This cold and creamy tuna pasta salad recipe is jam-packed with vegetables and protein. The creaminess of the mayo, the light saltiness of the fish, the crispiness of the vegetables, and the filling pasta mixed together make an easy side dish or lunch to go.
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Ingredients
- dry tri-color spiral pasta - or your favorite short-cut pasta
- solid white tuna - drained and broken into chunks
- red onion - diced
- red bell pepper - diced
- yellow bell pepper - diced
- celery - diced
- mayo
- dried tarragon
- Optional Toppings: boiled quail eggs and crispy onions
*Check recipe card for ingredient amounts.
How to Make Tuna Pasta Salad
- Make pasta, al dente, according to package instructions. Drain and rinse with cold water. Transfer to a large bowl.
- Add the rest of the pasta ingredients to the bowl of pasta and mix well. Season with salt and pepper, to taste.
- Chill in the refrigerator for 1 to 2 hours. (Or you can serve it warm, if desired.)
- Serve with the toppings.
Tips
Here are some tips and info to help make sure that this recipe is among the best tuna pasta salads you have ever made.
Tuna pasta salad is usually served chilled but sometimes I eat it warm like I do with my salmon pasta salad. It's down to personal preference.
You can use many types of pasta, but some of the most popular are the bowtie (or farfalle), the shell, rotini and penne.
- Bowtie pasta is easy to get on your fork, due to being thick and wide and it holds its shape well. It seems to go well with the chunkiness of this salad. And as a bonus if you have kids, they tend to love eating farfalle; possibly because its name means ‘butterflies’ in Italian and the shape is cute and fun.
- Shell pasta can get more meat and mayo inside, making a more flavor-filled bite, but it may be a little harder to get it with a fork, with its shape and slipperiness.
Storage
Leftovers should be covered well and refrigerated. They can last up to 3 to 5 days in the fridge.
Can you Freeze Pasta Salad?
Yes, you can freeze pasta salad, but there are a few tips and conditions to freeze the salad correctly:
- Make sure the pasta isn’t cooked beyond al dente.
- Once cooked, immediately run cold water over the pasta to stop the cooking process.
- Make sure the pasta, the liquid ingredients, and the vegetables are put into separate freezer bags. However, because the liquid ingredients are creamy in this recipe, they will not thaw as well. Because of this, I recommend not freezing the liquid ingredients for this particular recipe, but you can freeze the pasta and veg.
- Hold off on freezing the toppings.
What to Serve with Pasta Salad
Because pasta salad is often served as a side dish, it can be paired with many proteins. I’ve seen pasta salads served frequently during the summer with BBQ'd foods like pulled pork burgers, grilled chicken and hot dogs.
However, because this salad already contains seafood, you might want to avoid serving it with red meats as it might throw some people off.
Some meat free sides include crusty bread or breadsticks, vegetable-based soup, stuffed mushrooms, fries, etc.
You can easily eat this salad on its own as a main dish. It’s great for packing in lunches!
Which pasta salad temperature do you like best: warm or chilled? Let me know in the comments and if you liked this tuna pasta salad recipe, please share it!
Hungry for more seafood recipes? Check out our Chickpea Salmon Salad or this step-by-step on How to Cook Salmon with Skin On.
📋Recipe
Cold and Creamy Tuna Pasta Salad
Ingredients
For the Pasta:
- 2 cups dry tri-color spiral pasta - or your favorite short-cut pasta
- 2 cans solid white tuna - drained and broken into chunks
- ½ cup red onion - diced
- ½ cup red bell pepper - diced
- ½ cup yellow bell pepper - diced
- ½ cup celery - diced
- ⅓ cup mayo
- 1 teaspoon dried tarragon
- salt and pepper - to taste
Toppings:
- 12 quail eggs - boiled, peeled and sliced in half
- 2 tablespoons crispy onions
Instructions
- Make pasta, al dente, according to package instructions. Drain and rinse with cold water. Transfer to a large bowl.
- Add the rest of the pasta ingredients to the bowl of pasta and mix well. Season with salt and pepper, to taste.
- Chill in the refrigerator for 1 to 2 hours. (Or you can serve it warm, if desired.)
- Serve with the toppings.
Notes
- Pasta salad is usually served chilled but can be eaten warm as well.
- You can use many types of pasta, but some of the most popular are the bowtie (or farfalle), the shell, rotini and penne.
- Bowtie pasta is easy to get on your fork, due to being thick and wide and it holds its shape well.
- The shell version can get more meat and mayo inside, making a more flavor-filled bite, but it may be a little harder to get it with a fork, with its shape and slipperiness.
- Leftovers should be covered well and refrigerated. They can last up to 3 to 5 days in the fridge.
- You can freeze pasta salad, but there are a few tips and conditions to freeze the salad correctly:
- Make sure the pasta isn’t cooked beyond al dente.
- Once cooked, immediately run cold water over the pasta to stop the cooking process.
- Make sure the pasta, the liquid ingredients, and the vegetables are put into separate freezer bags. However, because the liquid ingredients are creamy in this recipe, they will not thaw as well. Because of this, I recommend not freezing the liquid ingredients for this particular recipe, but you can freeze the pasta and veg.
- Hold off on freezing the toppings.
Nutrition
Nutrition information on In the Kitch is provided as a courtesy and is an estimate only. It may not include toppings and/or sauces.
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