Creamy Tuna Pasta Salad isn't your ordinary pasta salad recipe. It's like tuna salad on steroids! It's a macaroni salad, tuna pasta salad, and a pea salad recipe all rolled up into one. In this delicious cold summer salad, shell pasta is combined with frozen peas, crunchy veggies, canned tuna, and cheddar cheese for an extraordinary side dish or main dish for all your summer parties!

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #GiantEaglePerks #cbias #CollectiveBias 

If you need an easy pasta recipe to bring to a summer party this upcoming Memorial Day weekend, look no further. This Creamy Tuna Pasta Salad is the perfect easy pasta salad recipe to make! My family loves Broccoli and Grape Pasta Salad ,  Easy Broccoli Pasta Salad. and this Amish Macaroni Salad.

But, when it comes to pasta salad recipes with tuna, this Creamy Tuna Pasta Salad is the proven winner! Hands down it's my family's favorite tuna pasta salad recipe. It comes together in minutes making it an easy choice for a quick pot luck dish! And most importantly, it tastes amazing!

Whenever I'm making recipes like this creamy tuna pasta salad, I start out by heading to Giant Eagle/Market District. You might remember me talking about how I love the one stop shopping they offer for groceries, pharmacy items, household items, seasonal items, gift cards, and more all while earning fuelperks+ in past posts. 

It really does make my life easier knowing I can get everything I need AND earn money to save on fuel at GetGo OR earn up to 20% off on groceries. But, what I really love is that I can take those savings and use them to help offset the costs of our yearly summer vacation! How awesome is that?

On this trip to Giant Eagle, I not only purchased groceries and ingredients to make my creamy tuna pasta salad for this upcoming weekend using my Giant Eagle Advantage card, but I also purchased a few gift cards to give my nephew as a housewarming gift and stocked up on summer essentials like sunscreen and patio items.

And, I earned fuelperks+ on everything!

As you can see above, this trip brought my total earning on fuel up to $3.12. The next day, I headed to the nearest GetGo to fuel up my van with a tank of FREE GAS!  Pretty cool, huh?

It's always such a beautiful site to watch the pump go from whatever outrageous price gas is going for that day to a bunch of zeros once I swipe my Giant Eagle Advantage card loaded with my earned fuelperks+ at the pump.

Isn't it fun that something like buying ingredients for this tuna pasta salad can help earn you a tank of free gas? Want to know more? You can learn more about Giant Eagle's Fuelperks+ program by clicking here.

So now that I've earned my fuelperks+ buying the ingredients for this tuna pasta salad and filled my van tank up with FREE gas, it's time to learn how to make the delicious creamy tuna pasta salad recipe I teased you with at the beginning of this post.

How do I make tuna pasta salad?

Putting this creamy tuna pasta salad together is super easy and takes almost no time at all. You'll need to start by preparing the pasta by following the package directions. While the pasta is cooking, you'll dice up the veggies. Dice them to the size of the pasta for best results! This makes the salad easier to eat! 

Next, drain the pasta and immediately add the frozen peas to the hot pasta and stir. This will help the pasta cool as well as defrost the frozen peas but allow them to stay crisp!

Now make the dressing. Just whisk the dressing ingredients in a large bowl. If you like a thinner dressing, just add a little more red wine vinegar. Easy peasy!

Next, add the pasta and pea mixture on top of the dressing.

Add in those chopped veggies and a can or two of drained and flaked tuna.

Then mix everything together!

Lastly, add in the cubed cheese, taste for salt and pepper and add as desired, mix again and pop the whole thing (covered) into the fridge for about an hour or so to allow the salad to chill and the flavors to blend.

tuna pasta salad, tuna macaroni salad

salad, side dish

American

Yield: 12 servingsAuthor: Renee Paj

Creamy Tuna Pasta Salad

Creamy Tuna Pasta Salad is an easy to make pasta salad recipe full of delicious crunchy veggies and protein packed tuna in a creamy sauce. Served cold or room temperature, it makes a great side dish or main dish perfect for summer.

prep time: 10 minscook time: 1 hourtotal time: 1 hours and 10 mins

ingredients:

• 1  - 12 oz. box of shell pasta, cooked according to package directions to al dente
• 8 oz. package of frozen peas
• 2 cups mayonnaise made with olive oil
• 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
• 1 TBS  granulated sugar
• 1/2 tsp. celery salt
• 1 cup finely diced celery
• 1 cup finely diced sweet onion
• 1 cup finely diced sweet red pepper
• 1 - 5 oz. can of tuna packed in oil or water, drained (broken up into chunks)
• 4 oz. sharp cheddar cheese, cubed
• salt and black pepper, to taste

instructions

1. Cook shell pasta according to package directions until al dente. Drain and rise well with cold water. Put frozen peas into colander with hot pasta and stir. Set aside. (the frozen peas will help cool the pasta and the pasta will defrost the peas). 
2. In large bowl, combine the mayonnaise, red wine vinegar, sugar and celery salt with a whisk. 
3. Add the reserved pasta and peas to the mayo mixture.  Add celery, onion, red pepper, and tuna. Stir well to combine. 
4. Add in the cheddar cheese and stir again. 
5. Season with salt and pepper, to your liking, if desired. 
6. Place in refrigerator until chilled (about an hour). Stir again before serving.  Serve cold or at room temperature. Store leftovers in the refrigerator.

NOTES:

If you like more tuna flavor and chunks in your salad, add another 5 oz. can to this salad for a total of two cans.

https://www.reneeskitchenadventures.com/2018/05/creamy-tuna-pasta-salad.html

Copyright © 2018 Renee's Kitchen Adventures

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Pin Creamy Tuna Pasta Salad to all of your summer or salad pin boards!

More Pasta Salads to love!

• Amish Macaroni Salad recipe
• Creamy Buffalo Chicken Pasta Salad - vegetarian! 

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