Tuna Pasta Salad: A creamy, easy recipe using simple, everyday ingredients like mayo, and a few spices, that can be made in only 20 minutes!
A delicious side dish to serve for any weeknight dinner or to even have for a quick, fulfilling lunch!
If you love recipes like this one, then you’ll also love all of our easy delicious pasta salad recipes!
What you’ll love about this pasta salad
Our shrimp macaroni salad has been visited by you all, SO many times, so I knew that since you loved it as much as I did, then you’d also love what we call the best tuna pasta salad recipe!
- This creamy tuna pasta salad is the perfect side dish for a summer bbq or to simply have for an easy lunch or on a busy weeknight as a main course, too!
- If you keep most of the ingredients on hand in the pantry (canned tuna, pasta, vinegar, spices, etc.) you sure won’t need much else, to whip this up in a flash!
Jump to:
Ingredients
10 simple ingredients are all it takes to make this dish! (Even less if you don’t want to use celery or green onion… as they’re optional but they add so much flavor and texture! So I HIGHLY recommend them.)
What you’ll need:
- 5 ounce can of tuna fish, drained
- 1 cup uncooked rotini
- 1/2 cup mayonnaise
- 2 teaspoons plain vinegar
- 1/2 teaspoon seasoned salt
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon white sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/4 cup chopped green onions
- 1/4 cup chopped celery
See the printable recipe card toward the end of this post for ingredients and instructions all in one place.
Instructions
- Boil rotini in water, according to package directions. Drain the cooked pasta and rinse with cold water to cool it down. Place in a large bowl (big enough for all ingredients, and room to stir), or in the bowl that you plan to serve the tuna pasta salad in. Set aside.
- In a small mixing bowl, add mayo and vinegar.
- Next, pour in garlic powder, sugar, seasoned salt, and black pepper.
- Stir to combine mayo and vinegar mixture with spices.
- Pour mayonnaise mixture over pasta.
- Add tuna, celery, and green onion.
- Stir until fully combined and mixed together.
Serve this cold tuna pasta salad right away or chill for later!
Substitutions
If you find that you’re out of some of the items that this recipe calls for, it’s ok to switch some things up! Here are some things you can consider:
- Canned tuna: I prefer the canned tuna that’s in water but you can use the tuna in oil if that’s what you have on hand.
- Pasta: I love the texture of the rotini pasta for this salad but it’s absolutely ok to substitute an other type of pasta, such as elbow pasta, shell pasta, bowtie pasta, etc. I would just recommend a short, smaller pasta, over a longer pasta. You can also use a whole wheat pasta if you prefer.
- Seasoned Salt: If you’re not a fan of this, you can use regular table salt if you prefer.
- Vinegar: Don’t have white vinegar on hand? You may want to try a little lemon juice instead, to get that zing!
- Mayo: I prefer mayo over Miracle Whip or greek yogurt but you can definitely experiment with these if that’s all that you have on hand.
Variations
Eating this tuna pasta salad just the way it is, is my favorite. However, a runner-up to eating it alone, is eating it on a bed of lettuce as a main dish! The crunch of the lettuce leaves with the softness of the pasta and tuna is absolutely incredible, and gives such delicious flavors!
Love kicking things up a notch? Have fun with added flavors, such as hot sauce for a kick!
Other ingredients you may want to consider adding in this easy tuna macaroni salad if you like to mix things up, are:
- red onion
- orange bell peppers, yellow bell peppers, green bell pepper or red bell peppers
- other fresh herbs (such as fresh dill)
- cherry tomatoes, sliced in half
- lemon zest
- fresh peas
- english cucumber
Storage
If you have left over tuna pasta salad, store it in an airtight container for up to 3 days. You can also cover the dish that it’s in, with plastic wrap to keep for later.
Top tip
You can make this in advance if you’re planning on making it for an event or taking it to a potluck. Making it a day in advance or the morning of would be a good idea! Just stir the pasta salad right before serving!
Related Recipes
If you love these kinds of recipes, then you’ll also want to check out this tuna salad recipe, crab salad, and this zesty pasta salad!
Did you make this? I’d be so grateful if you left a review below to let me know what you thought! Then, the next time you need a quick and easy recipe, come back to Fantabulosity to browse all of my easy recipes!
Tuna Pasta Salad
Ingredients
- 5 ounces canned tuna in water (drained)
- 1 cup uncooked rotini
- ½ cup mayonnaise
- 2 teaspoons plain distilled vinegar
- ½ teaspoon seasoned salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- ½ teaspoon white granulated sugar
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ¼ cup chopped green onion
- ¼ cup chopped celery
Instructions
- Boil rotini in water, according to package directions. Drain, and rinse with cold water to cool it down. Place in mixing bowl, or in the bowl that you plan to serve the tuna pasta salad in. Set aside.
- In a small mixing bowl, add mayo and vinegar.
- Next, pour in garlic powder, sugar, seasoned salt, and black pepper.
- Stir to combine mayo and vinegar mixture with spices.
- Pour mayonnaise mixture over pasta.
- Add tuna, celery, and green onion.
- Stir until fully combined and mixed together. Serve!
Nutrition
Nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered estimates. Actual nutritional content will vary with brands used, measuring methods, portion sizes and more.
Jen says
Delicious!!! It was a huge hit over here! We loved this tuna pasta salad 🙂
Toni says
This was so good!! I’d definitely make this again and again for weeknights! Thanks for the recipe!
Kristyn says
Simple, but so tasty!! I haven’t made this in a while, so thank you for the reminder. My family loves it! Time to add it to the menu!