Your Tuna Melt Is Begging For A Spicy Upgrade

Creamy tuna salad, sharp cheddar cheese, and, sometimes, leafy lettuce or sliced tomatoes piled between two slices of toasted bread make a classic tuna melt. The sandwich might be one of the more popular mainstay offerings at delis, diners, and sandwich shops across the country with countless ingredient upgrades. For example, you can mix celery and onion into tuna salad itself for crunch or add pickled vegetables to your tuna melt for tangy bites — but what about an element of spice?

If you're someone who puts a dash or two of hot sauce on every meal, then it's a no-brainer to give your next tuna melt a spicy upgrade from the start. There are an array of ingredients to add as toppings to the sandwich for a kick of heat in each bite. Start with pickled jalapeños or banana peppers to give a tangy and spicy element to your tuna melt. Or use freshly-sliced jalapeños for more of a kick by adding them with the cheese then melting the two ingredients together. Another easy way to spice up a tuna melt is to swap the cheddar with pepper jack cheese.

While adding a spicy element to your sandwich, you can introduce more layers of flavor at the same time. To start, make your tuna salad with chipotle mayo to infuse every bite with some heat. Or mix the tuna with other spicy ingredients like chopped jalapeño peppers, chopped Calabrian peppers or paste, a squirt of Sriracha, a dash of hot sauce, or some chili peppers in adobo sauce for smokiness. You can also keep it easy with spices like cayenne pepper, chili powder, or red chili flakes in the tuna salad mixture.

Make your tuna salad with some of those additions to meet your spice tolerance, pile it onto your favorite type of bread with those spicy toppings mentioned earlier, and you have a sandwich fit for any fan of spicy foods. If you don't already have a go-to recipe to start with, add spice to Tasting Table's simple yet refined tuna sandwich recipe. Or to switch it up more, upgrade our tuna melt panini recipe by swapping the roasted red bell peppers with one of our spicier ingredient suggestions. And consider having a glass of water nearby just in case you overdid the heat levels.