Tuna pasta salad made with creamy dressing, peas, and cheddar cheese is the ultimate spring and summer side dish!
Yesterday was the first day of spring, which means break out all the salads! This tuna pasta salad recipe is a must have in the upcoming spring and summer rotation. Serve it alongside some frosted lemonade and marinated flank steak!
Tuna Pasta Salad
Tuna Pasta Salad
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Tuna Pasta Salad Ingredients
- Pasta – We used shells, but any style of pasta will work. Use elbow noodles to make a classic macaroni tuna salad!
- Tuna – Drained.
- Dill pickles – Diced.
- Cheddar cheese – small cubed
- Mayonnaise – Regular or low fat are fine, but we do not recommend fat free.
- Vinegar – Regular white vinegar.
- Veggies – Peas (frozen is fine), celery, red onion.
- Spices & herbs – Garlic salt, onion salt, black pepper, dill weed.
How do you make a cold tuna pasta salad? (Step-by-step)
⭐ First, prepare pasta per package directions. Drain and rinse with cold water.
⭐ Next, in a large mixing bowl, stir together pasta, tuna, peas, celery, onion, dill pickles, and cheese.
⭐ Then, in a small bowl, whisk together mayo, vinegar, garlic salt, onion salt, black pepper and dried dill weed.
⭐ Finally, add to pasta and stir until well incorporated.
Preparation
Can I use frozen peas?
You can definitely use frozen peas in this recipe. Frozen, fresh, or canned will work. You don’t even need to thaw the frozen peas, as they will thaw on their own while you’re making the salad.
Can you make tuna noodle salad ahead of time?
You can make it ahead of time but for best results, don’t stir the dressing in until immediately before serving. You can toss the cooked pasta with a little bit of olive oil or vegetable oil to keep it from sticking together.
How do you make tuna pasta salad gluten free?
Make gluten free tuna noodle salad by swapping regular pasta for gluten free pasta, or go pure veggie and use zucchini noodles! If you are using zucchini noodles, don’t cook them.
Substitutions
- Mayo – try swapping the mayo for half Greek yogurt to add protein and a little more tang.
- Pasta – swap for gluten free pasta or zucchini noodles
- Dressing – change things up by using a vinaigrette like our easy citrus vinaigrette or creamy apple cider vinaigrette. Or how about a chunky blue cheese dressing or classic ranch dressing!
- Pickles – give it a kick and try using pickled jalapenos instead of cucumber pickles!
Leftovers and storage
How long is tuna pasta salad good for?
It will stay good in the refrigerator for 3 – 4 days if properly stored in a sealed air tight container. You may need to whisk in some milk or water before serving if the noodles are stuck together.
If the salad was out at room temperature for more than two hours at any point, do not save the leftovers.
Can you freeze tuna pasta salad?
You can freeze it! Allow to defrost overnight in the refrigerator and then whisk in some milk or water to bring it back to life before serving.
Frequently asked questions
How do I make my tuna pasta salad creamy again after refrigerating?
If your salad has seized up after being refrigerated, whisk in some milk or water to loosen up the dressing before serving.
How do I make tuna pasta salad healthier?
Healthy will depend on what diet you’re following, but here are a few suggestions for different diets.
- Low calorie: Try swapping regular mayo for low fat mayo or a combo of mayo and greek yogurt, and regular cheese for low fat cheese. You can also trade the pasta for zucchini noodles.
Tips and tricks
🟢 If making ahead, store the dressing separately and mix together immediately before serving.
🟢 For outdoor serving, place bowl of pasta salad into a larger bowl of ice water to keep at a safe temp.
🟢 Want more veggies? Try a bag of frozen mixed vegetables like peas, carrots, and green beans.
Complete your meal with our recipe suggestions
This tuna salad with peas, cubed cheese, celery and onion can totally be a meal in itself, but if you’re serving it as a side dish, here are some awesome ideas for the rest of your meal: easy smoked chicken legs, grilled ribeye steaks, teriyaki chicken kabobs, or roast beef sandwiches. And make sure to serve something sweet at the end like easy banana pudding with nilla wafers, peach dump cake, or fruit pizza with cream cheese icing!
