The Sweet Mix-In Your Tuna Salad Has Been Missing

Tuna salad is comfort food (much like its much-maligned cousin, tuna casserole) — it's soft and yielding, cool and creamy, and it can be dressed up however you like, with a layer of lettuce or spinach on top, sliced cucumbers, or even some sharp cheddar. But while there are plenty of savory mix-ins that will also give tuna salad a little crunch, you would be remiss if you didn't add a sweet element to your next sandwich.

And it should come in the form of dried cranberries. Yes, those tiny but mighty bursts of sweet (and just the right amount of tartness) fruity goodness are the perfect complement to the salty, mayo-forward tang of tuna salad. Toss a handful of dried cranberries (think Ocean Spray's classic craisins) into your next batch, slather that salad onto two hearty pieces of bread, and be sure to thank us after your first bite (or you can finish your sandwich first). It's a take on tuna that few people think about, but once you've tried it, we doubt you'll ever want it another way — just ask the fans who adore Whole Foods' cranberry tuna salad (and you can use any leftover cranberries to make Cran-Rosemary Corn cookies).

Perhaps you're already adding this to your tuna salad, but if not, you absolutely should be: It's sweet pickle relish, a staple for New York City-style deli tuna salad. Something like a typical bottle of Heinz sweet pickle relish not only adds a subtle sweetness, it contributes a slightly different texture to the softness of the tuna — not quite as crunchy as, say, celery, but it definitely adds an interesting bite. (Don't have sweet relish on hand? You can also add in a bit of sweet pickle juice.)

Want to stay with fruit? Try adding sliced grapes for a take on the famous Waldorf salad, so named for the hotel in which it was originally served, the Waldorf Astoria in NYC. For your version, either red or green grapes work, and you can slice them in half or quarters, depending on how big they are. You could also chop up an apple (try Honeycrisp for some serious sweetness) and mix the pieces in; this will definitely add some crunch to your mouthful.