This Tuna Pasta Salad is the perfect picnic food. It is easy to throw together with light delicious flavors everyone will love.
Sometimes at the beginning of summer, I feel like a little kid on Christmas morning. There is so much to look forward to, so much to get excited about. I have swimming pools, BBQs, and long lazy days dancing like sugar plum fairies in my head.
If you are like me, you are probably also looking forward to all the great summer food. Everything from summer salads, to great grilled recipes, to amazing simple pasta salads just scream summer to me.
This cold Tuna Pasta Salad is easy to throw together, and is always a hit with everyone. The dressing couldn’t be more simple, but it is the perfect balance of flavors. You will even love taking the leftovers to work the day after that summer picnic.
Just finished making this pasta salad – OMG! It’s delicious- thank you for sharing your recipe – to the folks who haven’t made this – you really should give it a try.
Tuna Pasta Salad Ingredients
Pasta Salads are so great and so often require just a few ingredients. I often have most the ingredients in my pantry, freezer, and refrigerator. With this recipe, I had everything on hand.
To get the full list of measurements and all of the instructions, be sure to scroll to the bottom of the post for the recipe card.
Salad Ingredients:
- Medium Pasta Shells: You absolutely can use a different kind of small pasta for this salad if you like. I just find that shells works so well for this type of pasta salad.
- Canned Tuna: Be sure to grab the tuna packed in water for this salad, and skip over the tuna packed in oil.
- Frozen Peas: Your peas can be tossed right in frozen. They take very little time to thaw, and sometimes thawing them beforehand can add more moisture to the recipe than you want.
- Celery: If you aren’t a fan of celery, you could replace it with some shredded carrots.
- Red Onion: The onion can certainly be left out (or replaced with green onion) if you don’t like onions, but I do love the sweet tang they add to this salad.
Dressing Ingredients:
- Light Mayonnaise: I love using light mayo in recipes. Usually it behaves the same, brings the same flavor, and cuts out a little bit of calories and fat.
- Yogurt: Adding yogurt to a pasta salad dressing is a great way to add both zip and creaminess. It brings a different flavor than the mayo, so I love using them together.
- Lemon Juice: The little bit of lemon juice in this recipe really adds some freshness to it.
- Dill: I think that dill and seafood pair so beautifully together. If you don’t have fresh dill, we have a note about how much dry dill to use. If you choose to skip dill all together, I recommend using 1/2 a teaspoon of dry tarragon and 1/2 a teaspoon of dry parsley.
- Salt and Pepper
Cooking Noodles for Pasta Salads
There are a few important tips to follow when cooking pasta, especially for pasta salads. It is the star of the show and you want it to shine.
- Bring the water to a roaring boil. You need more than a few bubbles before you throw in the dry noodles.
- Note the cook time on the package. Before you put the noodles in the water, note the cook time and set a timer.
- Aim for al dente. When the time frame for cooking ends, taste a noodle and make sure it has bite to it. Then drain the noodles.
- Rinse the noodles with cold water. This will stop the noodles from cooking. It will also prevent the noodles from sticking to each other.
This is a cold tuna pasta salad, so no worries about rinsing the noodles. It works out perfectly.
What Type of Tuna to Buy
Please note that this recipe calls for tuna packed in water. If you buy tuna packed in oil, that will really change the flavor and consistency of this recipe.
Dry vs. Fresh Dill
This recipe calls for fresh dill. I love the flavor of dill in my recipes, it really pulls recipes together. That said, if you can’t find fresh, use dry dill. It will still bring that delicious flavor, you will just need al little less.
Note about Salt & Pepper
This recipe calls for 1 teaspoon of kosher salt and 1/4 teaspoon of black pepper. I would recommend that you make the dressing using half that amount. Taste it, before adding it to the rest of the ingredients, and add more to taste.
Additionally, after you add the dressing, I recommend tasting the salad to see if you would like to add more salt and pepper.
Please note that we are using kosher salt in this recipe, not table salt. If you use table salt, you will want to start with about 1/4 teaspoon and work your way up from there.
Making Ahead
This tuna salad with pasta can be made up to 24 hours in advance of a get together. That being said, the pasta does absorb some of the dressing. You may want to consider making the salad the day before and not adding the dressing until right before serving.
Leftover Tuna Pasta Salad
Leftovers of this pasta salad tuna salad should be stored in the refrigerator. Leftovers should be eaten within four days of making the salad. As with any recipe, use your best discretion when it comes to leftovers.
