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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.
I was never a tuna fan. Then one summer’s afternoon when it was just too hot to light the stove for a lengthy period I decided to make a “quickie”meal and made this salad….absolutely loved it
If your hubby hates peas like mine…add some sweet or dill relish. Mine prefers sweet. It’s amazing. You can add the relish with the peas for an extra kick. This is the best recipie. Ya gotta use the Greek yogurt. You can substitute the yogurt with sour cream. But it this sour element is needed to make it special. ♡
When I was a teen, back in the 60’s, my best friend made this for me. I loved it. Since it was so easy, I remembered how to make it. Yes, it has sweet relish in it. So yummy, I just made it today! To refresh any salad with mayo, I add a tablespoon of white vinegar and mix it all up again. Gently so as not to smash the peas.
I love this salad. I use low sodium albacore and Chobani plain Greek yogurt. I add some diced red pepper and sometimes a little shredded cheddar cheese. I also make it with gluten free rotini pasta. My new favorite salad!
Agree 🙂 It’s really good:)👍❤️👍
GREAT SALAD, EASY TO THROW TOGETHER WITH GREAT FLAVOR, SERVED A SIDE OF BOILED EGG AND COLD SHRIMP, ENDED UP BRING A NICE COLD PLATTER FOR DINNER
I’ve made this recipe a couple of times now, both times making some adjustments for personal taste. I added fresh dill rather than dried and also some lemon juice and diced yellow peppers the first time as I didn’t have peas. The second time I added fresh dill, lemon zest rather than juice and lemon salt rather than regular salt. This recipe is so easy to customize and keeps great in the fridge for easy lunches for several days. I love greek yogurt and I love it in this recipe!
This recipe was so good! It’s the dressing that makes it! Thanks for sharing!
How long does this keep? Gonna use this idea for my lunch for the week.
Hi Caleb, it will keep for several days but the quality is never as good days later because the noodles soak up the moisture from the pasta salad. I would enjoy it with 2-3 days. Hope that helps 🙂
I did not have dill , so Iadded a little dill relish. Cooked some hard boiled eggs to go with! Love it!
What a great adaptation. Thanks for sharing!
I’ve made this twice now and it’s super delicious !! Perfect for snack time or lunch time. Absolutely delicious.
I have wanted to try this recipe for a while. Finally made it today as a side for dinner. It was very good, but I have never tasted Greek yogurt before. I did not like that taste in this salad. When I make it again, I’ll use only mayo. I guess the sharp taste of the Greek yogurt surprised me. Thanks for sharing.
Just got around to trying this and I love it!