The Best Canned Tuna, According to Our Taste Test

For me, canned tuna surpassed its pantry-staple status to become an essential provision years ago. The grazer in me has turned those stackable cans into full-on meals — piled onto butter crackers, tossed into a fridge-clean-out pasta salad, or stirred with sesame oil and Kewpie mayonnaise for a low-effort rice bowl that hits every savory note.

Despite the sea of cans you’ll find in the grocery aisle, not all canned tunas are created equal. To help you purchase the best “Big Tuna” for your buck, we put eight popular brands to the test. 

How to read a canned tuna label 

Decoding a canned tuna label starts with the distinction between white and light tuna. White tuna, often labeled and sold as “white meat tuna,” refers to albacore. Albacore has a firmer texture, mild flavor, and a pale, off-white color. Light tuna most often comes from species like skipjack or yellowfin, or is sometimes a blend of tuna varieties. Its color ranges from pinkish to light brown and it has a softer texture and a richer, more concentrated tuna flavor. 

Next, you’ll notice “solid” versus “chunk” which indicates how large the pieces are inside the can. Solid tuna has larger, firmer fillet pieces and is generally more expensive than chunk. Sometimes solid tuna is labelled as “fancy” on the can. Chunk tuna contains smaller, more loosely packed pieces rather than larger fillet pieces. Chunk light tuna is the most budget-friendly type of canned tuna because it contains meat from species like skipjack, which are more plentiful than albacore and less expensive to catch. 

Finally, you’ll see the two main packing styles: water-packed and oil-packed. Water-packed tuna is preserved in water or a water-and-salt solution. Because it’s packed in water, it has a milder, more mineral-forward flavor and a leaner texture. Oil-packed tuna, by contrast, is preserved in oil — typically extra-virgin olive oil, regular olive oil, vegetable oil, or sometimes soybean oil. Packed in fat, this tuna has a richer, more flavorful taste straight from the can.

How we tested

For our masked taste test, we selected eight oil-packed tuna brands (four albacores and four other tuna species) from grocery stores based on their popularity and availability. We decided to test oil-packed tuna brands because they have a slightly longer shelf life than water-packed tuna and you can repurpose any leftover oil for various cooking needs. To keep things as fair as possible, we skipped canned tunas preserved in flavored oils like lemon pepper or spicy chili.

Before we took out our brand-concealed cans for our testers to sample, we established criteria for a quality canned tuna. Canned tuna, especially an oil-packed one, should have a balanced richness, savory flavor, and firm but tender texture. It shouldn’t feel mushy in the mouth or taste too fishy.

Out of the eight tunas we tried, a few fell flat and some were downright disastrous, with dry, chalky fillets, funky-tasting oil, or appearances suspiciously like cat food. One tester even described a particularly abysmal brand as looking “prechewed.” But a few of the samples achieved a balance of everything we’d want in a quality canned tuna. 

If reheating fish in the office microwave is frowned upon, draining eight cans of tuna in the shared sink is criminal. Luckily, the brands below were worth the fragrant aftermath and small dent in my office reputation.

Best overall: Bumble Bee Prime Tonno Yellowfin Solid Light Tuna

Bumble Bee’s Solid White took home the best canned tuna crown in the first Food & Wine taste test published in our 1978 insert in Playboy magazine (yes, that Playboy). Forty-seven years later, it’s the company’s exceptional yellowfin tuna that reigns supreme. Our testers praised the large pieces of fillets and their firm yet pleasantly flaky texture. The flavor was deeply satisfying, and unlike some other brands, the oil added a lush, buttery richness without overpowering the fish. “Tastes the closest to freshly cooked tuna. Best flavor, hands down,” said one tester.

Take advantage of the fillet pieces and serve them in a crisp, Roman-style tuna salad, a cozy tuna casserole, or to boost a tomato-y tinned fish pasta. 

Best for sandwiches: StarKist Solid White Albacore Tuna

Scan the canned tuna aisle and you’ll spot Charlie the Tuna, StarKist’s official mascot, waving hello. A household name in the tuna game since 1917, StarKist was an early pioneer in popularizing canned tuna across the United States. This tuna had the best flaking off our forks without being mushy and had a juicy, silky mouthfeel. These attributes combined with its mild flavor work great for a classic tuna melt with gooey cheddar or a refreshing tuna salad sandwich perfect for the summer heat. It’s worth noting that while we liked how the oil improved the tuna’s texture, this brand is packed not in olive oil but rather vegetable oil, which can be less appealing to some. 

Best for salads: Genova Premium Yellowfin Tuna 

Want tuna that stands out in a salad packed with other ingredients? Genova — aka Chicken of the Sea’s premium brand — has you covered. This tuna is slightly darker in color than some other brands but offers a nutty, buttery flavor that testers loved. Its richer taste is the perfect balance to crisp greens, veggies, and a punchy vinaigrette. “I’d love this in lettuce cups as a quick snack,” said one tester. 

Here is the full list of canned tuna contenders, in alphabetical order

• Bumble Bee Prime Fillet Tonno Solid Light Tuna in Olive Oil
• Chicken of the Sea Solid White Albacore in Oil
• Genova Premium Yellowfin Tuna in Olive Oil 
• Good & Gather Premium Wild Albacore Chunk White Tuna in Extra-Virgin Olive Oil and Sea Salt 
• Northern Catch Chunk Tuna in Oil *Note: This is Aldi’s private-label brand*
• StarKist Solid White Albacore Tuna in Vegetable Oil 
• Trader Joe’s Solid Light Yellowfin Tuna in Olive Oil 
• Wild Planet Solid White Albacore Tuna in Extra-Virgin Olive Oil