How to Make a Quick and Easy Canned Tuna Ceviche

Who doesn’t love ceviche! Okay, yes, maybe someone who doesn’t like fish, or someone who isn’t comfortable with consuming fish that isn’t thoroughly cooked by heat.

Jump to Recipe

Well, this Quick and Easy Tuna Ceviche recipe is a great alternative for the latter, or if you’re short on time!

Growing up my mama worked a full-time job and also had a side hustle of making pupusas and lasagnas and selling them to colleagues as work. On top of all that, she was always highly involved in taking care of my siblings and I, and cooking for the family so that we always had food on the table. Sure there were days where she threw down in the kitchen and put in a good amount of time to make us something delicious from scratch—tamales, caldo de res, pastelitos Salvadorenos—but sometimes she didn’t have the time or energy to make something that was labor intensive or time consuming, so she would need to make something that was both quick and easy. So with that in mind she would create flavorful and nourishing meals using shortcuts!

For dishes containing chicken, she would use a rotisserie chicken or canned chicken. Chorizo or soyrizo were great, pre-seasoned alternatives for dishes that contained meat. If it were a hot summer day and we were craving ceviche, canned tuna! Thus, this quick and easy canned tuna ceviche recipe was born and lunch was ready in under 15 minutes for the entire family.

Enjoy with tortilla chips, plantain chips, tostadas or on a bed of greens as a salad! Also delicious topped with avocado slices, my chile de arbol salsa taquera (click here for the recipe) and my pickled onions (click here for the recipe).

Let’s talk heat—

Jalapeños range from about 2,500-8,000 on the Scoville scale—they’re definitely not as spicy as a habanero pepper but they’ll pack more heat than a pepperoncini. If you’re not a big fan of heat, simply remove the seeds from the jalapeño before mixing it in with the rest of the ingredients (the seeds are what bring the heat) or exclude the jalapeño from this recipe altogether.

If you prefer MORE heat, consider swapping the jalapeño for a serrano pepper! Serranos typically measure from about 8,000-22,000 Scoville units, so they’re usually significantly spicier than a jalapeño, yet still less spicy than a habanero. If you’re looking for something even spicier consider a Thai chili (also known as a bird’s eye chili), which ranges from 50,000-100,000 Scoville units or a habanero pepper, which ranges from 100,000-350,000 Scoville units,

Consider this portion of the recipe as a choose-your-own-adventure—choose wisely 😎🔥

Hope you enjoy! x

Tuna ceviche on a tortilla chip topped with pickled onions and salsa

How to Make This Quick and Easy Tuna Ceviche:

⁣Add the ingredients to a large mixing bowl and toss until thoroughly combined. Once the ceviche is seasoned with enough salt, you’re ready to serve! ⁣⁣ THAT’S IT!

Quick and Easy Tuna Ceviche – Tips & Tricks

This tuna ceviche is great with tortilla chips, savory plantain chips, tostadas and over bed of greens as salad!
If you prefer more heat, don’t remove any of the seeds of your jalapeño and/or add a serrano pepper.
If you prefer less heat, remove ALL the seeds from your jalapeño.
Other things that pair well with this tuna ceviche recipe — avocado slices, my chile de árbol salsa taquera recipe (recipe linked here), my pickled red onion recipe (recipe linked here), my salsa verde recipe (recipe linked here), my escabeche recipe (recipe linked here) and my spicy chunky guacamole recipe (recipe linked here).
Store leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3-4 days.

Other Latin-inspired recipes you’ll love—

Pollo Encebollado

Salsa Verde

Huevos Ahogados en Salsa Verde

Pico de Gallo con Nopales (Cactus Pico de Gallo)

Chicken Birria

Chicken Quesabirria Tacos

Chile de Árbol Salsa Taquera

Cebolla Curtida (Pickled Red Onions)

Casamiento Salvadoreño

If you make this Quick and Easy Tuna Ceviche, tag me on Instagram! Seeing you whip up my recipes makes me the happiest little bee!