Radish Salad Sandwiches

This is total tea house food. You know, a tea house. Surely it’s not a Midwest thing (say it ain’t so!)? Just quaint little restaurants sometimes attached to a vintage store / flea market / adorable gift shop / etc. It’s the kind of place you go for lunch with your grandma and they almost always have amazing cake.

The menu usually consists of quiche, soup, salad, and some kind of tuna-salad sandwich. I like tuna salad as much as the next gal, but I like to eat vegetarian most of the time. So this is a great alternative.

And you might be thinking, radishes? Really? Aren’t those usually just a garnish or added on top of something as an afterthought? That’s exactly what I thought, but I keep getting a good amount in my CSA deliveries lately. So I started experimenting with trying to make the radish the hero of the meal.

And this recipe is something I threw together one day for a quick workday lunch and I loved it so much I immediately typed out the loose recipe in the notes on my phone so I could make it again and again.

Related: 40+ Easy Picnic Food Ideas

It’s simple, has a great crunch, is slightly sweet, and a little bit creamy. In conclusion, this sandwich rules and radishes are rad. Get into it. 🙂

Radish Salad Sandwich, makes one

4-5 medium radishes (approximately 75 grams)
1/4 cup sliced almonds
2 heaping tablespoons golden raisins
2 tablespoons mayo
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
1/2 teaspoon salt
a big dash of pepper and black sesame seeds or poppy seeds
2 slices of toasted bread
lettuce, tomatoes, or other sandwich fixings you prefer

First, wash and chop up the radishes. I like to chop into small matchsticks, or you could slice thin with a mandolin.

If you really want the texture to be more like tuna salad (although it will still have more crunch), you can pulse a few times in a food processor to really get them chopped up fine. Up to you.

In a bowl, combine the radishes, almonds, raisins, mayo, apple cider vinegar, and salt. Stir until combined and everything gets coated and is creamy.

Season with a little pepper and sprinkle on the black sesame or poppy seeds for some fun color (I’ve added flax seeds before too and that was good).

Toast your bread and assemble the sandwich. You can easily double or triple this recipe if you want to make lunch for others too. I’ve also skipped the bread and just used this as filling for a lettuce wrap and that was delicious as well.

I just love the refreshing crunch of the radishes—they are totally the hero of this. Upgraded from their lowly garnish position. Enjoy! xo. Emma

Note: You can swap out the mayo for Veganaise if you want to make this vegan friendly. You could also use 1 tablespoon mayo and 1 tablespoon greek yogurt if you want a little more tang.

That’s probably too many options, but I feel like with something as delicious and simple as this, why not?