If you're a lover of tuna salad, then this Tuna Pasta Salad is for you! Made with canned tuna, frozen peas, and a dill dressing, it's creamy, refreshing, and so easy to make.
Looking for more summer salad recipes? Try Quinoa Salad, Corn Salad, or Dill Pickle Pasta Salad next!
About This Recipe
When bread no longer excites you the way it used to, but you still love tuna salad, then you get this tuna salad pasta. Just kidding. This is a pretty classic pasta salad recipe in the United States. I tried finding the exact origin of this salad, but there isn't much info online. Likely, it was just born as one of the Depression-era food things cause canned tuna is cheap, and well, Americans have always had a fondness for creamy, mayonnaise-based salads.
This recipe is incredibly quick and easy to throw together! Basically, just the time it takes to cook the pasta, which is about 10-15 minutes. I do, however, like to refrigerate the salad until it's fully chilled, which can take another hour, but if you're making this ahead of time for a potluck or picnic, that extra time is usually built in anyway.
You can customize this recipe with whatever you like. I based this recipe on my very popular tuna salad recipe. Infact it's almost identical, just with the addition of cooked pasta and frozen peas. Some options I've seen in other recipes are adding extra fresh vegetables, like cherry tomatoes and carrots. If you're looking for a more nutritious option, I highly recommend it!
Key Ingredients
Pasta: For pasta salads, my pasta of choice is rotini or macaroni. I especially love the way that rotini clings to sauce. Macaroni is also great because the sauce fills up the center.
Canned tuna: Of course, we will need some canned tuna. I used flaked tuna in water. If you want to go all out, you can use tuna in olive oil, but it's not really necessary for this recipe since everything is drenched in mayonnaise.
Vegetables: You'll need frozen peas (no need to defrost), celery, and red onion.
For the dressing: Mayonnaise, relish, Dijon mustard, lemon juice, dried dill, salt, and pepper.
Instructions
STEP 1: Cook the pasta shells according to the package directions. Rinse under cold water and drain. Set aside.
STEP 2: In a small bowl, whisk together all the dressing ingredients.
STEP 3: In a large bowl, add the tuna, peas, celery, onion, cooked pasta, and dressing.
STEP 4: Pour the dressing over the salad and toss to combine. Chill until ready to serve.
📋 Recipe
Tuna Pasta Salad
Ingredients
- 1 pound small pasta (like rotini, shells, macaroni, etc)
- 2 (5-ounce) cans tuna (drained)
- 1 cup frozen peas
- 2 ribs celery (diced)
- ½ small red onion (finely diced)
For the dressing
- 1 ¼ cup mayonnaise
- 1 tablespoon relish
- 2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
- 1-2 teaspoons lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon dried dill (or 1 tablespoon fresh dill)
- salt and pepper (to taste)
Instructions
- Cook the pasta shells according to the package directions. Rinse under cold water and drain. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, add the tuna, peas, celery, onion, and cooked pasta.
- In a small bowl, whisk together all the dressing ingredients.
- Pour the dressing over the salad and toss to combine. Chill until ready to serve.
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