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, potlucks, 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
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
How to Make Tuna Pasta Salad
This is a brief overview of how to make this delicious recipe. For the full recipe, see the recipe card at the bottom of the post.
- Cook the pasta. Cooking pasta seems so simple, but my tips and tricks for cooking it for pasta salad will definitely help. Check out my post: How to Cook Pasta.
- Whisk together the dressing. Mis together all the ingredients for the dressing. Taste it and adjust seasonings as needed.
- Stir everything together and add the dressing. Stir together the noodles, tuna, peas, celery, and onion. Then mix in the dressing.
Substitutions and Variations
- Dill: 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.
- Mayonnaise: Miracle Whip can be a replacement for mayo. It 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.
- Replace the yogurt: If you don’t like yogurt, sour cream would be a great replacement.
- Replacing the tuna: If you aren’t a fan of tuna, chicken is a great substitute here.
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.
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 pound medium shells cooked, drained, and rinsed with cold water
- 12 ounces tuna drained; please note this is the dry weight listed on the can (see note 1)
- 1 cup frozen peas see note 2
- 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 1 teaspoon dry dill
- 1 teaspoon salt see note 3
- 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.1 pound medium shells
- In a small bowl, whisk together the mayonnaise, yogurt, lemon juice, dill, salt and pepper.1 cup light mayonnaise, 1/4 cup plain yogurt, 1 teaspoon lemon juice, 1 tablespoon fresh dill, 1 teaspoon salt , 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- Add the noodles, tuna, peas, celery, and onion to a large bowl. Pour dressing over it, and toss to combine.12 ounces tuna, 1 cup frozen peas, 2 stalks celery, 1/2 small red onion
Recipe Video
Notes
- 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.
- There is no need to thaw the peas for this recipe. Frozen peas thaw very quickly and can just be tossed with the other ingredients.
- I recommend making the dressing with half the salt and pepper called for, then taste the dressing, and add more to taste.
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!