Italian-Style Tuna Crudo with Lemon and Capers

A platter of colorful tuna topped with sliced cucumbers, radishes, kumquats, capers, onions, and chili peppers.

Italian-Style Tuna Crudo with Lemon and Capers

Tuna crudo is a 10-minute Italian appetizer of thinly sliced sushi-grade tuna dressed with top-quality olive oil, fresh lemon, and flaky salt, then finished with crisp cucumber, serrano, radish, and capers. No cooking, no marinating, and it looks like restaurant food.

Course Appetizer

Cuisine Italian, Mediterranean

Keyword ahi tuna crudo, raw tuna appetizer, sushi grade tuna, tuna crudo

Prep Time 10

Total Time 10

Servings

Calories 198kcal

Author Julia

Equipment

Very sharp chef's knife or slicing knife
Mandoline (optional, for the vegetables)
Serving platter chilled

Ingredients

For the Tuna and Dressing:

½ pound sushi-grade fresh tuna
3 tablespoons olive oil extra virgin olive oil, top quality
1 medium lemon juice and zest
salt to taste sea salt is best for fish

For the Fresh Toppings:

1 medium Persian cucumber thinly sliced
1 medium serrano chili thinly sliced
1 large radish thinly sliced
1 tablespoon capers

Optional Garnishes:

2 medium kumquats thinly sliced
1 small shallot halved and thinly sliced
½ teaspoon Aleppo pepper
microgreens

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Place a serving platter in the refrigerator (about 40°F / 4°C) 30 minutes before preparing the crudo.
Thinly slice the tuna, about ⅛ to ¼ inch thick and 1 to 2 inches wide, and arrange it on the chilled platter, either scattered or tiled.
Pour the olive oil over the tuna, drizzle with the lemon juice, and sprinkle with salt.
Thinly slice the Persian cucumber, serrano, and radish with a sharp knife or a mandoline, and tuck them in among the slices of tuna. Top with the capers and lemon zest.
If using, garnish with kumquats and shallot, sprinkle with Aleppo pepper, and finish with microgreens.
Serve immediately.

Notes

Ask for sushi-grade or sashimi-grade tuna. Neither term is regulated, so what you're really doing is asking your fishmonger one question: is this tuna meant to be eaten raw? A good counter will tell you plainly. Ask, don't guess. Buy tuna from a source you trust and confirm it's intended to be eaten raw. Use it the same day when possible.
A note on food safety: Raw fish always carries some risk of foodborne illness. Buy from a source you trust, tell them you're serving it raw, keep it cold, and use it the same day. Pregnant women, young children, older adults, and anyone with a weakened immune system should skip raw fish. For more, see the FDA's Selecting and Serving Fresh and Frozen Seafood Safely and FoodSafety.gov on fish and shellfish.
Buy the tuna the day you serve it. Keep it refrigerated at or below 32 to 38°F (0 to 3°C) until you slice it.
Firm the fish before slicing. If the tuna feels soft, 10 minutes in the freezer makes clean, thin slices much easier.
No tuna? Sushi-grade salmon, hamachi, or scallops all work in place of tuna.
Dress at the last second. Lemon juice starts curing the fish on contact. Dress the crudo right before it goes to the table, or bring the lemon to the table and dress it there.
Use your best olive oil. With only three dressing ingredients, the oil is doing most of the work. Grassy and peppery beats mild and neutral.
Adjust the heat. Remove the serrano seeds for a milder version, or use Fresno chili instead.
Soften raw shallot. Soak the sliced shallot in ice water for 5 minutes to take the edge off.
No kumquats? Swap in thin slices of Meyer lemon, blood orange, or mandarin segments. Pickled red onion works if you'd rather skip citrus. Serve with toasted baguette or crusty bread.

Leftovers and storage

Crudo is meant to be eaten immediately, and I recommend serving it within about 20 minutes of dressing it. The lemon juice keeps working on the fish and the texture changes.
If you have undressed tuna left over, wrap it tightly and refrigerate it. Use it within 24 hours, and cook it rather than serving it raw the next day.
Never freeze the assembled dish. Prepare only what you plan to eat.
You can prep ahead one way: slice the cucumber, radish, serrano, and shallot up to a few hours early, then keep them in a covered container in the fridge. Then the fish takes 5 minutes.

Nutrition