Spring Tuna Salad with Dandelion (Plus 7 Other Great Dandelion Recipes)

Since the last post was all about dandelions, it’s only fitting to follow that one up with a recipe post featuring that delightful herb!

While the greens are excellent sources of minerals, nutrients, and other beneficial compounds, I wanted to find a way to use the petals from the dandelion.

Earlier this week, during a quick realization that my dinner plans hadn’t panned out for the night, I thought I’d turn to an old faithful recipe: tuna salad. It’s quick and easy enough, and the whole family likes it.

But to mix things up, and to highlight a couple of seasonal ingredients found right outside our door, I added both dandelion petals and chives. It was great!

The bright yellow petals added a nice color, and the chives a delicious taste. This is definitely a fun and easy way to use dandelions in the kitchen. 

Also, if you’re not a huge fan of tuna, you could always use equal parts shredded chicken in the recipe to make a chicken salad with dandelion. 

One step that will need done before making the tuna salad is to remove the petals from the flower head’s base. Bonus points if you remembered that the petals are actually complete miniature flowers.

There are parts on the base of the flower head called sepals that are rather bitter, and so it’s best to leave those out.

To remove the petals, you can simply pluck them out of the flower head. That’s what we did, since the recipe only uses 3 dandelion flowers. For doing more flower heads, you can just use kitchen scissors to cut the base of the flower off.

Spring Tuna Salad with Dandelion

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Ingredients

• 2 4.5 oz cans tuna in extra virgin olive oil, undrained (like these)
• 1/3 cup dandelion petals, loosely packed (about 3 flower heads)
• 1/4 cup freshly snipped chives
• 3-4 Tablespoons sour cream
• 2 teaspoons lemon juice
• salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

1. Place all of the ingredients into a medium bowl, except salt and pepper. Blend together with a fork until combined. Use more or less sour cream according to your family’s preferences for texture.
2. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
3. Serve on bread, in lettuce wraps, or stuffed into other veggies and enjoy!

Yummy+Easy=Dinner on the table in a flash!

7 More Great Recipes Featuring Dandelions

If you’re looking for more ways to enjoy this useful herb, checkout one or more of these recipes below. I already have my eye on a few!

1. Backyard Quiche from Feminine Adventures

2. Dandelion Pesto from Learning and Yearning

3. Dandelion Root Chai from Nourishing Meals (I actually love dandelion root in my chai!)

4. Dandelion Fritters from Red and Honey

5. DIY Coffee Substitute from Whole New Mom

6. Paleo Dandelion Cookies from The Homestead Lady

7. Homemade Dandelion Syrup from Nature’s Nurture

 Did you know you can add dandelion petals to food?