‘The Pioneer Woman’: Ree Drummond Gives Classic Tuna Melts an Upgrade

Ree Drummond has a simple tuna melts recipe that gives the old favorite a flavor upgrade. The Pioneer Woman star still maintains the classic elements of a tuna melt but adds a few new twists to elevate the traditional comfort food.

Ree Drummond shared a memory about tuna melts

In a 2011 blog post on The Pioneer Woman website, Drummond shared a memory about tuna melts. “When I was a teenager, my mom and I went over to a nice lady’s house for reasons I can’t remember,” she wrote.

Drummond continued, “One thing I do remember is that she served us lovely little tuna melts on English muffins. And they were so, so, so, so good. I think I asked for seconds, and then thirds. And then my mom pinched my leg under the table and discreetly mouthed the word ‘No.’”

She added, “I made some of the little tuna melts myself a few days ago. I wanted to remember. I needed to remember.”

For her recipe, she combined tuna, diced red onions, red bell peppers, jalapenos, sweet pickles, and hard-boiled eggs. Then she added mayonnaise, Dijon mustard, salt, and pepper and mixed everything together.

The Pioneer Woman star placed English muffins on a sheet pan, added a scoop of the tuna salad, and baked them in a 375 degree Fahrenheit oven for 8 minutes. Then she added a slice of cheese and placed the tuna melts under the broiler to melt the cheese.

Drummond adds some unique flavors to her classic tuna melts recipe

Her recipe for tuna melts was pretty basic and flavorful but Drummond developed another spin on the classic by adding some unique flavors. She demonstrated how to make the easy dish on an episode of The Pioneer Woman.

Drummond split the English muffins in half, buttered them, and placed them on a baking sheet, then set them under the broiler to toast. “It is the most classic comfort food lunch there is,” she said. “Open-faced, with lots of cheese on top.”

She placed tuna in a bowl and added a can of drained artichoke hearts she cut into chunks, pitted and chopped kalamata olives, chopped celery, dill, lemon zest, mayonnaise, grainy mustard, hot sauce, salt, and pepper. Drummond stirred the tuna salad ingredients together and used an ice cream scoop to place it on the English muffin halves.

Then she added slices of Swiss cheese to each and placed them under the broiler. Drummond served the tuna melts with slices of tomato and a sprinkle of chives on top.

“Talk about everything that is good about comfort food right there,” she said while placing them on a platter.

The full recipe is available on the Food Network website.

‘The Pioneer Woman’ star’s fans love her easy recipe

Many of Drummond’s fans weighed in with positive reviews on the Food Network recipe. Comments included, “Super easy and delicious!” and “Amazing!! My family loves this version!! Will make again and again.”

Other fans commented on the interesting flavors in Drummond’s tuna melt recipe. “These were excellent,” one person noted. “We all enjoyed the addition of artichokes.”

One commenter wrote, “I’ve never put artichokes or olives in my tuna salad but I loved it! Great flavors and so simple! Oh, and you can never go wrong with English muffins and Swiss cheese!”

Another person shared, “This recipe was great. I love tuna melts and this one provided me with a new twist on my old version. The addition of artichoke hearts and kalamata olives was a tasty addition.”

Another fan raved, “Best tuna melts I ever made. My husband just loved these. Super easy and so tasty. This will be the only way I make tuna salad now.”