Tuna Crudo (10-Minute Italian Appetizer)

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Tuna crudo is thinly sliced sushi-grade tuna dressed with good olive oil, fresh lemon, and flaky sea salt, then dressed with cucumber, radish, serrano, and capers. This Italian appetizer takes 10 minutes and requires zero cooking.

Italian-Style Tuna Crudo with Lemon and Capers

I live in Colorado, which means I have strong opinions about buying fish. I have to. The good stuff doesn't exactly wander in the door at 9,000 feet, so I ask questions at the counter, and my husband has made friends with the person behind it. That habit came from regularly cooking seafood on weeknights: my salmon piccata, my Tuscan-style shrimp orzo, and my 30-minute fish tacos. It eventually led me here, to a plate of raw tuna. I dressed it in about four minutes, then stood over it taking pictures while my husband hovered with a fork.

So what is tuna crudo? Crudo simply means "raw" in Italian, and that is most of the explanation right there. I slice sushi-grade tuna thin and dress it the second before it reaches the table with really good olive oil, fresh lemon juice, flaky salt, and a scattering of crisp vegetables. There is no cooking, no marinating, and no special equipment. It takes 10 minutes, and it looks like something I paid $26 for at a coastal restaurant with a very long wine list. Serve it as an appetizer with crusty bread and something cold and crisp in your glass.

Tell Me More About This Tuna Crudo

• No cooking at all: Not a pan, not an oven, not even a boil of water. On a hot August evening when I refuse to turn on the stove, this is what I make. My Greek shrimp salad is my other no-heat favorite.
• 10 minutes, start to finish: Faster than my 20-minute shrimp scampi, which I already consider a rush job.
• The dressing is three ingredients: Olive oil, lemon, and salt. That's it. The quality of those three things is really important here.
• Crudo vs. carpaccio vs. sashimi: Crudo is Italian and dressed with olive oil and citrus. Carpaccio is pounded or sliced paper-thin. Sashimi is Japanese and served plain with soy and wasabi. Mine leans Italian with a chili kick.
• Naturally gluten-free, dairy-free, low-carb, and very high in protein.
• A stunner for entertaining: I serve this first when friends come over, usually before something warm like my creamy salmon orzo or stunning maple-glazed sheet-pan salmon.

How to Buy Tuna for Crudo

• Ask for sushi-grade or sashimi-grade tuna. Ask, don't guess. "Sushi grade" is not a regulated term in the US. So you are really asking your fishmonger: Is this tuna intended to be eaten raw? A good counter will tell you plainly. If the answer is anything other than a confident "yes", buy something else and make my cilantro lime salmon and rice instead.
• Look for ahi. Yellowfin and bigeye are both sold as ahi and are the classic choice here. Bluefin is wonderful and expensive. Albacore works, though the texture is softer and the color much paler.
• Look for a deep, even color and a clean, oceanic smell. Avoid fish that smells strongly fishy.
• Frozen is not a downgrade. The FDA recommends that fish intended to be eaten raw be frozen at -4°F (-20°C) for 7 days, or at -31°F (-35°C) for about 15 hours. Most quality tuna sold for raw preparations has already been through this, often on the boat within hours of being caught. If you are shopping somewhere landlocked like I am, previously frozen is often the freshest option.
• Buy it the day you serve it. Then keep it cold, on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator, until the moment you slice.
• A note on food safety: Eating raw or undercooked fish always carries some risk of foodborne illness. Buy from a source you trust, tell them you plan to serve the fish raw, keep it cold, and use it the same day. Pregnant women, young children, older adults, and anyone with a weakened immune system should not eat raw fish. For full guidance, see the FDA's Selecting and Serving Fresh and Frozen Seafood Safely and FoodSafety.gov's page on fish and shellfish.

Ingredients and Substitutions

This recipe consists of 3 components: the tuna and its dressing, the fresh sliced toppings, and the garnishes.

1) Tuna and Dressing Ingredients

• Sushi-grade tuna: You'll need ½ pound. Ahi (yellowfin or bigeye) is what I buy. Ask the fish counter directly whether it's safe to eat raw, and buy it the day you plan to serve it. No tuna? Try this dish with other sashimi-grade seafood like salmon, hamachi (yellowtail), or scallops.
• Extra virgin olive oil: Three tablespoons of the best you own. Grassy, peppery, fruity. You want to splurge on this ingredient and get some high-quality dipping olive oil. You are welcome to use cooking olive oil, but it will not be an optimal experience.
• Lemon: You need both the juice and the zest, so buy an unwaxed lemon if you can. Freshly squeezed only. Lemon is the most common citrus used for crudo, but limes, grapefruit, oranges, and any other citrus work well!
• Salt: Sea salt or flaky salt. The texture matters as much as the seasoning here. Fine table salt dissolves instantly and disappears.

