My Tuna Pasta Salad is the perfect picnic lunch or anytime meal. With tender pasta, a creamy dressing and healthy tuna, it’s the perfect meal for any time.
Here is another great shareable salad that’s perfect for summer parties. It fits right in with other crowd-pleasing favorites like my Best Ever Classic Macaroni Salad and Mexican Street Corn Salad.
The Best Tuna Pasta Salad
If you’re looking for a healthy dish to bring to your next backyard barbecue, picnic or potluck, look no further than my super easy, delicious and flavorful Tuna Pasta Salad!
Did you know that tuna is full of heart healthy benefits?
Tuna is rich with:
- Omega-3 fatty acids, which help to reduce cholesterol.
- Potassium, which aids in lowering blood pressure.
- Immune system building anti-oxidants, which help fight disease.
- Protein and nutrients, while being low in fat.
Tuna is not only tasty, but it’s actually good for you!
If you’re not quite ready to jump on the tuna bandwagon, this Tuna Pasta Salad is just the right starter for to get you in the Tuna camp.
How to Make Tuna Pasta Salad
- To make this easy pasta salad, start by boiling some salted water and cooking your pasta. A nice, small pasta is best; I chose the shells because they reminded me of the ocean (ha!) but Rotini, Farfalle or even macaroni are great alternatives.
- Once the pasta is cooled, rinse it with cold water. Pasta salads are the only time I recommend rinsing your pasta! This stops the cooking process and cools the pasta quickly so you can assemble your pasta salad without much wait time.
- Next, make the dressing. It’s fairly simple, with a mayonnaise base, a little mustard, lemon juice, dill, garlic, salt and pepper. Set this aside because dressing the Tuna Pasta Salad is the last thing you’ll do.
- I like to use water-packed Albacore Tuna (aff) because it has less fat and I prefer the taste. Drain the water from the can and place the tuna into a large bowl, breaking it up with a fork. Stir this together with the pasta, and add the other ingredients. I used diced onion, celery and pickle relish. You could also use regular pickles (diced), peas or even hard boiled eggs.
- Once these ingredients are mixed together, fold in the dressing until the pasta salad is well coated. Garnish with some fresh minced parsley, lemon zest or freshly cracked black pepper.
This Tuna Pasta Salad makes a lot, so it’s great for a picnic or potluck side dish. I enjoy it as a lunch – it will last me several days – or it will serve our entire family for dinner, and still have a lunch ready for the next day.
Can I make this salad in advance?
If you want to make this recipe more than a couple of hours in advance, I recommend preparing the salad separate from the dressing, and just adding the dressing right before serving. Otherwise the pasta will soak up the dressing and you won’t get that creamy texture you really want.
What to do with leftovers
Your tuna pasta salad will keep well in the fridge for a 3-4 days as long as it’s properly stored in an airtight container. You can add a little mayo to moisten it if it gets a little dry as the pasta will soak up some of the dressing. However, I do recommend eating this salad within 24 hours for maximum flavor and freshness.
For other delicious pasta salads, check these out:
And here are more delicious tuna and salmon recipes to try:
- Tuna Salad Lettuce Wraps with Lemon, Dill & Black Pepper Mayo
- Easy Baked Salmon with Honey Garlic Butter
- The Best Tuna Casserole Recipe
Tuna Pasta Salad
Ingredients
- 16 ounces uncooked small pasta like shells or farfalle
- 17- ounces canned white albacore tuna packed in water, drained** (see notes)
- 1 cup mayonnaise
- 1 teaspoon yellow mustard
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon fresh dill
- ½ cup diced celery
- ½ cup diced red onion
- ½ cup pickle relish
- Salt and pepper
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of water to boil. Add salt and the pasta. Cook to al dente (according to package instructions. Drain and rinse with cold water to stop the cooking process. Set aside.
- In a small bowl, combine mayonnaise, mustard, garlic powder, lemon juice and fresh dill.
