Recipe Vitello Tonnato

Vitello tonnato is a wonderful Northern Italian dish made with marinated veal and tuna sauce. The thin slices of veal are coated in the flavorful sauce and served as a dinner or appetizer. It is fantastic either way!

What is Vitello Tonnato?

Vitello tonatto is a cold veal dish made with a rich tuna sauce. The recipe begins by cooking the veal in a marinade made with white wine, onions, celery, garlic, and seasonings. The veal slowly cooks in the sauce and, once cooked through it is left to cool. Traditionally, the chef will then thinly slice veal and place it on a large serving tray.

While the veal slices do have a lot of flavor, most of the excitement of this dish lies in the sauce. The powerful fish sauce is made with very strong ingredients like canned tuna fish, capers, lemon juice, anchovy fillets, garlic, and the yolks from hard-boiled eggs. That is one flavorful mix! The sauce is very easy to make and blends quickly in a food processor into a thick, mayonnaise-like sauce that is quite delicious.

The homemade tonnato sauce is poured over the veal on the tray and garnished with whole capers. The classic dish is pretty and super tasty! This is one lesser-known Italian recipe that you need to try.

How to Make Vitello Tonnato Recipe

We want to give you a quick look at how to make this tasty veal dish so you have a good idea of what to do before you start cooking. Here are the simple steps:

1. Cook the veal: Add all of the ingredients for the veal marinade to a large pot. Let the veal sit for thirty minutes to absorb some of the flavor from the onion, carrot, celery, salt, pepper, and wine. Then, cover pot and simmer the meat for 1 hour and 30 minutes. It will be tender and soft.

2. Cool the meat: Remove the cooked veal from the cooking water and set it on a cutting board to cool.

3. Make the sauce: While the veal cools, make the sauce. Add the anchovy fillets, capers, egg yolks, olive oil, tuna, salt, and pepper to a food processor or blender. Puree until smooth.

4. Assemble: Thinly slice the veal and add veal to a large serving tray. Top the veal slices with the thick sauce and garnish capers on top of the sauce. Serve right away!

How to Store Vitello Tonnato

You can easily make this dish in advance and serve it later at a party or get-together. It is quite a fancy, impressive dish! Assemble the entire platter then cover it with plastic wrap and store it in the fridge. The meat is best eaten the same day it is assembled.

You can also cook the veal in advance then slice and assemble it on a different day. The whole, marinated meat will keep in the fridge for 3-4 days. Make the tuna sauce the day you are ready to enjoy your homemade vitello tonnato.

As this will be your starter, if you want some main courses ideas you must check our Italian meatballs recipe for another explosion of flavour in your mouth.

Disclaimer: Please be aware that the food images displayed on this website are for illustrative purposes only. They do not represent the actual dishes or presentations you might achieve when following our recipes. While we strive to inspire your culinary journey, the appearance of your dishes may vary.