More summer side dishes
- Dill cucumber salad
- Creamy Macaroni salad
- Broccoli salad with bacon
- Easy potato salad recipe
- Corn and tomato salad
- Healthy broccoli slaw
More salads to love
- Brussel sprout salad with citrus dressing
- Antipasto salad recipe
- Egg salad recipe
- Italian pasta salad recipe
- Cobb salad with hard boiled eggs
- Steak salad with cranberries and goat cheese
More recipes with canned meat
Tools we love
- Santoku knife – My favorite knife for cutting vegetables! This knife is the perfect size and shape, handles great, and is super reasonably priced. Also, I just love that it’s fun and colorful!
- End grain cutting board – This is my absolute favorite cutting board and the one that I get the most compliments on. And p.s. I have a lot of cutting boards. It really is absolutely stunning, and knows how to take a beating. We use it every single day!
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How to Make Tuna Pasta Salad
Tuna Pasta Salad
Ingredients
- 1 pound shell pasta
- 12 ounces tuna drained
- 1 cup frozen peas
- 1 cup celery chopped
- 1/2 red onion finely diced
- 1/2 cup dill pickles diced
- 8 ounces cheddar cheese diced
- 1 1/2 cup mayonnaise
- 1 tablespoon vinegar
- 1 teaspoon garlic salt
- 1 teaspoon onion salt
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon dried dill weed
Instructions
- Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain and rinse with cold water.
- In a large mixing bowl, stir together pasta, tuna, peas, celery, onion, dill pickles, and cheese.
- In a small bowl, whisk together mayo, vinegar, garlic salt, onion salt, black pepper and dried dill weed.
- Add to pasta and stir until well incorporated.
Video
Notes
- Add pasta + 4.5 cups of water to the instant pot. Stir. Cook on manual (high pressure) for 4 minutes. Do a careful quick release, pausing if it begins to sputter.
- Drain pasta and rinse with cool water, continue with recipe as written above.
Nutrition
Need another recipe that won’t heat up the kitchen? Try these easy summer rolls!
Tuna Pasta Salad
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Katie says
Just made this and seriously one of my favorite recipes! The kids loved it too! A double win.
Kellie Hemmerly says
One of our favorite pantry meals!! Super easy and flavorful!
Toni says
I loved it! Packed full of amazing flavors and so easy to make!!
Monica L McGill says
I’ve been making this for years, minus the cheese and peas and using sweet pickle relish, dill pickle juice and a few other spices and seasonings. It’s absolutely delicious if you add a cup of cooked shrimp, crabmeat or lobster! Sometimes I also mix the tuna using canned albacore with regular chunk light, all packed in water and if you can find wild caught tuna it’s even tastier in this recipe!
Lynnlees62 says
Delicious! I love a good pasta salad and I love tuna salad. I also love watching cook April live when I get a chance. This was amazing! I’m not a dill fan but decided to give it a try anyway and it was fantastic. Thanks, April!
April Woods says
you’re too sweet!
Terrie says
Do you have to use dill?
April Woods says
no, you can skip the dill if you prefer 🙂
Sam says
So the weather is going to be 110 average this week so I made a batch of this tonight. Brings back childhood memories. I added capers and a little hot sauce.
s. hohmann says
Do you use mayonaise or Miracle Whip?
April Woods says
mayo 🙂
Buba says
Very tastey…and so versatile to add your own extra bits.
Easy to make. 2 thumbs up.
Thank you for posting this recipe.
Nancy says
This is a great tuna salad recipe, just that if it makes 8 servings, calories per serving is well over 600calories. I plugged all the ingredients into MyFitnessPal to calculate.
April Woods says
Thanks for letting us know! Sometimes the auto-calculator is funky, that’s why I have the caveat in the notes. LOL