Tuna pasta salad is the summertime version of its comfort food cousin, tuna casserole. It’s light, salty, easy to make, and delicious.
The secret ingredient to my recipe is a small amount of tartar sauce, which gives it a slight tangy flavor. This recipe makes enough for one person to eat for a week, or for a family to enjoy for dinner, but still have enough for leftovers!
How to Make It
It takes about 20 minutes to make this recipe. The longer part comes when you need to take time to let it cool, since it tastes much better after chilling it in the refrigerator for a while.
Ingredients
- 2 cans of solid white albacore tuna in water
- ½ cup mayonnaise
- 1 tablespoon tartar sauce
- 1 box (16 ounces) of pasta – I like to use medium pasta shells or penne pasta
- Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
Cook the pasta according to the instructions on the box and drain it in a colander. Rinse it with cold water so it cools down.
Open and drain the tuna and empty into a large mixing bowl. Add about 3 tablespoons of mayonnaise to the tuna and mix it well, making sure to mash and eliminate any large chunks of tuna.
Add the pasta to the tuna in the large bowl. Add the rest of the mayo, as well as the tartar sauce, to the mix and stir well.
Add salt and pepper to taste, and allow the whole bowl of pasta salad to refrigerate for several hours or overnight. Once it comes out of the fridge, taste it. If it’s too dry, add more mayo and stir it to mix it.
Serve cold. Makes 10 servings.