2) Fresh Topping Ingredients

• Persian cucumber: One, sliced paper-thin. Persian cucumbers have thin skin and almost no seeds. English cucumber works, too.
• Serrano chili: One, thinly sliced. Adjust to your heat preference. You can use jalapeños, fresnos, or any other chili if you like the spice! Feel free to omit the chilis altogether if you don't like heat.
• Radish: One, thinly sliced. 
• Capers: One tablespoon. Rinse them if they're packed in salt. 

3) Garnishes

• Kumquats: Two, thinly sliced. Kumquats have sweet skin, sour flesh, and a bright pop of color. You can also substitute with Meyer lemon (sliced paper-thin), blood orange or mandarin segments, pickled red onion (if you'd rather skip citrus).
• Shallot: One small shallot, halved and thinly sliced. Soak the slices in ice water for 5 minutes if you want to soften the raw bite.
• Aleppo pepper: Half a teaspoon. It's mild and fruity. Substitute a pinch of red pepper flakes plus a little smoked paprika.
• Microgreens: Purely for presentation. Any tender herb leaf works too: basil, chervil, or small mint.

How to Make Tuna Crudo (Step-by-Step)

This is a recipe overview. Scroll down for the complete instructions and ingredient amounts in the recipe card below.

• Chill the platter: Put your serving platter in the fridge 30 minutes ahead. Cold fish on a cold plate stays firm and tastes better.
• Slice the tuna: Cut against the grain into ⅛ to ¼-inch slices, 1 to 2 inches wide. A sharp knife and a confident single stroke, no sawing.
• Arrange and dress: Lay the slices on the cold platter, tiled or scattered. Pour over the olive oil, drizzle the lemon juice, sprinkle with salt.

• Add the vegetables: Tuck the sliced cucumber, serrano, and radish between the tuna slices. Scatter the capers and lemon zest over everything.
• Garnish and serve: Add kumquats, shallot, Aleppo pepper, and microgreens if using. Serve right away.

Pro tip

Cold fish slices more cleanly than cool fish. I keep the tuna in the coldest part of my refrigerator, around 32 to 38°F (0 to 3°C), right up until the moment I slice it. If your fish feels soft or looks glassy, put it in the freezer for 10 to 15 minutes to firm the edges. You want it cold and firm, never frozen through.

Variations

• Citrus, oil, salt, herbs are all good things to add to crudo. Any variation of these things work great! For example, blood orange for citrus, extra virgin olive oil from Spain, smoked sea salt, and basil, parsley, mint, and even shiso are great herbs to add!
• Italian versions are often served with roughly chopped pistachios, green olives, and basil if that's your preference!

Tools that make this easier

• Your sharpest knife. A dull blade tears the fish instead of slicing it.
• A mandoline, if you have one. It gets the cucumber and radish thin enough to be almost translucent.
• A wide, flat serving platter. Crudo is a single-layer dish, so surface area matters more than depth.
• A Microplane for the lemon zest.

Serving and Make-Ahead Tips

Crudo is not a make-ahead dish. The lemon juice begins to firm and whiten the fish on contact, and after 10 or 15 minutes you've made ceviche instead. Dress it at the table if you can. What you can prep ahead:

• Slice the vegetables up to 4 hours in advance and keep them in cold water in the fridge. They'll stay crisp.
• Chill the platter.
• Zest the lemon ahead and cover it, but juice it fresh.
• Buy the tuna the same day and keep it refrigerated at or below 40°F (4°C) until the moment you slice it.

Leftovers are not really a thing with crudo, and I'd rather you not save them. If you have extra tuna, dice it, toss it with soy and sesame oil, and eat it within a few hours.

What to serve with tuna crudo

• Serve it as the opening course of a seafood dinner, followed by my one-pan Mediterranean Salmon with Rice, Chickpeas, and Feta or 30-minute Lemon Shrimp Orzo with Asparagus.
• Put it out as part of a summer appetizer spread alongside my Whipped Feta Dip and plenty of crusty bread for the leftover olive oil.
• Pair it with something cold and fruity like my Watermelon Salad with Feta or my Blackberry Peach Salad.
• For drinks, a Passion Fruit Margarita or a blended Strawberry Margarita is a great match. If you want zero proof, my Strawberry Mocktail is refreshing and takes 5 minutes.

More Seafood Recipes 

• Mediterranean Scallops with Tomatoes, Capers, and Lemon Garlic
• Greek Shrimp Salad
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• Grilled Salmon with Pineapple Tomato Avocado Salsa
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