This Tuna Pasta Salad recipe is a favorite easy meal.
Flaky tuna, tender pasta, some cheese, and a handful of peas are tossed in a simple creamy dressing with a touch of dill.
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Ingredients Tips for Tuna Pasta Salad
This pasta salad is both quick and simple to make with ingredients you likely have on hand. Best of all, it can be made ahead of time.
- Tuna: Solid or chunk white albacore tuna will have bigger pieces and a slightly milder flavor, while light tuna will have smaller pieces.
- Pasta: My preference is rotini or shells, so the ridges grab the dressing!
- Add-Ins: Celery, green onions, frozen peas, and cheddar cheese add texture and flavor to this salad.
- Dressing: Mayonnaise and sour cream make a creamy base, while sweet relish, dill, and vinegar add sweetness and flavor.
Make It Lighter
- Choose water-packed tuna over oil-packed tuna.
- Replace all of the sour cream (and some of the mayonnaise) with Greek yogurt.
- Stir in extra veggies like diced red bell pepper.
Variations
Perfect for potlucks, BBQs, and summer meals – this tuna pasta salad can be made with what you have on hand.
- Swaps
- Replace sweet pickle relish with chopped dill pickles.
- Swap green onion for 2 to 3 tablespoons diced red onion.
- Additions
- Add a spoonful of Dijon, a squeeze of lemon juice, or fresh herbs to the dressing.
- Add chopped hard-boiled eggs.
How to Make Tuna Pasta Salad
- Cook Pasta: Boil the pasta (recipe below).
- Mix Dressing: Combine the dressing ingredients in a large mixing bowl.
- Combine & Refrigerate: Add the cold pasta and remaining ingredients to the bowl and gently toss to combine. Refrigerate for one hour.
Whether you make it in advance or fresh to eat, keep it chilled until you are ready to serve.
Holly’s Tip
As the pasta salad sits, the pasta soaks in the dressing.
This is great because it flavors the salad throughout (and it’s why refrigerating is recommended before serving). Dress the salad generously so it’s nice and creamy as the dressing is absorbed.
Serving, Storage, and Leftovers
When serving it outdoors, put the salad in a bowl on a small tray or plate of ice to keep it cold. Stir frequently to keep it all chilled throughout!
Tuna pasta salad can be kept in a sealed container in the fridge for up to 4 days, making it great for lunches.
More Favorite Pasta Salad Recipes
We love pasta salads as a side dish or to serve as a hot weather meal.
Did you make this Tuna Pasta Salad? Be sure to leave a rating and a comment below!
Equipment
Ingredients
- 3 cups rotini measured dry, approx 6oz
- 1 (5 ounce) can tuna drained
- ½ cup finely diced celery
- 3 green onions thinly sliced
- ¾ cup frozen peas thawed
- 1 cup diced cheddar cheese optional
Dressing
- ⅔ cup mayonnaise
- ⅓ cup sour cream or plain Greek yogurt
- 2 tablespoons sweet relish
- 1 tablespoon white vinegar
- ½ teaspoon dried dill or 1 ½ teaspoons fresh chopped dill
- salt and black pepper to taste
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the pasta and cook al dente according to package directions. Rinse under cold water to stop cooking.
- In a large serving bowl, add the mayonnaise, sour cream, relish, vinegar and dill.
- Add the cold pasta to the dressing mixture, along with the drained tuna, celery, onion, peas, and cheese.
- Refrigerate at least 1 hour. Stir and serve.
Notes
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Course Fish, Pasta, Salad, Side Dish
Cuisine American© SpendWithPennies.com. Content and photographs are copyright protected. Sharing of this recipe is both encouraged and appreciated. Copying and/or pasting full recipes to any social media is strictly prohibited. Please view my photo use policy here.
Love your recipes!! glad I found you on the web!
I’m so glad you found me too Richard, thank you for following along!
Loved it, just loved it. This tuna pasta salad is just as delicious as your cucumber pasta salad. I could live just eating these 2 refreshing salad. Love your recipes and thank you for you.
Your comment made my day Judy, so glad you’ve loved the recipes.
