Tuna Steaks with Cucumber-Peanut Salad

Although we live in Florida, we don’t eat a lot of fish. I love it, but my husband is pretty picky when it comes to fish. Tuna is the exception—he loves it. I decided to take advantage of that and give us a little change with this recipe for Tuna Steaks with Cucumber-Peanut Salad. It sounded like something we would both appreciate, and he was all for it when I shared the idea with him. Plus I love the convenience of recipes that include a main and side.

This post was originally published on August 27, 2018. The text and photos were updated on August 1, 2021. The review and rating have not been changed.

Peanuts give the cucumber salad a crunchy contrast, and the fish sauce and lime juice in the dressing complement the tuna.

The Ingredients

This recipe really didn’t have a huge list of ingredients—just 10 items. I’m sure no one will be surprised that the tuna steaks were the most expensive items at $15.98 for 2. Yes, they were a little splurgy but worth it.

Why 2 when the recipe calls for 4 tuna steaks? We’re a family of 2, and tuna is not something that can be successfully reheated. It overcooks and dries out way too easily for that.

The rest of the ingredients were pretty basic. The only exceptions might be the Asian chili-garlic sauce and the fish sauce. A grocery store with a decent international foods section should have both of those items. Mine did, but I also had both in my pantry.

The Process

I can’t believe how fast and easy this recipe was to make! Most of the work was in prepping the cucumber salad, and that only took 11 minutes. My mandoline came in handy for thinly slicing the cucumber in a blink. I love that thing!

Next was crushing the peanuts. I hate chopping small, hard items like nuts, so I used a different method. I added the measured amount of peanuts to a ziplock bag and crushed them with my meat mallet. It was fast, more thorough, and a lot less messy than chopping.

Once the salad was mixed up, all I had to do was sear the tuna in a nonstick skillet. At 2 minutes per side, I had beautifully done tuna steaks. They were done just the way my husband and I like: seared outside, rare inside, and perfectly juicy.

The total time for this recipe was a mere 15 minutes. That’s for the salad and tuna!