Pantry dinners
What Can I Make With Tuna and Pasta? 20-Minute Lemon-Pea Tuna Pasta
Combine canned tuna, dry pasta, frozen peas, lemon, and pantry seasonings for a bright 20-minute dinner with no cream required.
- TIME
- 20 min
- SERVES
- 4
If you are wondering what can I make with tuna and pasta, this lemon-pea pasta is a fast answer built from ingredients that are easy to keep. Canned tuna supplies the savory center, frozen peas cook in the pasta water, and lemon keeps the dish bright without cream or a jarred sauce.
Make the pasta water do the work
Reserved cooking water contains starch that helps olive oil cling to the pasta. Add half a cup first, toss over low heat, and add more only as needed. Fold in the tuna at the end so it stays in visible pieces rather than disappearing into the sauce. Oil-packed tuna can provide part of the cooking oil; water-packed tuna needs a little more olive oil.
Peas are only one option. Spinach, sweetcorn, small broccoli florets, capers, olives, or chopped soft tomatoes all fit. Add firm vegetables to the boiling pasta early enough to soften and tender greens during the final minute. For a tomato-led pantry meal, use the method in pasta with tinned tomatoes. For a garlic-and-oil version without fish, start with 15-minute pantry pasta.
Check the can and chill leftovers promptly
Discard tuna from a can that is bulging, leaking, badly rusted, or deeply dented at a seam; do not taste it to judge safety. Once opened, tuna is perishable. The USDA leftovers guidance says cooked leftovers should be refrigerated within two hours and used within three to four days. Discard finished pasta left at room temperature longer than two hours or stored for an unknown time.
Dry pasta and cooked pasta need different methods
This recipe begins with dry pasta so its cooking water can build the sauce. If the pasta is already cooked, warm the garlic and vegetables first, then add the noodles with a splash of plain water or stock and fold in tuna last. The leftover-pasta guide offers another route when the noodles, rather than the canned fish, are the ingredient that needs using first.
From fridge to table
How to make it
- 01
Bring a large pan of well-salted water to a boil. Cook the pasta until just tender, adding the frozen peas for the final 2 minutes. Reserve 1 cup pasta water, then drain.
- 02
Return the pan to medium-low heat. Add the oil, garlic, lemon zest, and chili flakes and cook for 30 to 60 seconds without browning the garlic.
- 03
Add the drained pasta and peas with 1/2 cup reserved pasta water. Toss until the water and oil form a light sauce.
- 04
Fold in the tuna gently so some pieces remain. Remove from the heat, add lemon juice, parmesan or breadcrumbs if using, and enough extra pasta water to keep the sauce loose.
- 05
Taste, season with black pepper and salt only if needed, and finish with any herbs that need using. Serve immediately.
