seared tuna with sesame noodles

when you don't feel like cooking but you're feeling FANCY

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Sesame-crusted seared tuna is “the little engine that could” of the restaurant world. It’s been a mainstay on menus for freaking ever, and its omnipresence at restaurants across the world dictates that is should, by all normal laws of society, be well past its prime. We should be bored of it by now. And yet it continues to hang on for dear life along with wedge salads, truffle fries, and avocado toast.

It looks extremely fancy, but it’s beyond easy to prepare. I know I say that a lot, but seriously you guys — you just rub oil on the tuna, stick seeds to it, and cook it for like two minutes. That’s it. It’s so easy that I managed to make a video of it for you while I was home alone with BOTH children!

In this recipe, I’m giving you the option to use everything bagel seasoning instead of sesame seeds since it’s really just a more flavorful version of black and white sesame seeds.

Once you nail this tuna recipe, you can spin it a few ways. For an extremely simple yet lovely meal, simply serve the sesame-crusted tuna over wilted spinach. For this: Sear your tuna as written below. After you remove it from the pan, throw a bit of butter into the skillet (it will have leftover sesame seeds in it — that’s fine) and wilt an entire bag of spinach in the sesame butter over medium heat. Add a splash of soy sauce too. Serve the tuna over the spinach. Dinner will be complete in about 10 minutes.

Need a fancy appetizer for a holiday party? Sear the sesame-crusted tuna, allow it to cool completely, then wrap it tightly and refrigerate it until party time. Slice and serve alongside a tahini-soy dipping sauce (just make it up — you can do it!).

But, if you want to make a truly next-level, restaurant-worthy meal, don’t sleep on these sesame noodles. Yes, there’s a bit of chopping involved. But even so, the entire meal will only take you about 30 minutes (maaaybe 45) from start to finish. As a self-proclaimed one-pot queen, I am slightly ashamed to say that this meal requires three pieces of cookware, but I promise it’s worth the extra scrubbing and I feel confident that you’ll agree.

BTW: Since so many of you purchased tahini for the first time two weeks ago and loved it, I wanted to share another way to use it! But if you‘re having a hard time finding it, you can absolutely swap in peanut, almond, or cashew butter here.

Go forth, future Top Chefs of America! I can’t wait to see y’all’s fancy a$$ dinners this week.

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seared tuna with sesame noodles