Tuna pasta is such a great dinner to make when you don’t have much in the cupboard. For canned tuna recipe cynics out there – it’s time to take a leap of faith! This is seriously tasty, very economical and super fast – it comes together in 15 minutes flat, from start to finish.
Yes – canned tuna CAN be delicious!
I feel like the words “tasty meal” and “canned tuna” aren’t usually in the same sentence. Bad memories of poor cash strapped university days and crash diets, hastily thrown together tuna and rice, bland tuna salads, mayo-laden tuna sandwiches.
But you can make canned tuna delicious!!! Just a little bit of thought, a bit of imagination, a smidge of effort and a lot of anticipation for a hot, tasty meal as your reward.
Today’s reward in question? Tuna pasta. A spritz of lemon, a sprinkle of capers, and using the oil from the tuna can. You never knew a canned tuna pasta could be so delicious!!!
Ingredients in canned tuna pasta
No capers? Chop pickles instead. No lemon? Add a dash of vinegar. No anchovies? Still worth making! We get a really good (free) flavour boost by using the oil from the cans of tuna. Anchovies just makes it that little bit more special!
Garlic missing from the photo – oops! 🙂
Canned tuna – Tuna in oil is the go here! We use the oil from the can of tuna for the sauce to sauté the garlic until golden. No tuna in oil? It’s ok! Just use olive oil instead and tip the liquid from the can of tuna into the sauce.
TIP – Not all canned tuna is created equal. Premium canned tuna in a good fruity olive oil will set you back more than a generic home brand in tasteless canola oil. But also, premium canned tuna piled on crusty bread with a drizzle of the oil from the can is pure joy. I hope you try it one day. 🙂
Anchovies – Anchovies make everything taste better! Finely minced then sautéed in oil so they dissolve and lose the fishiness, just leaving great savouriness into the dish. I always have a jar in the fridge. Always! Anchovy paste – use 1 teaspoon.
Capers – For a pop of fresh tang! I like to use baby capers. If you only have large ones, give them a rough chop. No capers? Chop pickles instead!
Lemon – Juice for sour and zest for lemon flavour. It really does lift the dish so I hope you have it! Lemon is a staple ingredient I always have on hand. But if you don’t, this dish is still worth making. Add a dash of vinegar instead.
Chilli flakes / red pepper flakes – For a hum of warmth. This isn’t a spicy pasta. Substitute with finely chopped fresh chilli or a smidge of chilli paste or sauce (add this at the end). Or leave it out for no spiciness at all.
Parsley – For freshness. Not critical.
Pictured below is the tuna I’ve used, a mid-range one sold at supermarkets in Australia. I use 3 x 95g/3.5oz small cans which I feel is the right amount of protein for a pasta which serves 2 people. However, the recipe can take more or less tuna so don’t get too hung up on exact tuna quantity!
How to make canned tuna pasta
Get the pasta cooking then start preparing the ingredients for the sauce. That’s how you’ll get this on the table in 15 minutes flat, from start to finish!
Cook the pasta in salted water per packet directions minus 1 minute. The pasta will be slightly under al dente (ie underdone) but that’s ok. The pasta will finish cooking with the sauce, during which time it will absorb the tasty flavours of the sauce!
Reserve pasta cooking water – Just before draining, scoop out 1 cup of cooking water then drain the pasta. Why? Because we will be using this to make the sauce for the pasta. The starch in the pasta cooking water will react with the oil in the sauce to make it thicken so it clings to the pasta strands instead of remaining as a watery sauce at the bottom of the pan.
Tuna oil – Pour the oil from the tuna can(s) into the same pot and heat over medium heat.
Sauté garlic, anchovies and chilli flakes for 1 minute.
Pasta and water – Add the pasta, capers and 1/3 cup of reserved pasta water. Toss using 2 spatulas for 2 minutes. During this step, the oil and the starchy pasta cooking water will thicken into a sauce that clings to the pasta. Also during this step the pasta will finish cooking from just under al dente to al dente. If the pasta is still too firm for your taste, add more of the pasta cooking water and keep cooking the pasta.
Add tuna – Turn off the heat. Add tuna, parsley, lemon zest, juice, salt and pepper. Toss gently so the tuna stays in chunks and doesn’t crumble into tiny little bits.
Then serve immediately!
As with all pastas, this is at its prime freshly made, right off the stove, when the pasta is hot and slippery with sauce! If it’s sitting around for a while and the pasta cools down and dries out, it can be easily rejuvenated with a splash of the reserved pasta cooking water and a toss on the stove for 30 seconds or so, to reheat the pasta and make it slick with sauce again.
To make it a complete meal, don’t hesitate to throw in a couple of handfuls of rocket/arugula or baby spinach at the end. Else, serve it with a simple garden salad or whatever leafy greens / steam vegetables you’ve got tossed with an everyday salad dressing.
Enjoy! – Nagi x
Watch how to make it
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The most amazing canned tuna pasta!
