You should never put Miracle Whip on a tuna sandwich. Why? Because while mayonnaise is considered a condiment, any decent chef knows that, technically, it’s a sauce. Beautiful in its simplicity, mayo is nothing more than egg whites, oil, lemon juice, and salt. On the other hand, Miracle Whip — mayo’s cheaper cousin — adds vinegar and sweeteners to the recipe, which gives the spread a provocatively different flavor that doesn’t come close to real mayonnaise.
The bottom line: Miracle Whip should never be put on a proper tuna sandwich precisely because it’s not mayonnaise – it’s a substitute. And a poor one at that.
Photo Credit: Photo Monkey
Great post. I can’t stand Miracle Whip. Check that. I hate it. What I’d like to know is how could there even be a market for MW? Do that many people actually like it?
Sadly, enough to keep it on supermarket shelves everywhere.
i absolutely Love the Tangy taste of Miracle Whip it was always my go to condiment BUT Sadly I had to stop using it once it was poisoned with High Fructose Corn syrup
AMEN!
yo!
Now you’re treading on thin ice. Having been a MW man my whole life, I’m finally finding a topic to disagree with you on…
… and I can assure you there is absolutely no chance for reconciliation on this.
A proper sandwich doesn’t have mayonnaise or miracle whip. Or tuna for that matter. It has meat and cheese. Maybe lettuce. Anything else is unacceptable.
Wait a minute; tuna fish is meat.
Not according to the Ron Swanson Pyramid of Greatness. Fish is for sport only; fish meat is practically a vegetable
Amen, brother! Preach it!!!
I prefer Miracle Whip! Hands Down.
If I ever stop by your house for a tuna sandwich, remind me to bring my own mayo.
My Dad worked for KRAFT foods over 2 decades and the company produced both! We all preferred MW to mayo, ( Especially the Hellmans crap your boasting over), But this is the USA AND WE ALL SHOULD have Freedom of speech! Just don’t go push’n your religion on the Rest of us!!
Great post Sir.
That’s funny because my sister works for Kraft foods and specifically helps in the production Miracle Whip – and my entire family prefers mayo!
And another thing – the guy was just expressing his opinion and not espousing a religion. No need to get all butt hurt over it. Snowflakes everywhere!
Oh my gosh Len, I feel the complete opposite of you. I feel tuna or potato salad that is not laced with Miracle Whip is not worth the calories it is made of. I need that zing!! Bring on the sweeteners and vinegar!
Knowing that you’re from the Midwest, I’m not surprised, Kris. My folks were from Ohio and so when I was a kid they used Miracle Whip too — at least for a little while. Somewhere down the road they switched over to real mayo.
Is it just me, or is Miracle Whip very popular in the Midwest?
You, sir, are wrong.
Thats what the Honeybee likes to tell me all the time too. (Although she never calls me sir.)
Eeww. Pickle relish is for hot dogs — and celery is for, well, I’m really not sure what celery is for.
it is for ranch dressing!
and peanut butter!
This post cracked me up! The age old battle..MW vs. Mayo. I grew up in western PA, we were a miracle whip family. I live in OH now and still prefer the tangy taste of MW. Mayo is tasteless to me. Even the way it is in the jar, all blubbery and fatty looking. YUCK!!
A few years back I found a recipe for a macaroni salad that uses half MW and half mayo and a bit of dill pickle juice for the dressing. It’s awesome…try it some day.
Um, I think I’ll pass on your macaroni salad, monica — but thank you. You know, I never thought of mayo as being “blubbery” but, now that you mention it, I think you may be right. LOL!
So put me down as a proponent of blubbery tuna fish sandwiches!
Now can you tell me why you folks from the Midwest love Miracle Whip so much?
I’m from Missouri and we grew up as a MW household. Now that I live in Georgia I still use MW. I guess MW really is a mid west thing because everybody down here uses mayonnaise for everything but my family in Missouri uses MW religiously. It’s almost like the Cream of Wheat vs Grits argument…folks up north prefer Cream of Wheat whereas folks down south prefer Grits…I guess it just depends on how you were raised.
grins…a proper tuna fish sandwich doesn’t have mw huh!!!! well, a proper sandwich doesn’t have tuna fish either.
LOL! Maybe you and Kevin from Thousandaire should go out for lunch one of these days and enjoy some REAL sandwiches!
My wife and I prefer the Real Thing(tm) — mayo. Can’t take any of that so-call “miracle” whip.
What’s with the name “Miracle Whip” anyway? Sounds like an S&M toy.
Our son, however, is more diplomatic — he doesn’t like either. His preference is for a good brown mustard with a bit of horseradish.
ROTFL! “Sounds like an S&M toy.” Good one, DC! (I hope you don’t mind if I steal that one.)
REAL mayo all the way! My father would have cursed if there was MW on his table. And at the risk of making some people really hate me, the only REAL mayo is REGULA Hellmann’s/Best Foods. All the others are just cheap imitations….and that includes fat free and reduced fat mayos from Hellmann’s/Best Foods!
