There is a special place in hell for someone who makes their colleagues sample 19 different cans of tuna in a single sitting. That someone is…me! But I promise it was all in the name of science, because how else would we determine for you which brands of canned tuna are worth buying?
In our most recent taste test, we pulled together 19 brands of canned tuna you’re likely to find in your local supermarket and very thoughtfully tasted each to find the very best one. To be of the most service to our readers, we tasted both canned tuna in water and canned tuna in oil—we’ve split up the rankings below so you can refer to whichever category you prefer to eat. After tasting many, many spoonfuls of canned tuna on their own and/or on top of a cracker (and possibly exceeding our mercury quota for the year), we’ve determined the best can of tuna you should purchase and cook with.
Serious Eats / Amanda Suarez
The Contenders: Tuna in Oil
- Trader Joe’s Solid Light Yellowfish Tuna in Olive Oil
- Ortiz White Tuna in Olive Oil
- As Do Mar Tuna in Olive Oil
- Bumble Bee Prime Tonno in Olive Oil
- Tonnino Yellowfin Tuna Solid Pack in Olive Oil
- Genova Premium Albacore Tuna in Olive Oil
- Callipo Oro Light Tuna in Olive Oil
- Trader Joe’s Albacore Tuna in Olive Oil
- 365 by Whole Foods Canned Wild Tuna, Albacore in Extra-Virgin Olive Oil*
- Cento Tuna in Olive Oil*
Serious Eats / Amanda Suarez
The Contenders: Tuna in Water
- Trader Joe’s Solid White Albacore Tuna in Water
- Blue Harbor Fish Co. Wild Albacore Solid White Tuna in Water*
- Tonnino Tuna Fillets in Spring Water*
- Chicken of the Sea Solid White Albacore Tuna in Water
- Good&Gather Chunk Light Tuna in Water
- Nature’s Promise Chunk Light Tuna in Water*
- Starkist Chunk Light Tuna in Water
- 365 by Whole Foods Albacore Tuna in Water*
- Bumble Bee Solid White Albacore Tuna in Water
*This tuna is Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certified, which means the fish is wild-caught.
Serious Eats / Amanda Suarez
The Criteria
Great canned tuna should taste like tuna (and not like cat food, but more on that in a sec). The very best ones should even be appealing enough to eat on their own. And, of course, the can you choose should be delicious and moist enough for you to want to incorporate it into your sandwiches, salads, and pasta without fear of its fishiness overpowering your entire meal.
Oil-packed tuna should have just enough oil to glisten, but not enough to leave a film of grease in your mouth. It should have a balanced flavor of fish and oil—with neither overpowering the other. The tuna should taste and feel rich, and have subtle fruity, peppery notes from the olive oil.
Tuna in water, on the other hand, should be pleasantly moist without, in the words of a taster, “swimming in the water.” It should not be bland or dry, and though it should be well-seasoned, it should also be neutral enough to incorporate into your cooking. It should not be mushy and practically disintegrating.
Regardless of whether tuna is oil-packed or water-packed, it should be sturdy enough to toss into a salad but also delicate enough to flake apart gently when prodded with a fork. It should not be dry, nor should it be mushy. And, most importantly, it should not taste like the tin it came from. (People often joke that canned tuna tastes like chicken, but we’d much prefer it if it tasted like actual fish instead of poultry.)
For our taste test, I emptied all the cans into bowls and allowed editors to eat the unidentified tuna on its own or with a cracker. I had them evaluate each one based on its flavor, chunk or texture, and how oily or watery it was depending on its category. I asked each to pay close attention to whether the tuna tasted tinny, bland, or fishy. Spoiler alert: Tuna in oil fared much better overall than tuna in water. Our editors generally preferred well-salted, flavorful tuna that had just enough oil or water to prevent it from being dry. Nobody liked ultra-soft tuna that was practically dissolving into the oil or water, and instead preferred tuna with large, meaty flakes.
Serious Eats / Amanda Suarez
The Rankings: Tuna in Oil
Tonnino Yellowfin Tuna Solid Pack in Olive Oil, 4.16/5
This was our editorial director Daniel Gritzer’s favorite; he thought the tuna was delicious and had good seasoning, as well as a nice olive oil flavor. “Wow, this is good,” he wrote. “Generous amount of oil here and I’m not mad about it.” He also made note of the tuna’s “beautiful large, graceful flakes.”
Ortiz White Tuna in Olive Oil, 3.7/5
Megan, our associate editorial director, appreciated the large chunks and described this as “a very satisfying tuna.” Everyone made a note of the pleasantly salty flavor; our associate visuals director Amanda Suarez thought this was the ideal amount of oil she’d want in oil-packed tuna, and while Megan did detect the slightest tinny aftertaste, she still gave it full marks for flavor.
