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 for the yogurt.
- 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.
- 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.
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.
Pam Tyler says
This is amazing!! Thank you my husband and I love it!!
I’m so glad that you both loved it!
Bette Barkley says
Delicious! Since my husband & I are “empty nesters” I halved everything except the tuna. I also substituted chopped gherkins for the peas. Easy and tasty!
That’s a great swap! I’m so happy you enjoyed it!
April Lewis says
I wasn’t expecting the medley of flavors! Was skeptical about putting yogurt in, but I’m glad I did. This is perfection. Thank you!
I’m so glad you liked it, April!
Abby says
I added…
Garbanzo beans
Hard boiled eggs
Celery seed
The sauce was SO good! I also added a healthy splash of red wine vinegar. I really loved this recipe!
I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
Mark newman says
I added a pinch of cayenne as thats what i do when i make potatoe salad, nice easy recipe, thanks.
Kathy says
Honestly – this is a great recipe.
We have many allergies in our family – including one son with an allergy to fish & milk – so with him being away this Good Friday – I was able to re-try tuna salad.
I love the addition of the yogurt – was a bit skeptical – but had some left over – and it was a perfect addition.
I also hate cutting onion and celery – so I put it in the blender with extra lemon juice – and mixed everything in a bowl with mayo, yogurt & spices. I also added more celery salt, a little of an awesome blend from Trader Joes (Garlic salt, onion and parsley) and more dill – then added the tuna with a little more lemon – so that it was all blended before adding the pasta – very good!!
AND – I have NEVER heard of adding frozen peas to a salad without steaming or defrosting first – but these were perfect – and is now my new favorite way of adding peas to ANY salad in the future.
I may try it all with dairy free yogurt and chicken for my other son at another time! Very very good!!
Thanks so much – Kathy
Ah! I’m so happy you liked the pea trick! Honestly, so many people think they don’t like peas because they have had them overcooked. I’m glad that this salad worked for you.
Lindsey says
I love tuna pasta salad and crave it every spring/summer. I just made some and added/changed a few things based on your recipe. First, I never added dill before and like the flavor it adds. I also added some red bell pepper and hard boiled eggs. I did use small shells and less of them, because it’s all I had in my pantry, so I adjusted the onion and mayo accordingly. It turned out so good! I’m glad my husband isn’t a fan too, so it’s all for me. <3
I’m glad you liked it!
Kimlai Yingling says
What a great way to hide veggies LOL! Love the addition of yogurt. Used 1/2 the amount of pasta, doubled up on the tuna and added 4 cups of frozen veggie mix. The dressing was so tasty that I couldn’t help but to keep adding veggies and even with all the additions there was still plenty of dressing. Thank you for the recipe!
I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
Carmen Gonzales says
I had no peas so I used carrots instead, with the dill in there I felt that it needed pickles, and I also added some sliced olives, It is delicious, and it hasn’t even set up in the fridge yet. Thanks for this recipe, it’s a keeper, I know I altered it (sorry) but I will be making this one again and again.
Nancy Kocen says
I have made this salad three times, my family can’t get enough. I substituted sour cream for the yogurt. Excellent!!
I’m so glad you like it so much, Nancy!