Tuna Pasta Salad

You’ll want to make this Tuna Pasta Salad dish over and over again. It’s light, healthy, filling, delicious, and easy to make.

My parents never cooked with tuna when I was growing up, so I never ate it. In college I began eating it a little more often, mainly at home for lunch in tuna fish sandwiches. Tuna steaks are popular on restaurant menus, but I am a huge texture eater so I have a hard time eating the seared steaks. Instead, I stick with the Albacore tuna at the grocery store. Yes, I know that Albacore has more mercury, and a lot of mercury is bad for you. However, I prefer the texture of Albacore over chunk white, and I don’t eat nearly enough tuna to suffer any negative effects.

When I first began buying tuna at the grocery store, single serving packages were nearly non-existent. So I had to have a couple of tuna recipes in mind so that it wouldn’t go to waste. Fortunately that changed a few years ago, and now there are tons of options. Pre-seasoned/flavored tuna is the newest rage, but I prefer to add my own seasonings.

For a while I had a bad habit where I bought tuna, put it in the pantry, and completely forgot about it. I’ve made a more concerted effort to eat tuna more regularly, because it’s a quick and easy way to get more seafood into my diet. Pinterest has come to the rescue, but I still have a few standard recipes that I rotate.

One of my very early creations is Tuna Pasta Salad. I’ve been making this recipe for years, but just never got around to writing a post about it.

This Tuna Pasta Salad is light, yet filling and really delicious. When I first made this dish, I used raw carrots, celery and onions. I liked the crunch, and the contrast in texture from the tuna and pasta. I also added the peas and asparagus to the past for the last few minutes of cooking. More recently, I’ve been sauteeing the vegetables; it adds a greater depth of flavor, but still retains the crunch.

Elbows is my favorite shape for this Tuna Pasta Salad, though I’ve experimented with penne and other short cuts. I normally use red onions for the color, but will substitute yellow in a pinch. For the vegetables I use asparagus and frozen peas, but green beans or snap peas would be great substitutes. I use light mayonnaise, and use just enough to bring everything together. For the mustard I use what’s handy in the pantry, but lean towards a grainy brown mustard or jalapeno mustard for a little kick. I usually add a few dashes of hot sauce as well.

My most recent addition to the dish, and quite possibly my favorite, is high-quality balsamic vinegar. My friend Dianne introduced me to Lucero Balsamic Vinegar about 2 years ago, and it immediately became one of my favorite pantry items. It is thick and rich, and a little goes a long way. I admit I do still have regular balsamic in my pantry, but that is for when I’m using large quantities.

Tuna Pasta Salad is a dish I don’t make nearly often enough. I think I just forget about it, which makes no sense because it’s one of  my favorite recipes. It’s perfect for a light lunch, and would be wonderful for a picnic or potluck.

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