As Do Mar Tuna in Olive Oil, 3.41/5
This tuna was chunky and meaty and had what Amanda described as “an appropriate amount of oil.” Daniel said he’d be “perfectly content” with this, while Amanda enthusiastically exclaimed: “This is nice!”
Trader Joe’s Albacore Tuna in Olive Oil, 3.25/5
I once again wonder: Are we all tasting the same sample? Some tasters found this dry, bland, and mushy, and yet…someone still thought it had “nice fish flavor” and “nice big chunks” and gave it a high enough score to bring this to fourth place.
Genova Premium Albacore Tuna in Olive Oil, 3.1/5
“This tastes like the tuna from my childhood,” Amanda raved. Megan thought this had a pleasant “nutty quality,” which isn’t something you typically hear about tuna. The aftertaste, however, was purely that of a can. Others noted it was a little on the salty side and a little dry despite the presence of oil, but “overall pleasant.”
Callipo Oro Light Tuna in Olive Oil, 3/5
A taster thought this was a little too shredded and mushy, but still liked it regardless. Everyone thought it was a touch too salty and would have appreciated larger chunks.
Serious Eats / Amanda Suarez
Trader Joe’s Solid Light Yellowfin Tuna in Olive Oil, 2.9/5
A truly middle-of-the-road pick: an enjoyable, if slightly odd, combination of big and small pieces with a low-to-moderate amount of oil. “This is nice and neutral,” said Amanda. “Maybe too neutral.”
Bumble Bee Prime Tonno in Olive Oil, 2.83/5
Despite its small flakes, this didn’t come across as too dry. Someone did, however, find its flavor “very weird and fruity,” so much so that it overpowered the tuna. Amanda thought it tasted like a funky, fancy infused olive oil. As for Daniel? “I don’t hate it.”
365 by Whole Foods Canned Wild Tuna, Albacore in Extra-Virgin Olive Oil, 2.6/5
Every single person thought this tasted more like olive oil than tuna. Despite the prominent flavor of oil, it still seemed to lack actual oil, making the fish dry and unpleasant to eat.
The Rankings: Tuna in Water
Tonnino Tuna Fillets in Spring Water, 3.1/5
Testers loved the chunky texture of Tonnino’s tuna and thought it had the “correct” level of wetness, though no one could agree on whether the amount of salt here was right. Some thought it had good seasoning, while others found it “very salty with an acidic undertone” and “fishy tasting in a negative way.”
Blue Harbor Fish Co. Wild Albacore Solid White Tuna in Water, 3.1/5
Amanda thought this tasted like chicken. In a similar vein, Daniel commented that this was “mild” and had “good tuna flavor without any strong characteristics.” It had distinct flakes and was a little dry, but it wasn’t anything a little mayonnaise couldn’t fix.
Serious Eats / Amanda Suarez
Nature’s Promise, 3.1/5
Funky! Tinny! Salty! Acidic! Daniel thought this had a “very nice tuna flavor” despite the metallic note. Medium chunk with a yellowish tinge, which, understandably, was not very appealing to our testers.
365 by Whole Foods Albacore Tuna in Water, 3.1/5
We got big chunks here, but they were a little dry. “Not very exciting,” said a tester, which honestly…isn’t a bad thing for canned tuna?
Chicken of the Sea Solid White Albacore Tuna in Water, 2.8/5
Amanda thought this tasted almost like an oyster, and not in a pleasant way. Daniel thought this was bland and “squarely in the middle,” noting that it needed more seasoning. BRB, Jessica Simpson would like a word.
Trader Joe’s Solid White Albacore Tuna in Water, 2.7/5
This was…a little bland. Though tasters appreciated the amount of water this tuna had, it scored poorly for flavor: It was too fishy for Amanda, and Megan thought it had a metallic taste that lingered long after she’d finished her bite of tuna. I’m beginning to notice a pattern: the lower the tuna ranking, the more comments there are about the need for mayonnaise.
Good&Gather Chunk Light Tuna in Water, 2.5/5
Everyone made note of the sharp, acidic, and bitter flavor here. “This had almost a celery/grassy taste to it,” Amanda wrote. Its tiny, mushy shredded flakes didn’t do it any favors, either, and Daniel likened it to wet wood pulp.
Bumble Bee Solid White Albacore Tuna in Water
No one agreed on anything here, which is likely what happened rankings-wise. Some found it dry, some found it watery, and others just thought it was smack dab in the middle. “Tastes like tuna,” but with a metallic aftertaste that lingers.
Starkist Chunk Light Tuna in Water, 2.3/5
Well!
Our Testing Methodology
All taste tests are conducted with brands completely hidden and without discussion among tasters that could influence results. Tasters taste samples in random order. For example, taster A may taste sample one first, while taster B will taste sample six first. This is to prevent palate fatigue from unfairly giving any one sample an advantage. Tasters are asked to fill out tasting sheets ranking the samples for various criteria. All data is tabulated and results are calculated with no editorial input in order to give us the most impartial representation of actual results possible.
