Nick Jonas’s Tuna Salad Tutorial Takes You On a “Tuna Journey”

What do Nick Jonas and canned tuna have in common? Staying power. 

Videos by Sporked

Just as the resilient Chicken of the Sea tin weathers passing days and changing seasons in your pantry, the second youngest Jo-Bro and the first youngest Jo-Bro that people know (sorry, Frankie) has stayed relevant from the Jonas Brothers’ early days as 2005 teen heart throbs. Two decades later, Nick is still in our algorithms as we bop to his music, crush on his wife, and…learn how to make tuna salad from him?

The tuna tutorial

Nick Jonas is not only a singer/songwriter, but a self-described as a “tuna enthusiast for a long time now,” who’s been spamming canned tuna since before Fishwife made it trendy, taking his love affair with the fish to Instagram stories in 2018 to share his recipe for tuna salad. In an almost 5 minute “tuna journey,” he oozes his passion for the protein. 

Thirst trap or recipe video?

Now, this was 4 minutes and 45 seconds of a post-workout, damp-with-sweat Nick Jonas in a tank top. Did people come for the tuna? Probably not. Did they stay for the tuna? Maybe also not. But those who paid attention came away with a delicious recipe, and those who didn’t can kick themselves for missing poetic gems like “What you want to do is have that personal connection with your tuna, and that’s what we’re doing here today. I’m glad that you’re on this journey with me.” Once a lyricist, always a lyricist. 

For those who don’t want to embark on a tuna journey with Nick Jonas, that’s what transcription is for: people like you, who scoff at an opportunity to witness real love and passion.

Here are the ingredients and instructions for tuna salad a la Nick, with whom we feel we’re on a first-name basis because of our new-found tuna-centric bond. 

Ingredients

1 can premium tuna (such as Safe Catch)

3 tbsp Trader Joe’s mayonnaise

Ground sea salt

Ground black peppercorns

Cholula Hot Sauce

Instructions

1. “The first step is to get this beautiful tuna out of its can and into its new home. Which for the moment is going to be this bowl here.”

2. “Gonna get mayonnaise from Trader Joe’s. Big fan of this, think it adds some good texture overall to the tuna fish—you know, so you don’t get that dry tuna that nobody wants. The next step is going to be just to simply mix this around in here. I want you to take a look at the level of this tuna, this is premium tuna. So you’re gonna get a little bit of resistance initially from the tuna itself.”

3. “The mayonnaise is done. Next step is going to be just a little bit of seasoning. Now what you should know about this Safe Catch, is that it’s pre-seasoned pre-flavored—so, you’re not going to need a whole lot. But, we’re just going to add a little bit. Just to give it a little spice. Now what we have here is just a very simple McCormick sea salt grinder. Nothing fancy about this, you can get this at your local grocery store. And you’re going to want to, because it’s going to add a lot of flavor to your tuna fish. Now, I usually go clockwise around the bowl once and then one drop right in the center. I give that a little mix, make sure it gets in there, hits the different spots.”

4. “There’s gonna be a combo of just your classic black peppercorns grinded down. I go straight through the middle and then across, a little bit of an X. And then I leave it, right on top, I don’t mix it.”

5. “Last piece of the puzzle—this is where among other tuna enthusiasts I’ve had questions about why I do this, but I think it’s important to note that each person is entitled to their own tuna journey and today you’ve seen mine. So I’m going to grab my final ingredient, if you want to give this a try at home go ahead. Alright, now for the big reveal, what we have here is Cholula Hot Sauce—classic ingredient, hot sauce makes everything better. But, I think with tuna it’s about being specific and intentional with how you’re hot-saucing. So today, I’m going to show you my process.” Nick Jonas dumps two shakes of hot sauce into the bowl. “There that’s all it is, my hot-saucing.”

6. “Alright, we’ve reached the end of the road. I’m about to taste test this. Always important, remember, new utensil before you do your taste test. You don’t want a little extra bit of that mayonnaise left on the utensil. You want to make sure you have a clean fork.”

Ta-da! You’ve made Nick Jonas’s tuna salad. And what have we learned from this journey? Nick loves Trader Joe’s mayonnaise (he could and should do better, we ranked all the best mayo). He spices up his food with Cholula Hot Sauce. And he considers himself a “tuna enthusiast.” Same, Nick, same.