FAQ
The salad will still work, it will just be more oily. Sometimes tuna packed in oil is great to use in a salad with an oil based dressing or in a salad that needs that extra punch of flavor. That isn’t the case here, which is why I recommend the tuna packed in water.
No. The peas go into the recipe frozen. They will thaw very quickly. Putting them in frozen helps them hold their texture and consistency.
If you really don’t like dill, I recommend using 1/2 a teaspoon of dry tarragon and 1/2 a teaspoon of dry parsley.
Using Miracle Whip will create the same texture and consistency you are looking for, but will change the taste of the dressing quite a bit. I just recommend tasting the dressing to make sure you like it before adding it to the rest of the ingredients.
If you don’t have yogurt, or you simply don’t like it, sour cream can be used as a substitute.
While I haven’t tried this swap, I know several of my readers have and really enjoyed it.
Other Great Pasta Salads
I’m obsessed with pasta salad recipes. If you are too, you might like some of these:
- Crab Pasta Salad: This was my mom’s recipe, and it is absolutely delicious.
- Shrimp Pasta Salad: This is a small riff on the Crab Pasta Salad and also amazing.
- Italian Pasta Salad: This recipe is super easy and always a hit.
- Greek Pasta Salad: The secret to this recipe is the amazing dressing.
If you make this tuna pasta salad recipe or any of my other recipes, please leave me a comment and let me know what you think!
Tuna Pasta Salad
Ingredients
- 1 lb medium shells cooked, drained, and rinsed with cold water
- 12 ounces tuna drained (2 cans) (please note this is the dry weight listed on the can)
- 1 cup frozen peas see note
- 2 stalks celery diced
- 1/2 small red onion diced
For Dressing
- 1 cup light mayonnaise
- 1/4 cup plain yogurt
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon fresh dill (or 1 teaspoon dry dill)
- 1 teaspoon salt see note in the post about adding salt and pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
Instructions
- Cook the shells according to package instructions, being sure not to over cook. Drain and rinse with cold water.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the mayonnaise, yogurt, lemon juice, dill, salt and pepper.
- Add the noodles, tuna, peas, celery, and onion to a large bowl. Pour dressing over it, and toss to combine.
Notes
Claire says
What does it do to the taste if you use oil packed tuna. Is it foul. Would adding lemon Juice and eliminating the yoghurt work?
Tuna packed in oil is very . . . oily. So it won’t make it foul, it will just make the salad oily. If you were making a pasta salad that had a vinaigrette based dressing rather than a mayo based dressing it would work perfectly. I just think it would throw off the texture and taste in this one.
Vickie Rider says
do you cook your peas, or use them from the freezer?
My apologies Vickie, I just added a note about this. There is no need to thaw them. I always use mine right from the freezer because they thaw so quickly.
Pat Shorrock says
nice recipe but what happens to the peas – they are listed in ingredients and not used in the salad ?
Thank you for catching that Pat! I updated the recipe.
Barb says
Is it 12 oz tuna or 24 oz? Thank you
12 ounces.
linda l schneider says
oh my lord i opened my email and found this recipe waiting for me…i tell you it was a real gift. My mom always made macaroni salad with tuna it was what ii was used to . When i got married (55 years ago) and was making salad my husband said NO ONE MAKES MACARONI SALAD WITH TUNA, well this recipe is very close to my moms kind and i can show him “YES VIRGINIA THERE IS MACARONI SALAD WITH TUNA”
have a wonderful day
Lololol! I love it, Linda! I’m so happy that you found a recipe close to your mom’s. I love recipes that remind me of my mom.
Terrie says
Do you have to add dill? What can I use instead?
You don’t have to, but I think it adds a lot of great flavor to this recipe. If you hate dill, I would substitute with 1/2 a teaspoon dry tarragon and 1/2 a teaspoon dry parsley.
Tina says
I don’t like mayonnaise can I use miracle whip
That should work fine!
Sharon Fulton says
Can I substitute something for yogurt?? I’d like to make it!
Hi Sharon! My go to substitute for yogurt is sour cream. That would work really great here.
Pete says
Can I substitute chicken for the tuna?
I haven’t tried that, but I’m sure it would work!
Denise says
I made this and turned out great. My family loves it.
I’m so happy everyone liked it!