Creamy Tuna Pasta Salad with Peas | Renee's Kitchen Adventures

Wednesday, May 23, 2018

Creamy Tuna Pasta Salad with Peas

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!

Creamy Tuna Pasta Salad in bowls

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!

Creamy Tuna Pasta salad in serving bowls and individual bowls

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!

collage of photos from my shopping trip at Giant Eagle

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?

Red van at gas pump at GetGo

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.

Photo collage showing savings at gas pump after using Giant Eagle Fuelperks+

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.

Close up of tuna pasta salad in bowl

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! 

chopped vegetables on wooden board with knife

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!

Pasta shells and frozen peas in colander in sink

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!

Dressing for creamy tuna pasta salad in large bowl with whisk

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

Pasta shells and peas sitting in large bowl with spoon

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

Ingredients for creamy tuna pasta salad in bowl with spoon ready to be mixed

Then mix everything together!

creamy tuna pasta salad in bowl with wooden spoon

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.

creamy tuna pasta salad in bowl with spoon ready to mix in cheese




creamy tuna pasta salad, creamy tuna pasta salad with peas, creamy tuna pasta salad recipe
main dish, side dish, salad, pasta
American
Yield: 12 servings
Author: Renee Paj
Creamy Tuna Pasta Salad with Peas

Creamy Tuna Pasta Salad with Peas

Prep time: 15 MinInactive time: 1 HourTotal time: 1 H & 15 M
Creamy Tuna Pasta Salad with peas 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

Ingredients

  • 1 - 12 oz. box of shell pasta
  • 8 oz. package of frozen peas
  • 2 cups mayonnaise
  • 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
  • 1 TBSP 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
  • 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, and red pepper. With a fork, flake drained tuna and add to bowl. 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 in an airtight container.

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.

Nutrition Facts

Calories

384.56

Fat (grams)

31.57 g

Sat. Fat (grams)

6.26 g

Cholesterol (grams)

27.68 mg

Carbs (grams)

17.66 g

Fiber (grams)

2.09 g

Sugar (grams)

4.02 g

Net carbs

15.57 g

Protein (grams)

7.22 g

Sodium (milligrams)

438.01 mg

Nutritional Information is an estimate and provided as a courtesy.

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2 comments:

  1. The only pasta salad that I like is tuna pasta salad :) great as a side or a main meal. Yours looks very yummy!

    ReplyDelete

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