This Spicy Mexican spin on tuna cakes is packed with flavor and texture and makes a quick healthy low-carb meal in minutes! 
Canned tuna is a pantry staple in our home because of how convenient it is. We always have a few cans for the nights where we are out of meat and need a quick dinner. Growing up we enjoyed canned tuna in sandwiches and melts and tuna cakes best of all.
This recipe takes canned tuna to the next level with the addition of onion, jalapeno and LOTS of cilantro. The flavor of the cilantro along with the jalapenos and lemon juice makes spicy tuna cakes with a slight crunch that are SUPER delicious. If you’d like to go the extra step, top the tuna patties with a quick homemade sriracha aioli!
To get started with these tuna cakes all you’ll need is two 5-7 oz cans of tuna, cilantro, jalapeno, an egg, lemon or lime juice, a few tablespoons of mayo and almond flour (or bread crumbs), S &P, and garlic powder. Cumin powder can also be added if you’d like!
Combine all the ingredients in a large bowl, shape into small or large patties and cook on a skillet for a few minutes and there you have it! Warm and flavorful tuna cakes that can be used for meal prepping, in sandwiches, served with a salad, avocados, or a side of veggies. Also, don’t forget to make the sriracha aioli!
To make the tuna cakes spicy and give them an extra kick, chop up the jalapenos without removing the seeds but if spice is not your thing, simply scoop out the inside of the jalapenos and run them under cold water to remove the seeds.
To make the tuna low carb or keto, simply replace the breadcrumbs with almond flour. To make them low fat, replace the mayo with greek yogurt or sour-cream. 
Cilantro jalapeno Tuna Cakes
Ingredients
- 2 5-7 oz each cans of tuna, in water or oil, drained well
- 1 egg
- 1/2 cup cilantro, minced
- 1/4 onion, diced
- 1/4 cup nonfat Greek yogurt or mayo
- 1/4 cup almond flour or breadcrumbs
- 1 jalapeño , deseeded (optional) and diced
- juice of 1/2 lemon or lime
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder, optional
- 1/2 teaspoon cumin, optional
- salt and pepper, to taste
- 2 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
For the sriracha aioli
- 1/2 cup nonfat Greek yogurt or mayo
- 2 tablespoons sriracha
- Juice of 1/2 lime
Instructions
- To a large bowl add the drained tuna, egg, cilantro, onion, yogurt or mayo, almond flour, jalapeno, lemon or lime juice, garlic powder, cumin, and a generous sprinkle of salt and pepper. Mix with a fork until fully combined. Shape mixture into 6-8 patties.
- Heat oil in a skillet over medium heat; fry patties until golden brown, about 5 minutes per side. Serve with a side of avocado salad, in a sandwich, on a bed of greens or with a side of veggies. Drizzle with sriracha aioli if desired.
- To make cilantro aioli: whisk Greek yogurt or mayo, sriracha, and lime juice until combined.
Video
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Wow! Layla, this is the 2nd recipe of yours I have tried in 2 days and both knock my socks off. Easy, fast, pretty, and really impressively flavorful. I’m intolerant of nuts and egg whites so I substituted 1 tablespoon of coconut flour for the 1/4 cup of almond flour and two egg yolks For the whole egg. The cakes were so delicious I didn’t even bother mixing up the sauce. When I have leftovers I’m probably going to eat a little sour cream on them. Thank you for sharing your talent with the world!
I’ve been making these for years but am notoriously bad about frying things. Is there an air fryer adaptation? Or anyone has tried I can try? Every time I’ve done it, they come out dry.
As a person who dislikes tuna anything these are the bomb!!
With all the good for you stufff in tuna I’m finally estatic abt eating it!
What is a serving for this recipe? You have 1g for the nutrition information, but I’m having a hard time believing that 1g of food contains 4g of carbs!
Sorry about that! the macros are for a serving size which is 2 patties.
Can you substitute with canned breast chicken?
Yes, canned chicken works well 🙂
Great recipe. Made them today and we really enjoyed them. Have you had success with making ahead and freezing these?
yesssss its gooooood would eat again at any time!
These are delicious. And I don’t even like tuna. I made these tonight for dinner. It was a hit. My husband really enjoyed them. I will be making these again soon for sure. Thank you for sharing this delicious recipe.
Thanks for taking the time to leave a review, Maria! I’m happy to hear you enjoyed the tuna patties 🙂
Soooo delicious! As someone who doesnt love canned tuna, but was looking for Unique ways to spice things up and stay keto as a pescatarian, I tried this recipe anyways. Let me just say- WOW! It took away all the “fishy” parts of the tuna salad and replaced it with savory deliciousness! I served them on a bed of greens dressed with just EVOO and S&P. Just a drizzle of the sriracha aioli was enough to make this such a savory delicious meal! Thank you ❤️
You’re welcome, Kirsten! So happy that you enjoyed it 🙂
love this recipe, I like it even more then salmon patties. It is a little wet but draining tuna helps.but even wet they cook up great. Question about serving size, if it makes 8 patties does that make 2 patties on serving?
Perhaps you did not drain the can of tuna well enough?
Can you Heat up the the sauce
Okay, these were absolutely delicious! I will be making these again for sure. I added cumin and lime zeSt to the sauce and it was amazing.
i love the taste of this RECIPE. I just have a hard time keeping them from falling apart. anything I can do to remedy that? am I maybe making the patty to thick?
I learned that if you chill them for about 5- 10min in the freezer they stay together. These were amazing!
These were sooo delicious! Made them for lunch today. For mayo I used McCormick Lime MAYo also SUBSTITUTEd EVOo with Avocado oil ♡ Yum!
Yum, great alterations!
Can you use albacore tuna?
Yes, Any white tuna should work but albacore is my absolute favorite!
I made these last night I added ground almonds to the flour to make it almond flour and also added about 1/8 cup of panko bread crumbs as well added more onion than called for and used parsley and full fat greek yogurt. Absolutely delicious. I used one can to tuna flake and one tin of skinless and boneless mackerel. wow so good with the srircha sauce definitely will make again
Your recipe adaptions sound delicious! I’m glad you enjoyed the tuna cakes 🙂
With you all the way ! beautiful post !
Mmmmm these look soo good. I love fish cakes. i might just have to make these next week in shaa Allah!!
Enjoy, Chelsea! 🙂
Anybody try these with salmon?
HOW MUCH CILANTRO? i DON’T SEE IT LISTED WITH THE INGREDIENTS!
It’s 1/2 cup packed. Just updated the post! 🙂