You will love these cheesy, crispy Tuna Cabbage Patties with spicy garlicky mayonnaise dipping sauce. Super easy to make, the tuna patties are pan-fried in a little oil (like fritters) and can be served for lunch, brunch or dinner. I love it with a big salad for a satiating, nutritious meal. Great as finger food! Keto, low-carb, gluten-free. Recently updated with a how-to video!
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Cheesy Tuna Cabbage Patties
Made with canned tuna, cheese and egg BUT no flour, these cabbage patties are gluten-free, low-carb and keto-friendly. I often make them during a Low-Carb Challenge and enjoy them for lunch, dinner, and sometimes even breakfast with an added fried egg.
These are kind of like fritters but pan-fried rather than deep-fried. The shredded cabbage gives them a nice texture and body and becomes tender on the inside and crispy on the outside when the patties are cooked in a frying pan. Plus, the cheese melts and gets a little gooey, holding everything together.
You can serve them with a variety of sauces, including your standard tomato sauce or mustard. Or you can whip up a little hot sauce and garlic spiked mayo dipping sauce or a herby chimichurri.
I served them with a nice salad of tomatoes, cucumbers, onions and peppers.
Cabbage Patties Ingredients
Find full measurements in the recipe card below.
- Cabbage: You will need about 2 cups of shredded or finely sliced/diced cabbage. White cabbage or Napa cabbage works best but you could also use red cabbage as well. You will get more purple-blue-ish patties in that case. Important: the cabbage has to be shredded thinly and then cut up a bit so that the shreds are not long, otherwise, the patties won’t hold together.
- Canned fish: I made these patties with canned tuna but salmon or sardines will also work in this recipe.
- Binding ingredients: Eggs and cheese, which will melt during cooking, bind and hold everything together. I used large eggs. If it feels like your mixture needs an extra egg, by all means, use one more as it will not spoil the recipe.
- Other bits for patties: Red onion adds a little sharpness and flavour, and the rest is just salt and pepper. Super simple! Plus, olive oil or coconut oil for cooking.
Spicy Garlic Mayo Sauce
This is a really simple dipping sauce that goes with ALL fritters or savoury patties. All you need is good quality mayonnaise, minced or diced garlic and Sriracha hot sauce, Tobasaco or Frank’s hot sauce. Garlic powder can also be used but you will have a more mellow flavour. Mix everything together and it’s good to go!
You can switch up or put a twist on it with wholegrain or hot mustard, diced pickles or kimchi, herbs like dill or basil, sun-dried tomatoes, capers, lemon zest and juice, harissa, chipotle and so on.
How To Make Tuna Cabbage Patties
You will find the full list of ingredients and nutritional information in the recipe card below. Here is a how-to video and step-by-step photos.
- Step 1. In a large bowl, combine shredded cabbage with cheese, tuna, eggs, red onions, salt and pepper. Mix until well incorporated, especially the cheese and eggs. Don’t leave sitting for too long as the cabbage will release juices and the whole mix might get quite wet. Best to cook right away!
- TIPS: Make sure the cabbage is shredded thin and chopped up! If the pieces are too big, the patties will easily fall apart. The onion should be chopped finely as well. If the mixture seems too wet, add a tablespoon of coconut flour or regular flour to absorb the moisture. If it seems like it needs an extra egg, go for it!
- Step 2. In a large frying pan, heat a good splash of olive oil, avocado oil or coconut oil over medium-high heat.
- Scoop about 2 tablespoons of the mixture to make a pattie or use a large spoon or a 1/4-1/3 measuring cup to shape the patties. I usually eye-ball it with a heaped tablespoon of the mixture. I add it to the pan and then shape and flatten the patty.
- Pan-fry over medium heat for about 2-3 minutes on each side. Add a little more oil when you turn the patties to keep them extra crispy.
- Step 3. While patties are cooking, make the sauce. Grate or mince the garlic clove and mix into mayonnaise together with hot sauce. Set aside.
- Prepare a side salad or vegetables to go with the patties. I made a salad with cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, red capsicum/peppers, radish, onions, lemon and olive oil dressing.
Watch The Video
Make Ahead Prep Tip
If you want to make these ahead of time, you can prepare all of the ingredients and add them to a bowl EXCEPT for salt and eggs. Cover the bowl with a lid/Gladwrap or store the mix in a container until you’re ready to cook (a day or two in advance is fine). Then, when you are ready to cook, mix in the salt and eggs. If you mix those in too soon, the cabbage will start to release juices and the batter will get too wet/soggy.
Alternatively, you can make and pan-fry the fritters and store them in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. Reheat in a frying pan or oven and serve with the sauce.
Tuna cabbage patties can be frozen once they are cooked. Defrost in the fridge overnight, then pan-fry on low heat to warm them up and get some of the crispiness back.
Nutrition Notes
These tuna and cabbage patties are gluten-free, low-carb and keto-friendly, and high in protein. They are nutrient-dense with lots of minerals, vitamins and antioxidants. You can make a vegetarian version with cabbage, cheese and eggs.
Here are the nutrition macros per 3 patties: 480calories, 5.9 g total carbs, 1.2 g fibre (4.7 g net carbs), 27.5 g protein, 38.2 g fat (includes 1 tablespoon of mayo sauce).
