Tuna, tomato and cucumber salad

No-cook and ready in ten minutes, this salad is the ultimate light lunch: 18 g of protein for only 187 kcal. Full of water thanks to the tomato and cucumber, it refreshes and fills you for very few calories. Canned tuna provides the lean protein. Ideal on cutting days or in hot weather.

At 187 kcal, this is a deliberately light meal: perfect as a side or starter, a bit slim as a single dish for a big appetite. To make it a full meal, add carbs (whole-grain bread, rice, chickpeas) and a bit more tuna or a hard-boiled egg. The base stays fresh and low-calorie.

Tomato and cucumber release a lot of water once salted. Tip: salt them just before serving, or deseed the cucumber. Drain the tuna well. If you prep the salad ahead, keep the dressing separate and add it at the last moment so it stays crunchy and not soggy.

Tomato and cucumber are over 90% water: that is what gives this salad its value when cutting. At near-zero calories, they fill the stomach and trigger satiety through volume — a valuable lever when eating in a deficit and trying to curb hunger without blowing the counter.

These vegetables also provide water and minerals (potassium) useful for hydration, particularly in summer or after a sweaty session. It is the kind of fresh dish you crave when it is hot and heavy meals go down badly. Paired with the tuna, it stays a real meal and not just a side.

Canned tuna is just one option for this fresh salad. Swap it for shredded cold chicken, cooked shrimp, surimi, or chickpeas for a vegetarian version, keeping the same tomato-cucumber base. Crumbled feta or a few olives add extra flavour, at the cost of a few more calories. If you want to cut carbs and calories further, skip the red onion and use chives instead, which are milder. The key is keeping the balance between a lean protein and two water-rich vegetables — the real signature of this recipe.

The vegetables can be swapped too, depending on the season or what's in the fridge. Cucumber can give way to bell pepper or radish for more crunch, tomato to sun-dried tomatoes for a more concentrated flavour (watch the calories there, they're denser). A splash of cider vinegar works well in place of balsamic if you don't have any, and a few sesame or pumpkin seeds add crunch and good fats for barely any calories. This salad tolerates any variation as long as the lean-protein-plus-raw-vegetables duo stays the backbone of the dish. Treat the base recipe as a template rather than a fixed list, and build your own version around whatever lean protein and crunchy vegetables you have on hand that day.