Super yummy and easy! I omitted the relish because I’m not a fan. Second time making this recipe in the past month serving 12 or more people and it was a hit!
I am seeing this for the first time and definitely want to try. I think you could really change up the flavor by using flavored/seasoned tuna that comes in pouches. Thanks for all your great recipes!
Sounds great Shannon! You’re welcome!
Creamy, delicious! This is a perfect tuna pasta salad.
I used 4 cups of rotini, 2 tins of tuna and a variety of fresh vegetables served on fresh greens. No cheddar. I followed your directions for the dressing exactly.
Absolutely delicious. Thank you Holly.
This was a very big hit. I made this salad just as written by the author. The cheddar cheese was optional so I did NOT add it. I did use tri-color rotini pasta. The family liked everything about this salad. No complaints at all. I will save this recipe and definitely make again. Thank you Holly Nilsson for publishing it.
You’re welcome Pat, so glad it was such a hit with your family!
love this recipe second time making it! only this time i added cuccumbers and spinach we were out of celery. Tweaked the mayo mix but was still outstanding. 5 stars for sure
Loved this salad and will be making again. My whole family was very happy – ages 3 and 2 and husband. Didn’t add the cheese but I’m sure it would be good. I also think hard boiled eggs would be great in it.
Love this and I made it!! ❤ I love the addition of cheese which gives it an extra kick!
I have made this two times now and it is a new family favorite. I double the dill pickle relish (love me some dill!) and make it with extra sharp cheddar cheese. Like Angelina said before, one 6-oz can of tuna is too little given that it’s supposed to be tuna pasta and not pasta tuna. I double that as well. Mixes up super easy. I’m not a peas guy, so for this round I added a cup of cooked corn for the veggie. Everything tastes fantastic, and the xtra-sharp cheddar gives it a nice “punch” in every biteful. It may be great for summer, but it’s winter here, and we love having a quick-grab meal in a bowl that we can enjoy any time.
I added diced sweet peppers tomsti and peas since I hate celery and my husband hates onions. It turned out really really good! Great meal for lunches this week!
I have been making this for years w/o the carrots, hot with crackers
Very good classic pasta and tuna salad recipe. To use cheese in this or any cold recipe, put the cheese on the side or add it to only the portion you know you will eat that day. Cheese gets a little mushy when sitting in a dressing, so it’s better to add it shortly before eating and store it separately for leftovers.
Delicious tasting tuna salad! Easy, light for summer dinner option. Had to modify recipe with chopped purple onion and dill pickle since I didn’t have green onions and sweet relish. Turned out just fine. Will definitely make again! Thanks Holly!
Janet
So glad you enjoyed it Janet!
So good! My son asked me why I was looking up a recipe as I already had a good one according to my family. Well this one is a keeper. I used “smoked cheddar cheese ” and I think that was what made us all love it. I also omitted the relish but will try next time.
Yum! I bet smoked cheese would be great in this!
Needs more tuna, but otherwise very tasty. A 6 oz. can of tuna only yields 5 ounces after draining.
You can definitely add more tuna to your liking, Angelina! But I am glad you enjoyed it :)
I have to say this was a very pleasant surprise. It was very good, only thing I did differently was add an extra tbsp of relish and add boiled eggs. Even my husband who is not tolerant of other foods besides our native food said he love it.
I just put this all together for dinner about 90 min from now. Plenty of time to get chilled. It looks and tastes fabulous. The dressing is quite tasty. I didn’t have the green onions and almost substituted white onion but decided it was fine without it. This looks like a keeper recipe. Looking forward to a cold dinner on a 90 degree day!
So excited for you to try it Dan! It is perfect for a hot day.
Holly, the tuna pasta salad looks so good, can’t wait to try this. Perfect for these HOT summer days. Anything I don’t have to turn the oven on is a blessing.
We totally agree Cheri! In the summer these no oven recipes are a life saver.
This looks really good, and nice to have when it’s so HOT outside!!! And easy to make also! :)
Thanks…. will be trying it soon and let u know how it much we enjoyed it. :)
I hope you love it Tess!