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!!
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 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.
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.
This was delicious! The only thing I was missing was a bit of parsley and for my tastes that would’ve set this off beautifully.
So simple and so tasty, I’ll definitely do this again and I can understand adding the black olives – I may try that, thanks!
Absolutely delicious dinner tonight, and so easy to put together! I added some asparagus to my pot, so next time I’ll keep it OG
I’m really looking forward to lunch tomorrow now too 😉
OMG. Unbelievably good. Amazing pasta dish. Wonderful taste. Only two of us. elderly and less capacity , but still appreciate great taste. Who would have thought that canned tuna would taste that good. My biggest problem with cutting recipes down to our needs is judging how much pasta. Didn’t do enough for this. Have left over tuna and spices. Will try to reheat. Was nervous about chili flakes, but it was spot on.
Just made this while away on holiday and all I can say is WOW. Everyone loved it. I wondered how the capers and the anchovies would go down but it all bleed together to make one fabulous dish.
5 big ones!!⭐️
So tasty yet simple. Will have this one on rotation for a while now. I found a little chilli gave it an extra lift too. What a great budget meal as your anchovy and capers will keep for ages when making again and again.
Did it say somewhere to add more water if needed after adding that 1/3 c. ? Delicious easy weeknight meal with handy ingredients. I also added the black olives.
Nagi, this is so good and so easy that it’s almost a crime to call it “cuisine”!! Dinner last night took me about 20 minutes and my husband raved! My new stressed day dinner.
Easy to put together! I did toss in some shrimp and also grated some fresh parmesan on top – I know, I know a faux pas but my partner and I really enjoyed the outcome! Next time I might throw in some peas as well. Thanks for a quick and delicious recipe!
My partner hates pasta, I know how can anyone hate the best staple ever, but he just loved this dish, he doesn’t like capers …he didn’t even know they were in there
Forgot to add the rating
OMG!! love this recipe? I made it last night as per recipe instructions and …DELICIOUS! So quick affordable and yum! it’ll be definitely apart of my recipe collection. Thank you!
Nagi, this was delicious and soooo easy. Absolutely essential to use really good tuna and make sure it’s oil packed. That’s all I buy anymore…packed in olive oil has so much more flavor than water..ick. When I make it the next time, I’m going to double the amount of capers…just because we love them.
Give Dozer a tummy rub from me!