🍞 Why Sourdough Makes a Better Tuna Melt
Tuna salad and melted cheese are both rich and soft, which means the bread needs to bring some contrast.
Sourdough gives you a crisp crust, chewy center, and enough tang to balance the mayonnaise and cheese.
It also holds up beautifully in the skillet, making it possible to get a properly golden exterior while keeping the middle creamy and melty.
This is one of those sandwiches where the bread is absolutely not a supporting character.
🏆 Four Ways to Make It Better
🧀 Use Cheese on Both Sides
Cheese underneath and over the tuna helps hold the filling together while giving you more melt in every bite.
🔥 Keep the Heat Moderate
Medium-low heat gives the cheese time to melt before the sourdough gets too dark.
🥬 Add Real Crunch
Finely diced celery and red onion make the tuna salad much more interesting than a bowl of uninterrupted creaminess.
🍋 Add a Little Acid
Lemon juice and Dijon brighten the tuna and keep the sandwich from feeling too heavy.
🤤 Tuna Melt Variations
The basic tuna-and-cheese combination gives you plenty of room to make the sandwich your own.
- Add sliced tomato
- Add dill pickles or pickle relish
- Use pepper jack for a spicy tuna melt
- Swap cheddar for Swiss or provolone
- Add sliced jalapeños
- Add chopped fresh dill
- Add a thin layer of avocado
- Add a little hot sauce to the tuna salad
🐿️ Squirrelly Girl Warning
The first half of a tuna melt is usually eaten like a civilized person.
By the second half, melted cheese is stretching across the plate, tuna is trying to escape, and nobody remembers why napkins were optional.
🥪 Keep Exploring the Squirrelly Girl Sandwich Series
If warm, melty sandwiches on toasted sourdough are your thing, these belong next on the list.
Crispy golden sourdough loaded with perfectly melted cheese. 🧄 Garlic Parmesan Sourdough Grilled Cheese
Garlic-buttered sourdough, Parmesan, and an outrageous amount of gooey cheese. 🐔 Chicken Salad Sourdough Sandwich
Creamy chicken salad, crisp celery, fresh toppings, and toasted sourdough. 🥪 Explore the Entire Squirrelly Girl Sandwich Series
Browse all our sourdough sandwich recipes and find your next lunch obsession.
🐿️ Want to Make the Sourdough Too?
A tuna melt needs bread with enough flavor, crunch, and backbone to handle all that creamy filling and melted cheese. Start baking your own with Squirrelly Girl Sourdough Starter.
Meet Squirrelly Girl Starter →