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This Tuna Pasta Salad with shell noodles, peas, tuna, celery, and Greek yogurt is fast, healthy, and a dish your whole family can enjoy!
Tuna Pasta Salad
I don't know about you, but for me, warm weather screams pasta salad! This tuna pasta salad is a classic! It easy, fast, and I usually have all the ingredients that I need to throw it together. My kids love this pasta salad and we eat it for lunch all the time, but it works great as a dinner or side dish.
I also love feeding my kids something that I know has great health benefits. Did you know tuna fish is a great source of protein and contains omega 3 fatty acids that can help fight heart disease? For the sauce in this recipe I use a mixture of mayonnaise and Greek yogurt. I love the creaminess that the Greek yogurt adds, and it's packed with protein. You could also serve this dish with whole wheat pasta.
How to make Tuna Pasta Salad:
Cook your pasta according to package instructions, then drain them and allow them to cool a little. I like to use mini shell noodles, but any type of bite-size pasta can be used.
While the noodles cook, chop the celery and onion, drain the tuna, and warm the peas (you could also add the peas to the boiling pasta water during the last minute of cooking).
Mix the mayonnaise and Greek yogurt together until smooth.
Add the cooked pasta, tuna, celery, onion, and peas to a large mixing bowl. Pour the dressing on top and toss to coat.
If you'd like to make this recipe in advance I would suggest waiting to add the sauce until you're ready to serve, otherwise the noodles will soak up the sauce and it wont have the creaminess that you want.
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Tuna Pasta Salad
Ingredients
- 8 ounces small shells pasta, , or your favorite bite-size pasta
- 7 ounces canned albacore white tuna, packed in water, , drained
- 2 ribs celery, , chopped
- 1/4 cup red onion, , chopped
- 1 cup frozen peas
- 1/2 cup mayonnaise
- 1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt
- dried dill weed, , to taste, optional
- salt and freshly ground black pepper, , to taste
Instructions
- Cook noodles according to package instructions, until al dente. Drain.
- In a large bowl add chopped onion and celery, peas, cooked pasta, and drained tuna.
- In a separate bowl, mix the mayo and Greek yogurt.
- Stir half of the sauce into the pasta mixture and toss to evenly coat. Season with salt and pepper and dried dil, to taste.
- Refrigerate pasta and remaining sauce separately, covered, for 30 min. Stir in remaining sauce and serve immediately.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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I originally shared this recipe in June 2011. Updated May 2018.
Have you tried this recipe?!
RATE and COMMENT below! I would love to hear your experience.
This is the easiest, most classic version of the tuna pasta salads. Don’t omit the dill weed, either fresh or dried. It’s delicious!!! Thank you!
Your Tuna Pasta Salad is absolutely delicious every time and a go-to for me! This salad is like a “party in your mouth”! Thank you for sharing it! I even add hard boiled eggs sometimes and a little Mayo too! A definite 5STAR recipe! I have made it with elbows and little farfalle. Both pastas go well with the recipe ingredients. And sometimes I use old Bay seasoning to add a little spice to the mix! Never fails!
I have never made a tuna pasta salad in my life but was looking for quick meals to take to work and saw this. It is absolutely delicious and only took me a few minutes to prep.
Looked for a real good tuna pasta salad and I found it here.
Just tried this recipe and me & the kids loved it! I used Veganaise, and gluten free noodles and it turned out great. For any other gluten free folks, here is the brand we love: https://amzn.to/3Na8dTC
Cook per package directions, drain & rinse with cold water. Delicious!
I didn’t realize that you can downvote other people’s reviews, which honestly is unnecessary considering that the few people that I noticed were downvoted, (Anna, Nan, Joyce) had actually really good input on adding to the overall flavor and vibrancy to the recipe and I appreciate them taking the time to share their additions to the recipe. The recipe on its own is a good base for tuna salad, but it definitely could use some spicing up.
I took Anna’s, Nan, and Joyce’s advice and added chopped bread and butter pickles, a little bit of cayenne pepper, hot sauce, garlic powder and a little bit more mayo than what it calls for. It’s delicious!
use frozen peas but at what stage are the cooked then cooled please advise
If you are using frozen peas, just cook them first according to the package directions, then drain and let them cool. Once cooled, stir them in with the rest of the salad ingredients
I prepared this recipe and I like it a lot. I subbed the subbed for yellow fin. It gave much flavor. I’ll add a little old bay just to give it spice. Thank you. I’ll certainly prepare for our next family cookout. Yummy!!
I made it exact and it was a little bland to me, so I sprinkled some red (cayenne) pepper on top of my serving and mixed it in. That definitely improved the flavor, in my opinion.
I was also shocked at the amount it made, considering it says it serves 5. We had 3 servings at about 1 cup each and still have 2/3 left over. So definitely keep that in mind.
I’m sure this would be be better if I had some plain greek yogurt, but I’m fine with just mayo. Great recipe, and I will be back for more. I used two packets of sweet & spicy tuna. We do what we like, and this salad is marvelous! The dill weed just tops it off. I like flexible recipes. Thanks for this!
This is so delicious, & perfect for hot summer days.
Terrific recipe. Used plain yogurt, a squeeze of lime to add freshness to canned tuna. Added chopped bread and butter pickles for sweetness, 2-3 T pickle juice to sauce before tossing with pasta. Did not use dill this time, but would try next time. Added toasted sliced almonds for salty crunch. Keep in fridge for quick meal. Love this!
So basically you made an entirely new recipe 😂
This is a really great recipe im a big fan if tuna pasta salad, and this one is right up there! I substituted sour cream for the Greek yogurt since I didn’t have any. Wonderful taste.