Unlikely Canned Tuna Enthusiast Nick Jonas Shared His "Premium" Recipe & We Made It

You may recognize Nick Jonas as the youngest member of the now disbanded music group, the Jonas Brothers. But if you've followed the former boyband heartthrob into adulthood (his solo career), you'll also recognize him as a canned tuna enthusiast. “I’ve been a tuna enthusiast for a long time now. And it’s something that not a lot of people understand — it’s sort of a niche market these days. A lot of people are heading towards the prepackaged, pre-made stuff,” Jonas revealed in his April 4 Instagram story (featured above) detailing with thought, passion, and careful precision, exactly how he makes tuna salad. The recipe tutorial lasts an entire four minutes and 45 seconds and features the musician in what we presume is his kitchen wearing post-workout gear. It kicks off with the self-generated response, “The answer is yes, I did do shoulders and back today."

Was this video an odd and unexpected source of culinary instruction? Yes. Do I like tuna salad? No. Did I join Jonas on his "Tuna Adventure"? Absolutely. "What you want to do is have that personal connection with your tuna, and that’s what we’re doing here today. I’m glad that you’re on this journey with me,” the singer of the catchy pop tune "Jealous," crooned. I believed him, and decided to join him on said journey.

If you followed Nick Jonas' tuna adventures, as I did, then your resulting creation might look something like the above — and also might elicit a similar taste-test response to Jonas', "Mm. Wow. WOW. That is spectacular. That is the best tuna I’ve had all day, by far. Perhaps all week." While I can't swear that it was the best tuna I've had (all day OR all week), I can agree that it did taste sort of "premium" — the mayonnaise created a barely there creamy coating, the salt sharpened the tuna fish flavor, the peppercorns added a spicy zest, and the two shakes of Cholula layered in a light punch of heat. My enjoyment of the simple homemade dish was definitely heightened by Jonas' unexpected and enthusiastic guidance.

I'd never felt excited to make tuna salad in my life, but the tutorial from Jonas completely turned around my tuna apathy — although I still wouldn't go so far as to call myself a true enthusiast. I took my last few bites while the singer's sendoff played out, "Thank you so much for joining me, I’m going to get involved in this. I’ll see yah next time for Tuna Adventures with Nick." I can only hope that there will indeed be a next time — thank you, Nick Jonas.

Ingredients
1 can premium tuna
3 tbsp mayonnaise
Ground sea salt
Ground black peppercorns
Cholula Hot Sauce

Instructions
1. “The first step is to get this beautiful tuna out of its can and into its new home. Which for the moment is going to be this bowl here.”

2. “Gonna get mayonnaise from Trader Joe’s. Big fan of this, think it adds some good texture overall to the tuna fish — you know, so you don’t get that dry tuna that nobody wants. The next step is going to be just to simply mix this around in here. I want you to take a look at the level of this tuna, this is premium tuna. So you’re gonna get a little bit of resistance initially from the tuna itself.”

3. “The mayonnaise is done. Next step is going to be just a little bit of seasoning. Now what you should know about this Safe Catch, is that it's pre-seasoned pre-flavored — so, you’re not going to need a whole lot. But, we’re just going to add a little bit. Just to give it a little spice. Now what we have here is just a very simple McCormick sea salt grinder. Nothing fancy about this, you can get this at your local grocery store. And you’re going to want to, because it’s going to add a lot of flavor to your tuna fish. Now, I usually go clockwise around the bowl once and then one drop right in the center. I give that a little mix, make sure it gets in there, hits the different spots.”

4. “There’s gonna be a combo of just your classic black peppercorns grinded down. I go straight through the middle and then across, a little bit of an X. And then I leave it, right on top, I don’t mix it.”

5. “Last piece of the puzzle — this is where among other tuna enthusiasts I’ve had questions about why I do this, but I think it’s important to note that each person is entitled to their own tuna journey and today you’ve seen mine. So I’m going to grab my final ingredient, if you want to give this a try at home go ahead. Alright, now for the big reveal, what we have here is Cholula Hot Sauce — classic ingredient, hot sauce makes everything better. But, I think with tuna it’s about being specific and intentional with how you’re hot-saucing. So today, I’m going to show you my process.” Nick Jonas dumps two shakes of hot sauce into the bowl. “There that’s all it is, my hot-saucing.”

6. “Alright, we’ve reached the end of the road. I’m about to taste test this. Always important, remember, new utensil before you do your taste test. You don’t want a little extra bit of that mayonnaise left on the utensil. You want to make sure you have a clean fork."