Fatty Liver Meal Planner

Lunch recipe · no cooking

Tuna, white bean & tomato salad

Tuna, cannellini beans, tomatoes, cucumber, spinach and herbs tossed with a simple lemon-Dijon olive-oil dressing. It is a quick store-cupboard lunch that fits the site's wider Mediterranean-style planning approach — not a treatment for fatty liver.

15 minprepNo cookmethod2servingsFlexiblelunch
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Tuna salad with fresh lettuce and red tomato pieces in a white bowl
A real-food serving photograph for this recipe. Your finished salad will vary with the tuna, cannellini beans, tomatoes and other vegetables you use.

Why this combination

Fish, pulses and vegetables in one quick lunch

Current European MASLD guidance recommends improving overall diet quality in a Mediterranean-style direction. That pattern commonly includes vegetables, legumes, wholegrains, fish and seafood, while limiting ultra-processed foods rich in sugars and saturated fat and avoiding sugar-sweetened drinks.

This recipe combines tuna with cannellini beans and several vegetables. NHS guidance lists both fish and pulses among useful protein foods, and notes that pulses are also a source of fibre. Canned fish can be higher in salt, so choosing tuna in spring water and checking the label is a practical option if salt intake matters to you.

Personal needs differ. If you have kidney disease, advanced liver disease, diabetes medication, food allergies, swallowing difficulties, pregnancy-related fish restrictions, unplanned weight loss or another condition that changes what or how much you should eat, use advice from your own clinician or dietitian.

The complete recipe

Tuna, white bean & tomato salad

This is a no-cook lunch for two. Draining the tins and chopping the vegetables are the only substantial prep jobs.

Ingredients

  • 1 × 400 g tin cannellini beans, drained and rinsed (about 240 g drained)
  • 1 × 145 g tin tuna in spring water, drained
  • 180 g cherry tomatoes, halved
  • ½ cucumber, diced
  • ¼ small red onion, very thinly sliced
  • 50 g baby spinach or rocket
  • 2 tbsp chopped flat-leaf parsley
  • 1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
  • 2 tbsp lemon juice
  • 1 tsp Dijon mustard
  • To taste freshly ground black pepper

Method

  1. 1

    Drain and rinse the cannellini beans and drain the tuna. Add the beans, tomatoes, cucumber, red onion, spinach and parsley to a large bowl.

  2. 2

    Whisk the olive oil, lemon juice, Dijon mustard and black pepper in a small cup until combined.

  3. 3

    Flake the tuna over the salad, pour over the dressing and toss gently so the tuna keeps some texture.

  4. 4

    Divide between two bowls or lunch containers and serve straight away, or cover and keep chilled until lunchtime.

Packing it for later? Keep the salad chilled. If you are keeping a prepared portion as a leftover, Food Standards Agency guidance says properly chilled leftovers should be eaten within 48 hours or frozen if that will not be possible.

Three easy variations

Keep the tuna-and-bean base, change the direction

The recipe is intentionally flexible enough to work as a bowl, packed lunch or toast topping without creating a new shopping list.

01

Herby yoghurt

Replace the olive-oil dressing with plain yoghurt, lemon and herbs for a creamier finish.

02

Wholegrain bowl

Add cooked barley or brown rice if you want a more substantial lunch.

03

Toast topper

Chop the salad a little more finely and spoon it over wholegrain toast just before eating.

Use it in the wider plan

One quick lunch, not a complete diet

This recipe is simply one lunch option. Use the Meal Planner to place it in a realistic week, the Shopping List Builder to organise what you actually need, or browse the Lunch hub for another format.

Open Meal PlannerBuild a shopping list

Evidence checked 18 August 2026

Sources used for the food-pattern context

  1. EASL–EASD–EASO — 2024 Clinical Practice Guidelines on MASLD
  2. NHS Healthier Families — Tuna and bean salad
  3. NHS — Eating a balanced diet
  4. NHS — Fish and shellfish
  5. Food Standards Agency — Using leftovers safely

The ingredient quantities and method on this page are original to Fatty Liver Meal Planner; the linked sources support the general dietary and food-safety context. See our editorial policy, evidence policy and medical disclaimer.