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Ingredients
- 2 cups white cabbage make sure to shred it thinly and chop it up a bit
- 2 cups shredded cheese Cheddar, Mozzarella, Tasty or a mix
- 2 large eggs yolks and whites
- 180 g canned tuna drained – salmon or sardines are fine (6 oz.)
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp pepper
- 1/4 red onion diced finely
For spicy garlic mayo
- 1 clove of garlic minced or grated
- 6 tablespoons mayonnaise
- 1-2 teaspoons Sriracha hot sauce
Instructions
- Mix the batter. In a large bowl, combine shredded cabbage with cheese, tuna, eggs, red onions, salt and pepper. Mix until well incorporated, especially the cheese and eggs. Don't leave sitting for too long as the cabbage will release juices and the whole mix might get quite wet. Best to cook right away!
- Tip: If the mixture seems too wet, add a tablespoon of coconut flour or regular flour to absorb the moisture.
- Pan-fry fritters. In a large frying pan, heat a good splash of olive oil, avocado oil or coconut oil over medium-high heat. Scoop about 2 tablespoons of the mixture to make a patty or use a large spoon or a 1/4-1/3 measuring cup to shape the patties. I usually eyeball it with a heaped tablespoon of the mixture. I add it to the pan and then shape and flatten the patty.
- Pan-fry over medium heat for about 2-3 minutes on each side. Add a little more oil when you turn the patties to keep them extra crispy.
- Make the spicy aioli. While the patties are cooking, make the sauce. Grate or mince the garlic clove and mix into mayonnaise together with hot sauce. Set aside.
- Make a side dish. Prepare a side salad or vegetables to go with the patties.
These were so divine! And really easy to make thanks to your instructions. My family loved them!
Thanks, Cyndy 🙂
These patties look fantastic. I am loving the flavors here. Thanks for sharing.
These patties are really easy to make and a great way to use canned tuna. The mayo sauce is delicious too.
Would never think to combine tuna and cabbage, but now I can’t wait to! These look delicious!
These look and sound absolutely delicious. I am going to try this recipe soon, maybe will use sardines as I have those at hand.
Great with sardines as well, I’ve used them once or twice.
Thank you Irena these Tuna Pattie’s look great can’t wait to try them love the rest of your site also very few ingredients and cheap
Thanks, Alan. I love easy, few-ingredients dishes. This one is exactly that!
Can you make this recipe without the eggs if so what would I use
Can you make this recipe without the eggs if so what would I use I I have not submitted this question
Hey Mary, yes, I think you should be able to but you may need to use some flour. Using a few tablespoons of flour and water or say milk/cream, you will coat the mixture into the batter, a bit like tempura vegetables. Together with cheese, that should bind the mixture enough to mould into patties.
These are very yummy! They were a little crumbly when I made them, so I suggest squeezing them together pretty hard to ensure they don’t fall apart. I also opted out of using oil because they were already pretty greasy with all the cheese.
Hi, wondering if these would work OK omitting the cheese, I’m df. (Can’t seem to turn caps off 🙄)
Hey Claire,
I haven’t tried making them without the cheese, so I can’t guarantee the same outcome. What I can say is that the cheese binds them quite a bit when they cook as it melts and it does add a bit of extra flavour. If you do want to try these without cheese, my recommendation would be to add an extra egg and then a little more flour, these will form a sticky batter that can bind the cabbage and the tuna together. I would also add a little extra salt for seasoning as the cheese adds a bit.
Let me know if you make these without cheese and they work for you.
Irena
This was a great recipe. easy. Simple. Satiating. I added some lime juice (had some extra limes in the fridge) to the spicy mayo for extra tang.
Thanks!
Thanks, Richard 🙂
I used coconut oil, salmon, and a tiny bit of feta with almost two cups of mozzarella. The patties sort of disintegrated, but that did not affect the taste. The cabbage was not noticeable in the final product. Excellent!
Yum. Made these for lunch today. It’s my second time and I forgot how easy and delicious they are. I’m always looking for ways to use cabbage that always seems to feature in my mixed vegetable boxes.
Thanks, Kate.I know what you mean, every time I make them, I am reminded of how easy they are.
I came across this recipe on the off-chance of a search for something using cabbage and tuna. Thought I had scored a win, but…
It would be a kindness to those outside the US if American recipe writers would refrain from using conventional US volumetric measurements like cups, or at least supplement with a weight measurement. (We’ll take ounces if we have to!)
As a quick online search reveals, there’s no standard for cup quantities of non-liquids. Even flour is notoriously prone to error, so a shredded vegetable is going to be highly variable. One website told me that a cup of shredded cheese was 225 g and a cup of shredded cabbage was 75 g. Surely this recipe doesn’t call for a whole pound of cheese? (“Cheese patties with a hint of cabbage and tuna”?)
It would make it so much easier for the rest of the world to discover your food if you could make this small adjustment. Please consider it. In the meantime, I’m just gonna have to eyeball it…
Hey Edward, point taken. For your reference, I am using Australian cups (which are the same as the UK, not sure where you are based). It’s a pretty forgiving recipe so eyeballing is not a bad way to go 😉