Ingredients
- 200g / 7oz spaghetti , or other thin long pasta
- 1 tbsp cooking salt , for cooking pasta
Tuna sauce:
- 285g/ 10 oz (approx) canned tuna in oil , drained, oil reserved (I use 3 x 95g/3.5oz cans, Note 1)
- 2 clove garlic , finely minced
- 2 anchovy fillets , minced (Note 2)
- 1/2 tsp chilli flakes / red pepper flakes (can skip, Note 3)
- 2 tsp baby capers (or finely chopped pickles)
- 1 tbsp parsley , finely chopped (ok to skip)
- 1 tsp lemon zest
- 2 tbsp lemon juice (sub 1 tbsp apple cider or sherry vinegar)
- 1/4 tsp cooking/kosher salt
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
Instructions
- Cook pasta – Bring 3 litres / 3 quarts of water to the boil with the 1 tablespoon of salt. Cook pasta per the packet time minus 1 minute. Just before draining, scoop out ~1 cup pasta cooking water, then drain the pasta.
- Sauté aromatics – In the same pot, heat the reserved oil from the tuna cans over medium heat. Add the garlic, anchovies and chilli flakes. Cook and stir for 1 minute.
- Toss pasta – Add the pasta, capers and 1/3 cup of reserved pasta water. Toss using 2 spatulas for 2 minutes.
- Add tuna – Turn off the heat. Add tuna, parsley, lemon zest, juice, salt and pepper. Toss gently to mix through – try to keep some tuna chunks.
- Serve immediately!
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
Got canned tuna? Dinner’s half done!
Life of Dozer
At my local coffee shop, Zubi in Newport (Sydney Northern Beaches). Best coffee in my area – I searched wide and far!!
We had this last night and it was absolutely delicious! I think next time I make it, I might add some marinated artichoke hearts. I think it would work really well with this dish.
This was incredible, thanks for the super easy dinner!
Dear Nagi, you are so right about the range of canned tuna. I’m a Sirena girl from way back, and usually go for the rather heavenly basil oil variety.
This one is going on regular rotation in our house. So simple, easy to make but with so much flavour. I omitted the anchovies (yucko) but my husband asked for me to include them next time! (Maybe just in his bowl then haha) Thanks Nagi, so good. x
Add them you’ll love it!! Doesn’t give an anchovy taste but elevates the dish!!!
I made it. It was delightful! The addition of the anchovies and lemon really elevated the boring tuna. I added zucchini to make it “healthier “.
Didn’t cooked this yet, but just want to say you’re the master of substitution, I don’t have some of the ingredients and I’m so glad your content was so detailed and complete. Thank you.
Made this for a quick solo dinner tonight and it did not disappoint. It was delicious – looking forward to left overs for lunch tomorrow!
Very tasty and nice and adaptable.
Variations:
— 2 tbs of capers instead of 2 tsp kind of by mistake. My large jar looked almost empty so I drained it but it turned out there was about 2 tbs of capers left. Was worried it might be too capery but it was fine. (Didn’t add any salt because of high sodium in capers, tuna and anchovies.)
— 1 cup of frozen peas and a finely-sliced zucchini added to boiling pasta 2 mins before cooking time.
— No parsley so added small packet of mixed spinach/rocket leaves.
I do something very similar to that except using chunks of avocado instead of green peas. And the lemon is essential to cut through the oiliness of the other ingredients. It’s incredibly easy and quick and delicious and satisfying.
So good! I already had the same tuna cans but with chilli so I didn’t use the chilli flakes, I think I’ll try out different tuna flavours!
What a great change from the same old tuna mayo that we eat. V nice recipe
Amazing. 3 and 6 year old loved it as did we. Easy, cheap and delicious – Nagi in a nutshell really!
I made this with premium tuna in a glass jar with jalapenos so went a little easy on the chili peppers for my husband’s sake . He only ate about a third of it so I ate the rest and loved every bit of it. I’m happy to serve this to our friends. Most people would love it. So yummy.
I made this a couple of weeks ago using spaghetti and it was glorious! Made it today nd used penne rigati as I had no other pasta. It was nice, but I think the penne is too dense and heavy for this recipe and I probably got the proportions a bit off.
What can I say apart from my fault?
It’s a wonderful recipe and I’m a bit disappointed in myself with my second pasta choice, so I’ll stick to the Nagi-meister’s recipe in future!!
Quick and easy weeknight dinner! Everybody loved it!
It will not be on our regular rotation, because I don’t want the kids to eat too much tuna. But I’ll have everything on hand for emergencies. I froze the leftover anchovies and always have canned tuna, frozen parsley, frozen lemon juice with peel at home anyways.
Easy and delicious – now added to my repertoire
Cannot recommend this dish enough, so easy to make and unbelievabley delicious!! Used the lemon pepper tuna as the plain one was out of stock (expected when a new Nagi recipe drops haha) and it was incredible!
Made this the other night and it was absolutely delicious! Thanks Nagi!!
At the request of the teen, who wanted a tuna pasta for dinner, I made this. I used a tuna in olive oil and a small tin of tuna in chilli oil. I also added a few olives as I had some to use. Absolutely delicious and will definitely be making again.
This pasta is unbelievably good !!! I already can’t wait to make it again ! So flavourful and delicious !
I didn’t have parsley so substituted baby spinach. No fresh lemon so used bottled lime juice, added some parmesan. So delicious, love this recipe!!
So yummy and so quick! Pretty much everything is in the pantry so such a great recipe when you just don’t feel like going to the shop. I had some stale bread, so made breadcrumbs and toasted in olive oil to sprinkle on top. Deeeelish.