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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.
Very nice, I added some Dijon mustard though
I literally just came across this page. I usually do my variation of Tuna Pasta Salad with some of these ingredients, but I also add chopped sweet pepper, sweetcorn, some seasoning to taste…..The kids and hubby love it! I have also experimented with different types of pasta. 🙂
How many cups of dry small shell pasta is 8oz? We don’t use ounces as a measurement in South Africa 🙂 Google is giving me mixed results . . .
It’s about 2-3 cups.
2 cups of dry pasta equals 8 oz.
…such a delicious tuna salad. I made it with a dash of lime juice and mayo minus the Greek yogurt. My husband, who normally frowns at the words of tuna salad, really enjoyed this one. Thank you so much for sharing! 😊
Super easy to make and tasty
So good! Thank you!
Thank you for sharing this divine recipe.
It doesn’t need a thing!! Served with toasted French bread with melted cheese lightly sprinkled with garlic powder and dill…nice crunchy side.
Sounds delicious … must try it with the toasted French bread,,,
Can you use miracle whip salad dressing instead of real mayo? If I can would I skip the yogart or can that be added to rhe miracle whip. Thamks
Sure. I would keep the yogurt just to help mellow the flavor.
I have never made tuna salad before. This recipe was easy to make. I had to use chopped red pepper instead of celery and only used mayo. I loved the dill seasoning. Both os us really enjoyed this recipe!
I don’t have and Greek yogurt on hand, can I just leave it out or would sour cream work?
Sour cream or mayo would work!