My keto-friendly and high protein tonnato sauce recipe tastes delicious with vegetables and roasted meat. You can whip up this famous Italian tuna sauce with capers and anchovies in only 5 minutes!
When I go to Italian restaurants, I often order vitello tonnato. This is a classic Italian dish made with chilled sliced veal that is smothered in a creamy tuna sauce.
To me, vitello tonnato is the ultimate surf and turf recipe. The tangy, salty sauce in combination with the cold meat is impossibly delicious. It is also 100% low carb!
Making tuna sauce at home is quick and simple. All you need is a few pantry staples.
And the best thing is this: Tonnato tastes incredible with ANY COLD MEAT. It is equally amazing drizzled over vegetables, in salads or with hard-boiled eggs.
Love tuna? Also try my keto tuna salad and these crispy tuna patties.
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Why You'll Love My Recipe
Traditional tonnato recipes use egg yolks and lots of oil, essentially creating a tuna mayonnaise sauce.
My keto tuna sauce is made with two entire soft-boiled eggs. It's a trick I also use in my Keto Caesar Dressing. This means the sauce is high in protein and we need to use less oil (= easier to digest). Plus, there are no leftover egg whites!
One generous serving of ¼ cup is only 0.7g net carbs.
Ingredients
Let's talk ingredients. You'll find exact quantities in the recipe card at the bottom of the post, but I wanted to give you a bit of extra info right here:
- Tuna - I used tuna in water. Drain all of the liquid. Tuna in olive oil is fine, too.
- Eggs - Large, soft-boiled eggs (I boiled mine for 7 minutes). Let them cool before using.
- Anchovies - Go for proper anchovy fillets in olive oil with salt. Don't use the paste instead. It does not taste the same.
- Capers - These pickled flower buds are deliciously salty. Drain the brine.
- Lemon - The juice from 1 lemon adds fresh flavor. Mine yielded about 4 tablespoons of juice.
- Olive Oil - Extra virgin olive oil is what we want here!
- Pepper - Freshly cracked black pepper.
Instructions
It is simple to make tonnato sauce. Here are the basic steps.
Scroll down to the recipe card for the detailed method with ingredient amounts, timings and nutrition information.
STEP 1
Put all ingredients into a food processor or blender. Or, use an electric mixer and a tall, narrow jug.
STEP 2
Process until the sauce is smooth and creamy. It should have a thick but pourable consistency.
Adjust the sauce to your liking with more capers (tangy-salty), more anchovy (fishier) or additional pepper.
Katrin's Top Tips
#1 Scrape down the sides of the blender bowl if necessary to incorporate everything.
#2 Optional add-ins: 1 garlic clove or 1 teaspon of Dijon mustard.
Serving Suggestion
This is where it gets really exciting. There are so many possibilities!
- Meat: I served my tonnato sauce over sliced turkey breast (see the image at the top of the post). It is also great on sliced cold chicken breast and roast beef.
- Fish: Try it over poached and chilled salmon. Delicious.
- Eggs: Tuna sauce over hardboiled eggs = magnificent.
- Vegetables: Drizzle it over steamed green beans, asparagus (image below), broccoli, cauliflower florets or roasted eggplant.
- Dip: Use it as a dip for crudités such as celery, cucumber or carrot sticks, cherry tomatoes, radishes or fennel.
- Salad: It's a yummy dessing for lettuce and green leaves!
FAQs
Tonnato means "with a tuna sauce", or "tuna sauce" in Italian. "Tonno" is Italian for tuna. Tonnato sauce comes from a region in Northern Italy called Piedmont.
One batch is about 400ml, which are 6 servings of 65g or ¼ cup each. As an appetizer, I recommend 2 tablespoons of sauce per person (half the amount of a main course serving).
1 sliced chicken breast or 3 turkey breast slices with tonnato sauce, a side of green asparagus and a handful of rocket salad. Decorate with a few capers. Yum.
Storage
Store the sauce in an airtight jar in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
I don't recommend freezing it. This changes the texture of the sauce.
More Keto Sauce Recipes
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Recipe
Tonnato Sauce (Keto, High Protein)
Equipment
- 1 small food processor or blender
Ingredients
- 4 oz tuna in olive oil or water, drained, 100g
- 2 eggs large, soft-boiled, then cooled
- 2 tablespoon capers 25g, drained
- 5-6 anchovy fillets 18g
- ⅓ cup extra virgin olive oil 80ml
- 1 lemon juiced, about 3-4 tablespoons
- cracked black pepper to taste
Instructions
- Soft-boil the eggs and let them cool.
- Put all ingredients into a food processor or blender and blend until smooth. If applicable, scrape the sides in between to incorporate everything. The sauce should have a thick but pourable consistency.
- Serve as a dip with crudités or over vegetables (green beans, asparagus, lettuce, sliced tomatoes). Or, enjoy with cold meats such as thinly sliced veal (Vitello Tonnato), chicken or turkey.
Fran
This quick and easy recipe is soooo tasty. I have been eating it with nearly every meal. I’m even going to try it as a toast topper next time
NJ
All
My favourite ingredients in one sauce!
Perfect. Can't wait to make it.
Katrin Nürnberger
Yay! Pleasure come back here once you have made the recipe and rate it.
Zelie Hilton
Hi Katrin,
This recipe sounds delicious and I can't wait to try it - just one query about the egg. Soft boiled means the yolk is runny but boiling for 7 minutes will fully cook it. What consistency are you looking for?
P.S. I love your website and many of your recipes are now my firm favourites!
Katrin Nürnberger
The yolk should be runny and the white cooked.