Tuna Casserole is right up there with meatloaf and scalloped potatoes when it comes to comfort food. It’s been a family favorite for generations!
Flaky tuna is tossed with egg noodles, peas, celery, and mushroom soup. We top this with a buttery breadcrumb topping and bake it until it’s bubbly. Serve this easy recipe with some quick Homemade Buttermilk Biscuits and a side salad for the perfect meal!
We love belly warming casserole recipes. From Cheesy Chicken Casserole to Beef Taco Casserole, there is something so comforting about a bubbly warm meal from the oven.
It’s no surprise that this tuna noodle casserole has held its place at the top of so many family favorite recipes. It is easy to make, but it’s affordable, tasty, and versatile. Nearly any leftovers or any kind of veggies can be tossed right in! Be creative with this tuna fish casserole recipe!
It can go from prep to presentation in no time at all! Need a quick potluck entrée for work or a neighborhood event? This is hands down the best tuna noodle casserole recipe out there!
How to Make Tuna Noodle Casserole
The best part of this tuna casserole recipe is that it takes minimal effort to put together and once it’s in the oven, toss a simple caesar salad to round out the entire meal. Simply combine the ingredients while the noodles are cooking and mix everything together. Sprinkle on the crumb topping and pop into the oven!
Be sure to cook the noodles ‘al dente’ since they will continue to cook in the oven and you want to avoid mushy noodles! I make this tuna casserole with egg noodles, but you can use any kind of pasta you’d like. We use simple vegetables including onion, celery, and peas. This recipe is great with any veggies including leftover Green Beans, roasted carrots or steamed broccoli.
This tuna casserole recipe can be made ahead of time as well so it’s great to prep now and bake later. The creamy, cheesy, mushroom sauce that will satisfy even the pickiest of palates!
How to Freeze Tuna Casserole
It is super easy to freeze a casserole, before or after it’s cooked! It is important to fully thaw a frozen casserole before putting it in the oven to avoid overcooking some areas and undercooking others, especially if the casserole was uncooked to begin with. Just leave it overnight in the fridge to allow it to thaw safely and then bake until it reaches 165°F.
If the casserole is fully baked, let it cool completely before wrapping it and freezing it. Another great tip is to line assemble the casserole in a foil lined pan and freeze after it’s been fully wrapped and sealed. Save that casserole pan for another use! Properly wrapped and sealed casseroles can be frozen for up to 6 months without damaging flavor or texture.
Equipment
Ingredients
- 3 cups egg noodles measured dry *approx 6 ounces
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 small onion diced
- 2 ribs celery diced
- ⅔ cup frozen peas thawed
- 1 (5 ounce each) can tuna drained
- 1 (10.5 ounce each) can condensed cream of mushroom soup
- ⅓ cup milk
- 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley or 1 teaspoon dried parsley
Crumb Topping
- ½ cup panko bread crumbs
- 1 tablespoon melted butter
- ½ cup shredded cheddar cheese
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley or 1 teaspoon dried parsley
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425°F. Combine topping ingredients and set aside.
- Boil noodles al dente according to package directions. Drain and rinse under cold water.
- Cook onion and celery in butter until tender, about 5-7 minutes.
- In a large bowl combine noodles, onion mixture, peas, soup, milk, cheese, tuna and parsley. Mix well.
- Spread into a 2qt casserole dish and top with crumb topping.
- Bake 18-20 minutes or until bubbly.
Notes
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Course Casserole, Dinner
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.
Omg i followed your recipe and it was the bomb. My husband loved it ao much and i told him what do u mean ive always made my tuna casserole this way hon. Lol. But for real thanks for the recipe.
Melanie from Michigan
Love that Melanie! So happy that your husband loves this tuna casserole!
I always like to add Lawrys salt to tuna dishes, really enhanced the flavor.
Oh i never even thought of that even tho i love seasoning salt
This was a great recipe. I did not have any peas on hand and that is not a family favorite veggie so I used frozen broccoli and threw it in with the noodles the last 4 minutes that they cooked. Turned out perfect. Thanks for this recipe!
