With some potatoes and a couple of store cupboard essentials, you can easily make these Tuna Fish Cakes for a simple week night meal on a budget. A great way to use up leftover mashed potato too - these homemade fish cakes are easy to adapt, sneak some vegetables in to and kids LOVE them. Some easy homemade tzatziki is a must to go with these too!
These tuna fish cakes are literally thrown together and they are fancy enough (or at least adaptable to be so) and kid friendly enough to suit the whole family. All you need is some tuna and mashed tomato mixed with some herbs and then formed in to fish cakes and dipped in egg and breadcrumbs before baking. Simple!
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Why should you try it?
- Less than 300 calories each
- Kids will love them
- Uses store cupboard staples
- Easy to adapt
Ingredients
- 600g potatoes, peeled and diced
- A splash of milk
- 30g mature cheddar, grated
- A pinch of sea salt and black pepper
- 2 tins of tuna in spring water, drained
- A handful of fresh parsley, finely chopped
- Juice of half a lemon
- 1 egg
- 100g breadcrumbs
- Tzatziki (to serve)
Step by step
One: Add the potatoes to a pan of boiling water and simmer for 15 minutes.
Two: Drain the potatoes and mash with the milk, cheese and salt and pepper.
Three: Add the tuna, parsley and lemon juice and mix well.
Four: Form the tuna and potato mixture into fish cakes.
Five: Beat the egg in a bowl and put the breadcrumbs in another bowl. One at a time, dip the fishcakes in the egg and then in the breadcrumbs until they are covered.
Six: Put the fish cakes on an oiled baking sheet. Place them in a preheated oven at 190°C/375°F/Gas 5 for 20 minutes, turning carefully half way through.
Kid friendly fishcakes
You can buy some great quality fish cakes in the supermarket now, but not only are they pretty expensive for what they are, they are really easy to make at home, and a good way to use leftovers and reduce food waste. I don't know about you, but I always make enough mashed potato for about 40 people. So, instead of eating it all (mmmm, carbs), we save some and make these with it.
These are really child friendly and we actually made mini versions of them when we are weaning our daughter. They were easy to hold, soft and the flavours are fairly mild. Even now she is older she still loves them and enjoys helping to make them too. Kids can mix everything together in a bowl and also get their hands messy forming them in the fish cakes.
Are they easy to make?
The basic recipe here is really easy, however there are lots of ways you can adapt it to make it more exciting. Add a sprinkle of chilli flakes if you like your meals with some spice, or even a spoonful of Mexican spice blend. You can add some extra texture to these (as they are fairly soft), by mixing in some finely chopped spring onions.
Want a crispier fish cake? You could swap the standard breadcrumbs for panko breadcrumbs. You can also fry them rather than baking them which will make the coating a little crispier and they will cook quicker too.
What to serve these with
These fish cakes need something to dip in to and we have just the thing for it. Our easy homemade tzatziki is light and fresh and goes really well with tuna. Kids might want to dip them in to ketchup, so why not try making some of our Homemade Healthier Ketchup!
FAQs
You certainly can, and we actually have about 10 of these in our freezer at the moment. We freeze them uncooked, as I find the texture nicer. Put the uncooked, but formed, fish cakes on a baking tray and put in the freezer. Once they are frozen, you can stack them on top of each other with some baking paper between each one, and keep in a zip-lock bag. Defrost thoroughly and follow cooking instructions below.
This is where these fishcakes become really adaptable, and a great way to sneak some extra vegetables in to your whole families diet. Tuna and sweetcorn go really well together, so that's a great place to start. You could use a mixture of sweetcorn and peas.
If you wanted to go down a more leafy green route, then really finely chop with spinach and mix that in with the fish cakes.
Extra tips
- Add some vegetables to these by stirring in some sweetcorn, peas or finely chopped spinach.
- Parsley goes really well with tuna, but you could use chives or dill instead in this recipe.
- Make these fish cakes even crispier by using Panko breadcrumbs.
- If you want to cook these quicker, and have them even crispier, then fry them. But we wanted to keep them as healthy as possible, so we baked them.
- For a little bit of crunch, add some chopped spring onions to the mixture.
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Recipe card
Tuna Fishcakes
Ingredients
Fishcakes
- 600 g potatoes peeled and diced
- 1 tbsp milk
- 30 g mature cheddar grated
- 1 pinch Sea salt and black pepper
- 2 tins of tuna in spring water drained
- 1 cup Fresh parsley, finely chopped
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 egg
- 100 g breadcrumbs
Instructions
- Add the potatoes to a pan of boiling water and then simmer for 25 minutes.
- Drain the potatoes and then mash with the milk, cheese and salt and pepper.
- Add the tuna, parsley and lemon juice and mix well.
- Beat the egg in a bowl and set aside. Put the breadcrumbs in a separate bowl and spray a baking tray with a little oil.
- Form the mixture in to fishcakes one at a time and then dip them in to the egg and then in to the breadcrumbs making sure they are fully covered.
- Put the fish cakes on an oiled baking sheet. Place them in a preheated oven at 190°C/375°F/Gas 5 for 20 minutes, turning carefully half way through.
- Serve with tzatziki, vegetables and salad (all optional).
Notes
- Add some vegetables to these by stirring in some sweetcorn, peas or finely chopped spinach.
- Parsley goes really well with tuna, but you could use chives or dill instead in this recipe.
- Make these fish cakes even crispier by using panko breadcrumbs.
- If you want to cook these quicker, and have them even crispier, then fry them. But we wanted to keep them as healthy as possible, so we baked them.
- For a little bit of crunch, add some chopped spring onions to the mixture.
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