- Combine all ingredients together in a large bowl. Season to your liking with salt and pepper.
- Serve at immediately or chilled. Store in an air-tight container for up to 3 days in the refrigerator.
Notes
Hi it says it makes 6 serves but no how much a serve is? What is the serve size and do you know the calories for it?
Serving sizes are approximate. This recipe will make about 6-1.5 cup servings. We are working on adding the nutritional content and hope to have all recipes updated soon.
Super tasty! I love peas and mustard, but my husband hates them. So I exchanged the peas for diced English cucumber and left out the mayo using 3/4 mayo and 1/4 Miracle whip – was so tasty and refreshing! Thanks for posting!
EDIT – *left out the mustard*
My dad always loved Miracle Whip. Glad you made this something you love!
The men in my house are picky, picky eaters, but they love this dish. They ask for it every week. Perhaps because I’m a terrible cook and you can’t muck up this recipe. 😄 It is so easy. I can’t eat onions, so we go without. Still tastes good.
I’m not a big fan of onions either, so I totally get it!
Sounds delicious & could actually be a cool & lite summer meal . Can’t wait to try it . Thank you
Thank you Cathi for stopping by.
I like peas, so I added 1 c. thawed, rinsed frozen peas and it turned out really great.
I also replaced the red onion with white onion and it has a nice, sweet flavor.
Thanks for the great recipe!
That’s awesome Janet! thank you so much for stopping by!
Would you happen to know the calorie count on a serving ?
We are in the process of updating recipes to include nutritional information. However in the meantime myfitnesspal.com is an excellent resource.
My family likes the addition of chopped walnuts in this. Also we’re not fans of sweet relish (too sweet), so we sub in dried cranberries.
I’ve been looking for a lower fat tuna pasta salad for some time now, and I came across this recipe. I love the addition of lemon juice and the fact that you didn’t put any sugar in the dressing (the relish is sweet enough as is) 🙂 I used 2 average size cans of tuna, and it seemed to be enough for the boxed Rotini pasta that I used. I also used whipped dressing (Miracle Whip) as we like the tanginess of it, but I WILL try it with real mayonnaise the next time. I didn’t have any dill (nor do I use it on a regular basis), but the dressing tasted fine without. I love tuna pasta salad, and I think I’ve found my go-to recipe for the summer 🙂
That’s Awesome Lorie! thank you so much for sharing your experience.
Hello- how many days will this last in the refrigerator?
Tuna salad will last 3-4 days in the refrigerator in an airtight container.
Would you say this would fill a 13 x 9 foil pan?
Maybe? I’m not sure how many cups that would be but I’m thinking if you increased the recipe by 50% at least you’d have plenty.
Really good!
Thank you Linda!
Prepared mustard or the spice?
Yellow mustard, or you could use dijon if you like.
Purple Spanish onion makes this salad look & taste even better!
Great idea Brenda! thank you for sharing.
I have a couple of questions: Miracle Whip or Hellmann’s (real) mayonnaise? Also, the pickle relish, sweet relish, I assume?
I supposed it’s a personal preference, but I only use real mayonnaise.
I’m confused by the pasta measurements, do you mean 16oz (an absurd amount of pasta) or 2 cups (closer to 6oz for the pasta I’m intending to use)? I’ve never seen fluid ounces used for pasta before.
It’s not fluid ounces. It’s based on the dry pasta amounts that you’ll find on the packaging. 16 ounces is one box of traditional pasta that you’ll find at the grocery store.
You rock Kristin
Love this recipe! Made it today and it’s fantastic. I dislike peas so I was excited to try your recipe-first I’ve seen that didn’t include peas. I made it exactly as written, definitely will make again. Thanks for the recipe!
I am also not a fan of peas – glad you enjoyed it!
Looks really yummy, but I have a question. Is it 1 (7 oz) can of tuna or 17 oz of tuna?
17 ounces is correct. I added a note to clarify. I actually used one 5-ounce can and one 12-ounce can and that was a good amount.