If you love to meal prep, this Tuna Sub in a Tub is going to be right up your alley. It has everything you might enjoy on a tuna sub—without the bread.

These colorful lunch bowls are fresh, filling, and easy to customize. Prepare several at once for quick lunches at home, pack them in a cooler for a road trip, or serve everything salad-bar style when friends and family visit.

Here’s the recipe

What Is a Tuna Sub in a Tub?

A sub in a tub is simply your favorite sandwich filling and toppings served in a bowl instead of on bread. You still get all those familiar flavors, but in a lighter, low-carb lunch.

This version starts with a homemade tuna salad and adds tomatoes, red onion, banana peppers, and dill pickles. A drizzle of olive oil and red wine vinegar brings everything together.

Ingredients

For the Tuna Salad

• Tuna, drained
• Red onion
• Celery
• Fresh or cooked broccoli
• 6 tablespoons mayonnaise
• 2 teaspoons red wine vinegar

I made a double batch, which gave me approximately four servings. Feel free to adjust the amounts according to how you normally prepare your tuna salad.

For the Bowls

• Cherry or grape tomatoes, halved
• Thinly sliced red onion
• Banana peppers or pepperoncini
• Dill pickle slices
• Olive oil
• Red wine vinegar
• Dried or fresh oregano

Make the Tuna Salad

Begin by placing the red onion and celery in the Electric Twist & Chop. Process these firmer vegetables first until they’re finely chopped.

The recipe calls for fresh broccoli, but I had some steamed broccoli left over from dinner. It worked perfectly! Because cooked broccoli is softer, I added it after chopping the onion and celery and gave it just a few quick pulses.

Add the mayonnaise and red wine vinegar, then blend everything together. Finally, add the drained tuna and pulse until the salad reaches the consistency you prefer.

If you don’t have an electric food processor, simply chop the vegetables with a knife and mix everything together in a bowl.

Prepare the Toppings

I used the QuickHalf Tool to slice my tomatoes in half. The spring-loaded plates hold the tomatoes evenly while the knife cuts through the center, so you can slice several at once.

You can also use this tool to slice boneless chicken breasts into thinner cutlets. Thinner pieces cook more quickly, and I can sometimes get as many as four cutlets from one large chicken breast.

One of my favorite tricks for red onion is to rinse it after slicing. This removes some of its sharp bite while keeping the flavor and crunch.

Assemble Your Tuna Sub Bowls

Divide the tuna salad among your meal-prep containers. Before scooping anything from the Electric Twist & Chop, be sure to remove the blades so you don’t accidentally damage your scraper.

Add the tomatoes, red onion, banana peppers, and dill pickles. Skip anything you don’t enjoy or add another favorite sandwich topping.

To finish each bowl, drizzle it with a little olive oil and approximately one teaspoon of red wine vinegar. Sprinkle oregano over the top.

Make It Your Own

This is an easy meal to customize:

• Substitute egg salad or chicken salad for the tuna.
• Add chopped lettuce, cucumber, bell peppers, or olives.
• Leave out the banana peppers if you don’t care for their briny flavor.
• Serve the ingredients separately and let everyone build their own bowl.
• Add cheese for another classic sub sandwich flavor.

A Convenient Lunch for Busy Days

I stored these in the Prep & Store System. The containers stack nicely in the refrigerator or cooler, and the removable dividers make them helpful for meal prepping.

The coordinating cold packs can help keep your lunch chilled for five to six hours when completely frozen. If they’ve only been refrigerated, they’ll keep food cold for a couple of hours.

Having a colorful lunch prepared ahead of time can make it much easier to skip the drive-thru when you’re traveling, heading to a picnic, or facing a busy afternoon.

These Tuna Subs in a Tub are pretty, healthy, and a fun way to mix up your usual lunch routine. What would you add to yours?