My Husband Cracked the Code to the Best-Ever Tuna Melt

Tuna melt

Sometimes the best dishes are the simplest. Just a few examples: smooth and creamy mashed potatoes, a golden brown grilled cheese, a perfectly fluffy batch of rice.

Some people might add tuna noodle casserole to that category, but I sure wouldn't. While I love a casserole (I'm a Midwesterner after all), hot tuna is not for me. I love a tuna salad sandwich or a seared piece of ahi, but when canned tuna gets hot I'm out.

For years I thought that my aversion to hot tuna meant that tuna melts were a no-go for me—until I met my husband, Matt. Matt is a great cook (as proven by his next-level roasted carrots and juicy chicken breast) and when he found out about my disdain for hot tuna he had a genius solution.

Related: How to Make Your Tuna Salad Taste Like It Came From Jimmy John's

How to Make Matt's Best-Ever Tuna Melt

It seems that Matt's mom, Jan, made tuna melts a very specific way when he was growing up and he still makes them that way today. He basically starts by making a grilled cheese (we suggest using mayo instead of butter on the bread for the perfect color, taste and crunch). Once the bread is golden brown and the cheese is nice and melty, he transfers the sandwich to a cutting board, opens it up slightly and spoons in the cool tuna salad.

Even if you aren't hot tuna averse, the other issue with a classic tuna melt is that it's sometimes hard to get the cheese to melt with all that tuna fish insulating things. This grilled cheese method ensures melty cheese and cool tuna, which means all the crunchy bits in the tuna (celery, pickles, etc.) keep their texture. The hot-meets-cold combo is a superior sandwich, at least in my humble opinion, and just another reminder that my partnership with Matt was meant to be. Is happiness a tuna melt made just for you? You know what? I think maybe so.

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