This was absolutely delicious! I reduced the noodles to 2 cups and added a little whipping cream, along with the 1/3 cup milk, as I like saucier casseroles (baked in 1/5 qt dish). I didn’t have any panko on hand, so combined some Italian breadcrumbs with crushed French fried onions for the topping… SO good!!
Thanks so much for the recipe!!!
My family loved this recipe! We doubled the tuna to suit our tastes and everything came out great. Thanks for sharing this comforting dish!
ur a bloody saint answering these stupid questions! Good recipe thank you:)
I hear you there. It’s amazing what people ask. I won’t mention specific questions, I’m just curious why no one asked how to cook the noodles.
This is a great recipe! I haven’t usually added cheese, but since cheese makes everything better, I will use it. I decided that it would be best to shred it, since a block of cheddar probably wouldn’t work.
My mon used to make tuna casserole for us growing up. I’m not a lover of tuna that much, not can anyway. A few years ago I was on my own and had a taste for tuna casserole but being that I used only a tad tuna, I needed another protein, so I chopped up some ham and I used a very sharp cheddar in small chunks. And “man-o-man”, it was sooooooo good!
Try it sometime!
I definitely don’t get the comments that this was dry — came out creamy for me (and I didn’t add any “wet” ingredients that weren’t in the recipe). I made a few subs/additions because I screwed up and didn’t have breadcrumbs (used fried onions instead, lol), and added dried garlic, rosemary, thyme, red pepper flakes, and a lot of salt and pepper, but that was really just to customize to my tastes; I think the basic recipe is very solid!
Really didn’t like the chunks of celery and not enough tuna.
I found this recipe to be bland. I would definitely add more soup and spices to spruce it up next time. The crumb topping was pretty good though!
I used salmon as no tuna ad husband liked just as well.
Other comments say this is yummy, but it is the blandest casserole I have ever tasted. I even added a bit of kosher salt and pepper to the mix along with minced garlic to try to spruce it up a bit. :( dissapointed.
Sorry to hear that you didn’t enjoy this tuna casserole as much as we do Raquel. Thank you for trying it!
We liked it. What is the serving size for 323 calories?
The serving size is ⅙th of the recipe, approximately 1¼ cup.
Excellent recipe. I tried it and everyone loved it. I made some for a neighbor and a co-worker. Thank you for this recipe.
Looks yummy. Going to have to try.
Delicious! Entire family asked for seconds. Definitely will make again. Any suggestions on how to increase creamy mushroom / cheese sauce? Possibly add little more milk with soup?
So glad your family enjoyed it! You could double the sauce ingredients. If you’d like just a little bit more sauce you could add extra cream or just some extra soup along with the other ingredients.
This recipe is great. Made a few tweaks based on what I had in the house and my family’s preferences. I omitted the celery and parsley and used half the amount of onion. I also cut back on the peas just a little bit. I didn’t have panko so I used seasoned bread crumbs and freshly grated sharp shedder for the topping. I’ll definitely be making this again!!!
I made this today and it was delicious and so easy.
Yes a very good recipe :)
Really good. Had to bake for longer… closer to 40 minutes. Used broil to be own bread crumbs. Only thing added was black pepper and salt. Will make again
Three cups of egg noodles cooked? I used whole bag which evidently was too much since it turned out a little dry. How many ounces of dry noodles? Anyone?
Hi John, this is 3 cups of dry egg noodles which is about 6 ounces. Hope that helps!
I used crushed up fried potato sticks (the kind that come in a round can) for the topping. It turned out fantastic!
I wanted to know if it’s 3 cups of cooked pasta or 3 cups of uncooked pasta? I wasn’t sure if I should measure 3 cups of pasta before I cook it or after.
The pasta is measured before cooking.
My boyfriend and I had never tried tuna casserole and were super skeptical about it, but wanted to give it a shot. It was delicious! We didn’t have celery but it still came out great. Thanks so much for the quick and easy recipe!
So glad you and your boyfriend loved this casserole Justine! You’re so welcome.