Tuna Steak Recipes: Seared, Crusted and Spiced

These tuna steak recipes are the ways I cook tuna at Casa Adora in Jaén: a chilli lime soy drizzle over buttery mash, garlic spinach with a lemon drizzle, a sesame and poppy seed crust with tahini, a warm tomato and fennel compote, a blackened Cajun crust and a tamarind and Kashmiri chilli paste. I write for a mostly UK audience, so every one of these tuna steak recipes is built around a single thick steak and takes under half an hour.

Tuna is one of the quickest and most forgiving fish to cook, as long as you leave the middle pink. Every recipe below follows the same rule: a thick steak, a very hot pan and a short sear. The difference is what goes on or around the fish, from a quick pan sauce to a spiced crust.

Jump to: How to Cook Tuna Steak · Which Recipe? · Chilli Lime Soy · Garlic Spinach · Sesame Tahini · Mediterranean · Blackened Cajun · Tamarind and Kashmiri

How to Cook Tuna Steak

If you are wondering how to cook tuna steak, the method barely changes from recipe to recipe, and it comes down to a few rules.

• Buy it thick. A steak of 2.5–3 cm sears on the outside while the middle stays rosy. Thin steaks overcook before they colour.
• Dry it well. Pat the steak dry with kitchen paper. Moisture steams the fish and stops the crust forming.
• Use a very hot pan. Heat a heavy frying pan or griddle until the oil shimmers before the fish goes in.
• Keep it short. Give a pan-seared tuna steak 1½–2 minutes per side, without moving it, aiming for an internal temperature of 48–52°C.
• Don't overcook it. Overcooked tuna turns dry and loses its steak-like texture.

Which of These Tuna Steak Recipes Should I Cook?

Start with the flavours you fancy and how much effort you want to put in.

• A quick sauce over mash: Pan-Seared Tuna Steak with Chilli Lime Soy Drizzle.
• Fastest and lightest: Pan-Seared Tuna Steak with Garlic Spinach and Lemon Drizzle.
• A crunchy seed crust: Tuna Steak with Sesame Oil, Tahini, Sesame Seed and Poppy Seed Dressing.
• Warm and Mediterranean: Mediterranean Tuna Steak with Warm Tomato and Fennel Compote.
• Smoky and spicy: Blackened Cajun Tuna Steak.
• Deeply spiced: Spicy Tuna Steak with Tamarind and Kashmiri Chillies.

Pan-Seared Tuna Steak with Chilli Lime Soy Drizzle

If you only cook one of these, make this one. Pan-Seared Tuna Steak with Chilli Lime Soy Drizzle pairs a 225 g steak with creamy mash and a sharp drizzle of soy, lime juice, honey, fresh chilli and ginger. It is salty, sweet, hot and sour in one spoonful, and it cuts through the richness of the fish.

Pan-Seared Tuna Steak with Garlic Spinach and Lemon Drizzle

The quickest dinner here. Pan-Seared Tuna Steak with Garlic Spinach and Lemon Drizzle uses a 200 g steak seared hard and rested on wilted garlic spinach, finished with lemon zest, juice and a pour of extra virgin olive oil. From pan to plate takes about fifteen minutes.

Sesame Crusted Tuna Steak with Tahini Dressing

A seed crust adds a toasted crunch. Tuna Steak with Sesame Oil, Tahini, Sesame Seed and Poppy Seed Dressing presses black and white sesame seeds and poppy seeds onto the steak before searing, then drizzles it with a velvety dressing of tahini, toasted sesame oil and lemon.

Mediterranean Tuna Steak with Tomato and Fennel Compote

The most elegant of the set. Mediterranean Tuna Steak with Warm Tomato and Fennel Compote rubs the steak with garlic, oregano and paprika, then tops it with a warm, jammy compote of fennel, tomato, shallot and chilli. You can make the compote ahead, so only the fish needs cooking at the last minute.

Blackened Cajun Tuna Steak

A recipe I first shared back in 2016 that still earns its place. Blackened Cajun Tuna Steak coats the fish in a homemade Cajun seasoning of paprika, cayenne, garlic, onion, thyme and oregano, then sears it on a smoking hot griddle pan until the crust turns dark and aromatic. Open a window.

Spicy Tuna Steak with Tamarind and Kashmiri Chillies

The most heavily spiced of them all. Spicy Tuna Steak with Tamarind and Kashmiri Chillies coats a 250 g steak in a blitzed paste of tamarind, dried Kashmiri chillies, garlic, ginger, cloves, cumin and turmeric, then shallow fries it until the paste caramelises. The tamarind brings a dark, sour depth, and the chillies give colour and a gentle, building heat.

Not a steak person? My Tasty Tuna Pâté is the other way I use tuna, and it is nothing like any of the above. For tuna from a tin, see my Tinned Fish Recipes guide.

If you've enjoyed the recipes, you can buy me a coffee ☕ — it helps keep the site going.

Footnote

These tuna steak recipes are part of my Inland Fish and Seafood hub, a collection of resourceful ways to prepare the sea's bounty from the heart of rural Spain. They sit alongside my Tinned Fish Recipes guide for tuna from a tin.
Find more recipes and food adventures here.
Wonky photos, proper food, genuine adventures – The Flexible Chef