Ditch The Bread And Use Sweet Potato Slices For Richer Tuna Melts

Tuna melts are an ideal way to enjoy warm, delicious comfort food in sandwich form. Between the butter, mayo, and cheese, you're likely looking for a rich option if you're seeking out this dish for lunch. While tuna melts are plenty cozy on their own, there's a way to make them even more satisfying: Swap out the bread for sweet potato.

Nutritionally, there are a few advantages to making this substitution, as sweet potatoes are high in fiber, antioxidants, and vitamin C. But, aside from these benefits, you'll also get all the new flavors and textures that these spuds bring to the mix. Once cooked, sweet potatoes are soft and creamy, so they'll make for a richer tuna melt than if you used a crusty bread. They'll also contribute their signature sweetness, along with earthy notes that pair well with the veggies and herbs in your tuna salad topping. You can slice these sandwiches up two ways — one is to cut your roasted spuds in half, scooping out a little of the insides and inserting your tuna salad and cheese in between. Or, you can slice the potatoes into thin rounds and make open-faced melts that can work as lunch, an appetizer, or a tasty snack.

As you can probably imagine, the process for making sweet potato tuna melts is a bit different than making the regular sandwiches. If you're going with the finger food option, you'll first want to slice your spuds into fairly thin rounds as if you're making sweet potato toast. If yours are a little hard to cut into, feel free to poke them all over with a fork and microwave them for 30 seconds first, which should make inserting your knife a little easier. Then, you'll want to spray or brush them with oil, sprinkle a little salt and pepper on top, and roast them until they're tender on the inside — which shouldn't take more than 20 minutes in an oven set to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.

In the meantime, you can prepare your tuna salad. Since you'll have extra sweetness from the spuds, feel free to make your salad as vinegary as you'd like, possibly leaving out sweet ingredients like cranberries or diced apples. Once your rounds are ready, spread a dollop of the mixture on top of each, followed by a small slice of tomato and cheese. Cheddar is a classic here, but you can also go with easily meltable options like American, provolone, or mozzarella. Broil everything until the cheese gets gooey, keeping an eye on it to make sure it doesn't burn. Finally, enjoy your new bite-size snack.