9 Tasty Tuna Steak Recipes
There are many kinds of fish cuts, but none are quite like tuna steak. This lean cut stems from the fish's loin, with a meaty texture and an attractive, bright red color. Similar to a beef steak, the cut is best enjoyed uncooked on the inside — otherwise, it turns to a canned tuna consistency.
As a result, most tuna steak recipes keep it simple, infusing a few flavors and then throwing the fish onto direct heat or even serving raw. Such straightforward preparations make it a great candidate for a weeknight meal. Tuna steak dishes taste special without much culinary fuss.
It's important to know how to select the best tuna steak before starting to cook. Since most recipes barely cook the steak, the quality of the fish is critical. Often, it's warranted to get the sashimi grade, not just for flavor but also for safety. With some careful shopping, you'll be ready to craft a range of delicious tuna dishes.
Simple Seared Ahi Tuna
In a pan with hot oil, tuna steak will develop a delectable crust while the interior remains tender, pink, and almost sashimi-like. To infuse flavors into such a cooking method, turn to a marinade.
This recipe, developed by Michelle McGlinn, integrates delicious Asian flavors. The tuna soaks in a blend of soy sauce and sesame oil and is mixed with aromatics like cilantro, jalapeño, ginger, and shallots. The flavors mingle and absorb into the fish, necessitating only a few minutes of cooking time.
Recipe: Simple Seared Ahi Tuna
Ahi Tuna Poke Bowl
Hailing from Hawaii, poke bowls are a traditional and delicious format for enjoying tuna. Plus, they're deceivingly easy to make — you won't need to hit up the best Poke restaurants in the U.S. for a mouthwatering rendition.
The main effort comes in finding sushi-grade ahi tuna. Recipe developer Christina Musgrave recommends checking your local Aldi for their frozen fillet. The rest of the bowl toppings are easy to find: jalapeño, red onion, sushi rice, and cucumbers. Cubed tuna is marinated for only 15 minutes in a three-ingredient mixture, then it all comes together atop the cooked rice.
Recipe: Ahi Tuna Poke Bowl
Ahi (Yellowfin) Tuna Crudo
For another take on raw tuna steak, turn to crudo. This recipe comes together fuss-free, necessitating only a bit of knife work. The fish is chopped into larger pieces and topped with cucumber slices and sesame seeds. Next, a ponzu and sesame oil sauce is drizzled on top, and the recipe is complete.
This dish evinces the difference between crudo and sashimi with a more easy-going assembly and ingredient garnish than the Japanese technique. It's all thanks to recipe developer Taylor Murray, who shared this easy-to-make delight.
Sesame-Crusted Tuna Steak
Filleted tuna is called a steak, so feel free to prepare and serve it as one. This recipe, made by Christina Musgrave, adds a textural component into the mix by encrusting the tuna in sesame seeds. The steaks are pan-fried whole, needing only a minute per side. The result is rare on the inside with the beautiful interior red color revealed after slicing.
For a dash of added flavor, the tuna takes a quick dip in a sesame oil and soy sauce mixture. However, with all of the steps included, the entire cooking process takes only 15 minutes.
Recipe: Sesame-Crusted Tuna Steak Recipe
Tuna Tartare Stacks With Wasabi Shishitos
In a classic steak tartare, beef is chopped up and served raw — and the technique readily translates to tuna. For this recipe, developer Michelle McGlinn takes components fit for a poke bowl but assembles them in an aesthetic stacked form.
The fish is cubed and marinated in aromatics, while flavorful shishito peppers are blistered in a pan and dressed with lemon, wasabi, and soy. Fluffy white rice serves as a base for the stacks. Then, soft avocado goes on the bottom layer, with the fish next and the pepper on top. When stacked carefully, the presentation turns heads.
Dry-Rub Grilled Spicy Tuna
Tuna is one of the only fish you should prepare raw at home but, even still, sometimes it's best to play it safe. So, while most tuna steak dishes keep the fish interior raw, there are delicious ways to cook it thoroughly too. The secret, described by Ksenia Prints, is to treat the fish like a cut of beef.
So, cover the tuna with a dry rub made from an aromatic mix of spices, brown sugar, salt, and spicy pepper. Then, cook to beautiful completion on an outdoor grill or an indoor grill pan.
Recipe: Dry-Rub Grilled Spicy Tuna
Baked Tuna Steak With Sesame-Miso Glaze
While most tuna steak recipes rely on a hot flame to create an exterior crust, the fish can also be cooked in the oven. Taylor Murray's recipe draws inspiration from Nobu's miso-glazed black cod.
A simple yet effective glaze of miso, sesame oil, and mirin covers the tuna before a 15-minute bake in the oven. The result is loaded with umami and notes of sugar and salt, with a surprisingly tender baked texture. Serve the tuna steak with a plate of sushi rice and a napa cabbage salad.
Chili Lime Tuna Steaks
Tuna steaks and marinades go hand-in-hand — the fish absorb aromatics with ease. In this recipe by Jennine Rye, the tuna is rested in a fragrant mix of ingredients, including lime, soy sauce, red chili, lemongrass, garlic, cilantro, and galangal paste. While it'll take some effort to get all of the components together, the marination time caps at only twenty minutes, or else the fish starts cooking in the acid.
Then, it's on to one of the best ways to cook tuna steak without it drying out: a hot griddle. Only a couple minutes on each side, and a delicious seared fillet emerges.
Recipe: Chili Lime Tuna Steaks
Grilled Teriyaki Tuna And Mushroom Skewers
Although delicious when cooked whole, tuna steak makes for a delightful skewer filling too. This dish, adapted from Scott Schroeder and Pat O'Malley of Hungry Pigeon in Philadelphia, juxtaposes the texture of shiitake mushrooms with the tuna.
The skewers are glazed with a homemade teriyaki sauce to tie all of the components together. For an extra flourish, the teriyaki sauce's standard trio of ingredients is expanded with grated orange zest, garlic, and ginger. It's a reinvented take on a classic flavor combination.