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Air Fryer Tuna Melt. Delicious tuna melt in an air fryer made with air fryer fresh bread rolls, tinned tuna, lots of mayonnaise and plenty of yummy cheese. One of the best air fryer sandwiches that you can make.
Heads up! This tuna melt recipe is so so popular with our air fryer readers that they asked us to feature it in our air fryer beginner’s cookbook called Air Fryer Easy Everyday. You can get a copy here.
Table of Contents
- Air Fryer Tuna Melt
- What Is A Tuna Melt?
- Are Tuna Melts Good For You?
- Why Tuna Melt?
- How To Make A Tuna Melt In An Air Fryer?
- Which Cheese For Tuna Melt?
- Does Tuna Melt Have Mayonnaise?
- Can You Reheat Tuna Melt?
- Tuna Melt Sandwich In Air Fryer
- Air Fryer Tuna Melt Recipe
- Earl Of Sandwich In The Air Fryer
- Can’t make it now? Then pin it for later!
- Join The RecipeThis.com Community:
Air Fryer Tuna Melt
I have always been a cheese and fish hater. Just like some people hate fruit in a savoury dish, I always hate melted cheese with fish.
I love cream cheeses like Philadelphia in a fish dish such as being the base for a fish sauce but put melted cheese in my fish chowder and I will not eat it.
You could say that its one of my few fussy pet hates. BUT when we visited Earl Of Sandwich for the first time at Disneyland Paris, I tried a bite of Dominic’s Tuna Melt and fell in love.
The tuna melt tasted so good and I said to Dominic that we MUST make our own air fryer tuna melts.
Well that was on a sunny day in the summer of 2018 and finally 2 years later, I have made the best tasting air fryer tuna melt and I am sharing it with you today.
I love it because the bread rolls are homemade using dough from our bread maker bread and its one of those meals you can make when you are low on groceries and just want to raid the pantry.
What Is A Tuna Melt?
A tuna melt is a homemade sandwich made with plenty of tuna filling and melted cheese. It is often an open-faced sandwich with no lid, so that you can look at all that melted cheese before you tuck in.
There are also many variations of what filling is added to the tuna, with the most common being onion, sweetcorn and mayonnaise.
Are Tuna Melts Good For You?
They are great for making you feel good and giving you that wanted comfort sandwich. But with homemade bread, full fat mayonnaise and plenty of cheese, I would say that these tuna melts are more bad for you, than good for you.
But you could make modifications to make tuna melts good for you.
- Swap homemade bread for a healthy gluten free bread or wholemeal rolls
- Swap full fat mayonnaise for a homemade yoghurt sauce
If you follow Slimming World and wan to make Slimming World Tuna Melts I would recommend bread from your allowance, cheese from your allowance and then a low fat mayonnaise choice.
Why Tuna Melt?
I love tuna melt the most, because it is one of those delicious brunches or suppers that you can make on a budget.
I can use homemade bread dough, which I always have ingredients in for, I can use tinned tuna and mayonnaise from the pantry and then see what frozen grated cheese I have in the freezer.
A tuna melt also tastes delicious and is perfect if it is lunchtime and you have extra guests to impress. A tuna melt is also the type of food I would make when Sofia is older and has her friends over after school.
How To Make A Tuna Melt In An Air Fryer?
Making tuna melt in an air fryer starts with the homemade bread dough you have just made with your bread maker. The bread dough is cooked first, then as it cooks the tuna melt sandwich comes together.
Everything is then cooked in the air fryer and then you eat in silence because the tuna melt tastes so good you couldn’t possibly talk about it!
- Make your bread maker dough and make into big bread baguette shapes and cook in the air fryer for 15 minutes.
- In a bowl mix together your tuna melt ingredients while your bread dough cooks.
- Load the filling into your bread baguettes and cook for a final 6 minutes until you have amazing air fryer tuna melts.
Which Cheese For Tuna Melt?
I love a mild cheddar cheese for melting in my tuna melts but any cheese that melts well will do the trick.
Beyond cheddar my favourite choice is gouda or some pizza cheese.
Does Tuna Melt Have Mayonnaise?
A traditional Tuna Melt does include mayonnaise. I love to use full fat Hellman’s mayonnaise in my tuna melt.
But you can use any brand of mayonnaise and it can be low fat if you prefer.
Or if you follow a low fat diet you can swap light mayonnaise for fat free Greek yoghurt.
Can You Reheat Tuna Melt?
Yes you can! Set the time to 5 minutes and the temperature to 160c/320f and reheat your tuna melt in the air fryer.
The cheese melts just as well as it did the time before and perfect if you have leftovers and want to eat them later.
Tuna Melt Sandwich In Air Fryer
When I make a tuna melt sandwich in the air fryer, I make a few extra changes:
- I make sure that the bread cooks low enough so that the bread doesn’t burn.
- That I make the tuna melt air fryer sandwiches using the grill pan. This keeps all the filling in tact and stops the bottom of the air fryer being full of tuna.
- I also make sure the bread dough is of the right size that it will fit in the air fryer.
Air Fryer Tuna Melt
Ingredients
Kitchen Gadgets:
Air Fryer Tuna Melt Recipe Ingredients:
- 500 g Bread Maker Dough
- 240 g Tinned Tuna
- ¼ Red Onion
- 75 g Frozen Sweetcorn
- 100 g Grated Cheese
- 1 Tbsp Salad Cream
- 2 Tbsp Mayonnaise
- 1 Tsp Oregano
- Salt & Pepper
- Butter, optional
Instructions
- Flour your clean kitchen worktop and your hands and roll out your just made bread dough. Make into your chosen shape such as the baguette style we made.
- Place the bread baguettes into the air fryer using the grill pan and cook for 15 minutes at 160c/320f.
- While the bread is cooking make the filling. Add to a bowl thinly diced red onion, drained cans of tuna, rinsed frozen sweetcorn, salad cream, mayonnaise, half the cheese and the seasonings. Mix in a bowl.
- When the air fryer beeps slice the bread in half to be able to add the fillings. Load up the filling, add the rest of the grated cheese on top and place back into the air fryer.
- Cook for a further 6 minutes at 160c/320f.
Notes
Nutrition
Earl Of Sandwich In The Air Fryer
In case you are wondering what goes with a tuna melt, I have an Earl Of Sandwich in the air fryer idea for you instead.
It is a great way to have an Earl Of Sandwich feast at home and it also gives you great ideas of what to serve with your tuna melt.
When we went to Earl Of Sandwich, we got a variety of sandwiches (not just a tuna melt), so you can do different fillings before loading the sandwiches into the air fryer.
Secondly there was the sides we bought which included macaroni cheese and potato wedges. Simply follow our air fryer potato wedges recipe and our air fryer mac and cheese recipe.
Can’t make it now? Then pin it for later!
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