Agreed, Libby. Best Foods is the best!
I’m with you on fat free and reduced fat mayonnaise not suiting me. Have you tried the Southern staple “Duke’s” mayo? It is a bit spicy compared to Hellman’s and equally good quality. Northerners have not been so keen on Dukes but it is finally making inroads in our NJ supermarkets.
I don’t really like either one. I didn’t know there was a difference between the two. I guess that is how much I like them…
Really? I think the difference between the two is profound and unmistakable.
Iv”e been using miricle whip for over 40 years and I was born and raised in southern cal.I use it in my mashed potato salad, yes I said mashed with onion,olives and a shot of mustard. love it on cheeseburgers with red onion,lettuce,mustard. Put a can of tuna in a bowel, mix in MW and sweet or dill relish on wheat bread, YUMM!Get out of the boring rut you mayo users are in, add some spice to your life,GO MIRICLE WHIP!!P.S.Why do some people say TUNA FISH instead of just TUNA?? Is there some other kind of tuna??
Um, I don’t want to put a can of tuna in a bowel!
I’d rather put the tuna in a bowl, mix it, eat it, and let it work its way into a bowel.
Hmmmm.
Maybe it is a class difference??
Maybe it is a cost difference??
Maybe it is what you grew up with? I grew up in a family of 5 children, in the ’50’s/60’s where we worked on the peanut farm in central Texas.
Mayo is an acquired taste – I use it if nothing else is there
So wise!!
You should have had this on one of your polls! I suspect it has more to do with what we grew up with. I grew up with MW, so mayo has an ‘off’ taste to me. (I would tolerate it on a sandwich, though.)
To each their own, I say. I prefer Miracle Whip but that’s what I was raised with.
I’m not a huge fan of Hellman’s mayo. I like Best Foods waaaaaayyyy better… Haha…
Sorry, but Miracle Whip doesn’t belong in any health-conscious person’s diet!
As much as I dislike miracle whip and tuna, I’d take that over the nasty concoction I was fed awhile ago. An egg salad sandwich made with gobs of miracle whip.
I don’t mind the vinegary tang of miracle whip, but what’s with the sugar? Would you dump a big ole spoon of sugar in your tuna or egg salad. I wouldn’t, so I don’t want sweet miracle whip either.
Grew up with MW (and yes, from the Midwest), once I tasted real Mayo ,I have never gone back. In fact, whenever I taste a macaroni salad et. with MW I quietly put my fork down!! MW tastes too sweet(yuk)!!!
Arrrgggghhhh….I was raised on that awful stuff!!! Just the sight of it on the store shelf makes me squirm! It basically ruined real mayo for me, too.
Why do people have to put that in a fruit salad? Really, people?!?!?
Mustard and pickles please for sandwiches. Mayo only on fish sticks.
agreed! give me hellman’s or give me death, haha I think I am going to have tuna salad tonight MMMMM!
Am I the only person who sees mayonnaise less as a flavoring and more a tool to keep oily meat and wet produce from making my bread soggy? Oil and egg yolks which make up the bulk of mayo’s volume are both pretty transparent.
Yes, I’d take real mayo when given the choice, but if the non-mayo substitute is transparent and accomplishes the job then I don’t mind.
my granddaughter insists on mw, which i can not stand. i must admit when i was on the fair circuit i watched them make mayo, turned me of to all of it for a while, mayo is oil(kind of like soy-lent green is people) lol but bestfoods/hellmans or give me death. i can add vinegar
Try “Duke’s” mayonnaise, I think you’re going to like it because it has a little vinegary tang!
Mayo and its cousin Ketchup are the scourges of mankind. Miracle Whip is worse than those ilk.
Hellmann’s is perfectly good mayo, but Duke’s is the mayo of choice in the South. And you still get the Duke’s vs. Hellmann’s battle, which is nearly as bad as the Mayo vs. Miracle Whip. Mayo all the way for me, and Duke’s if available. Summertime sandwich heaven – home grown tomato, fresh white bread, Duke’s, salt, pepper. MMMMMMMM!
Noooo, Len, noooooo! Say it ain’t so! MW is a requirement for my tuna sandwiches along with a little bit of onion and gherkin pickles.
Next week let’s tackle the age old question “How do you hang the toilet paper?”
Hmmm. I just might do that, Eric!
Of all the columns you post with the potential to help or those that can be controversial, who know that a 100 word column about mayo would generate so many responses.
I was raised in a MW house in Michigan and I cannot STAND that awful stuff. It isn’t even allowed in my house now–Hellman’s real mayo ONLY. I use it in tuna sandwiches, on BLTs, and to dip my french fries in on occasion. I do put sweet relish in my tuna too, maybe that’s a Midwest thing?
I grew up on Miracle Whip which I absolutely hated but for some reason the rest of the family loved… but it was referred to as mayo in the house so I grew up thinking I hated mayo. Turns out I love actual mayo in the right portions. I even picked up using it as a dip for fries from when I lived in Canada.
Sorry, but my “improper” tuna sandwiches will continue to be made with Miracle Whip.
