Creamy Italian Tonnato Sauce

5 from 8 votes

Tonnato is an easy, creamy tuna-based sauce from Italy. Spoon generously over meat, or use as a dipping sauce with vegetables or bread.

Prep Time20

Cook Time10

Total Time30

Course: Appetizer, Sauce & Dips, Side Dish, Snack

Cuisine: Italian

Servings: servings

2/3 cup tuna, packed and drained (about 7 ounce jar or can of tuna in olive oil)
¾ cup extra virgin olive oil
3 large soft-boiled eggs instructions below
3 anchovy fillets
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
½ tablespoons capers
Salt & pepper to taste

Make soft-boiled eggs by bringing a pot of water to a boil and gently lower eggs in the water. Set your timer for 8 ½ minutes, keeping your water at a gentle simmer for the whole time.
When your time goes off, drop your eggs in ice water and let them chill for about 10 minutes. Crack, peel and slice them in half.
Scoop only the egg yolks into the bowl of a blender. Add drained tuna, anchovies, lemon juice, capers, and salt and pepper.
Turn your blender on low and while it is running, drizzle olive oil VERY slowly into the tuna mixture. VERY slowly is key, or else your olive oil will separate from your tuna mixture and it won’t emulsify into a creamy, uniform sauce.
Keep the stream of olive oil running into the blender until it is half gone. Turn your blender off and scrape down the sides of the blender. Turn your blender on low once again, and while it is running, drizzle olive oil VERY slowly into the tuna mixture until the olive oil is gone!
Serve creamy tonnato room temperature or chilled with meat, vegetables or bread. Serving suggestions in the post above!