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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Recipe
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.
Macros Recipe Adaptation
½ cup olive oil mayonnaise, ½ cup non-fat plain greek yogurtPer Serving Amount
233 gramsMacros
355 kcal, Fat: 15g, Carbs: 42g, Protein: 19gNutrition
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.
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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.
This is a very tasty tuna salad, now I can alter my own tunasalad recipe
How long can this last in the fridge
I used fresh dill, lots of salt and pepper, and left out the peas. I rinsed the pasta in cold water, and then just dumped everything in a bowl and mixed.
Could I substitute sour cream for the yogurt?
Loved your recipe! Made it a second time but this time I cut up a bunch of red grapes and added fresh baby dill! It was a hit at our family bbq cook out! Refreshing summer time food!
I’m really upset, I made this recipe with fresh ingredients and stored it away in the fridge. Drove to the party (car blasted with A.C) and somehow it went bad by the time I got to my destination. I don’t know what happened.
The recipe is really straight forward.
I didn’t have any celery so I used cucumber instead. Also I added so tinned sweetcorn and a few grinds of salt chilli flakes and garlic.
It’s so quick to make and tasty. :-))
I skipped the Greek yogurt and just used more mayo – it would be bland, otherwise. I also added some honey Dijon mustard and parmesan. Delish!
I added some grainy mustard and capers to this one instead of dill. It’s nice and light, tastes fresh. I know a few have said it’s bland, but it’s just a mixture of mild flavors which is very nice in the summer time 😊
The tuna pasta salad is a traditional dish usually enjoy at large dinners or lunches with friends and family mostly during spring and summer. The way it is written and explained here by Lauren is very helpful. The recipe as described here is easy to prepare and yet once the dish is on the table you can be sure of receiving “wows” of appreciation. Step-by-step preparation is quick and the ingredients chosen are flavors universally known, liked, and well-accepted by almost everyone with no distinction of age. This is an all times favorite and one of these dishes people are always happy to see on the table on any occasion.