Why?
Because I like it.
My folks were born and raised in Youngstown, Ohio. They loved Miracle Whip too. It seems to be very popular in your neck of the woods, Dave.
Actually, it populates the grocery store shelves here in WV too, Len.
It’s a matter of taste – some like their “sauce” sweet, some don’t
I prefer Miracle whip, but sometimes use mayo as well. Depends on what I have on hand at the time. Where I live they both cost about the same. But I’d like to make another suggestion for that tuna sandwich. Greek yogurt. I know, gross right? But it’s not, it’s kind of tangy and tastes pretty good. I currently use a mixture of MW (or mayo) and Greek yogurt on my tuna. Works on egg or chicken salad too.
Mayo fan here……but I’m gonna have to break it to ya….your recipe is wrong….unless your mayo is REALLY yellow in color !
“… mayo is nothing more than egg yolks, oil, lemon juice, and a pinch of salt.”
Eggs whites, not ‘yolking’ ya…….ahahahahaaaa
Whites, yolks … it’s a minor detail, Andy. In fact, it is so minor I almost didn’t edit my mistake.
Ah, who am I kidding? Thanks for the correction! (I’m just surprised it took 63 comments before somebody finally told me.)
I attributed it to the fact almost no one makes their own mayo anymore, and the Mayo-Miracle Whip war you so successfully ‘whipped’ up……ahahahaaaaaaa
I agree with Tnandy. EGG YOLKS! Our recipe for homemade Mayo was always one whole egg and the yolk of another plus a Tbs of lemon juice and a sprinke of salt. Then slow drizzle of Olive Oil, all slowly done in a blender. Magnificent! However, you have to keep it cold because those are raw eggs and they are never cooked. (Hellmans says they “stabilize” their mayo after making it – I assume that means “cooks” ). I confess that I now use Hellmans because I am afraid of Salmonella in our hot climate.
p.s. I always assumed MW was just the “El Cheap-o” version of mayo because it doesn’t have eggs. Am I wrong?
Define “proper”. I can’t remember the last time I had a tunafish sandwich, proper or not.
I grew up with Best Foods Mayonaisse in sunny California. Was exposed to MW when I lived for 6 years in Ohio, but can’t remember ever purchasing a jar. Best Foods was Hellman’s, so maybe over the course of 6 years, I bought a jar of that.
Proper = genuine; bona fide.
In other words, Diane: the real deal!
Duke’s makes a really good mayonnaise which you can get down South. You can make your own mayonnaise almost effortlessly if you have a blender, but Duke’s and Helman’s are fine and you don’t have to take apart the blender jar and wash it after the experiment.
For tuna salad I use water packed, well DRAINED tuna, finely minced onion, a little pickle relish, fresh ground black pepper, a dab of brown mustard, and light on the mayo. I like a relatively DRY tuna salad. Same thing with deviled eggs, hate the yolk mix swimming in mayo, can’t choke it down, and I like a nice deviled egg if it has a relatively dry yolk mix.
Duke’s Mayonnaise. Hellman’s if Duke’s isn’t available. The miraculous part of Miracle Whip is that anyone considers it food at all. That stuff is waaaaaaaaaaaay too sweet. And frankly, just nasty.
LOL! You’ll get no argument from me, Max.
Within the last 10 yrs or so I have noticed a different taste in MW. Did Kraft, in order to save a few pennies, change the recipe i.e. from using corn oil or what ever the original oil used to soybean oil? I can taste a difference also even though the expiration date has not been exceeded I have purchased new bottles of MW and it tastes like the smell of oil based paint. Was corn oil the original oil used? Surprisingly, Corn oil was shown to reduce LDL cholesterol (the bad kind) by almost 11%, while olive oil only lowered it 3.5%. If Kraft did make a change it is a true dis-service to an otherwise great product.
It really depends on what you grew up with. I grew up with MW on tuna sandwiches and deviled eggs. I remember the first time had was out and tried a tuna sandwich with Mayo and was disgusted. It just didn’t have that dynamic flavor the MW brings. Same with the deviled eggs….the flavor is just to bland…or flat. Now, don’t get me wrong. I have nothing against mayo. Mayo does have it’s place. I love it on most sandwiches along with mustard…especially BLT’s. I can almost guarantee, if any of the MW haters on here had started out with MW, they to would be singing a different tune.
You’re right! Miracle Whip does not belong on a Tuna fish sandwich; so
hold the Tuna Fish. Just go with Miracle Whip. Yum.
BTW. MW in not fake Mayo. one is more of a condiment and one is mainly a dressing.
Me, myself, and I prefer miracle whip because I grew up with it. My mother on the other hand sometimes eats miracle whip, mayonnaise, or sandwich spread but she puts miracle whip in her deviled eggs and tuna. So everyone has their own preference and nobody can say what foods go with what. There are so many people who add things together that others would think is nasty but they don’t have to eat it. So everyone just enjoy your favorite way of eating tuna whether it’s on crackers or bread with or without eggs. As long as you like it who cares what anyone else thinks. Have a wonderful day.