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
Hungry for more? Subscribe to my newsletter and follow along on Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram for all of the latest updates.
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!!
I really love this one. It also makes a sensational risotto! Same ingredients and technique – just swap out the spaghetti and use boiled rice instead. I use brown rice, but I’d say it would work just as well with any other rice.
Annett, I love the risotto idea! I haveca bunch of arborio rice and I’m always interested in new risotto ideas because the only kind I ever seem to make is Milanese.
I’m obsessed with this recipe
Thank you Nagi♥️
Tonight the kids are both away on school camp (#winning) and we contemplated a walk to our local Italian for their carbonara night. Not quite feeling it for such a heavy meal, I suggested this light and zesty home cooked beauty. What would have been a $60 outing probably landed at $8 so I’m feeling smug at my cooking and thriftiness. Thank you again, Queen Nagi!
This is very good if you like tuna, if not perhaps try using tinned salmon in oil. For me the anchovies are a must just stir them well so they dissolve in the oil. I found the capers tended to end up at the bottom of the bowl so gently crushing them with a spoon might help keep them on the pasta. This will work with any pasta of course. Another 5 star dish.
This recipe is amazing! I have made it twice in the last two weeks and am so happy to have this great new recipe I can make out of the cupboard. Thanks!
I’m going to try this tonight, looks great. Just wanted to say that if you don’t have anchovies or anchovy paste, try some worstecher sauce – it contains anchovies and adds great umami to everything. Or use some white miso (I usually melt it in a bit of the hot pasta water so there won’t be lumps).
Fish sauce also makes an excellent substitute for the anchovies if you don’t have them.
Seriously tasty! Thoroughly enjoy eating this.
And super quick with so little ingredients.
Thankyou for making this recipe available to us.
I have made this several times now. If my family would let me, I would put this on our weekly menu… every week!
When my teenage son wakes up near noon, his first question is “what’s for lunch?”.
He is a ‘fussy pot’ so I have to think of something that he may like. He’s been asking for the Thermomix tuna pasta but I decided to give this a try.
It turned out “yummy” by his standard. He did add some garlic salt to his serving while I put in more chilli flakes (which I limited in the cooking in case the children can’t take it). Turned out well and within 30 mins, too! Thank you!
Just made this tonight and it was delicious. I was just wondering is the amount of sodium listed correct? 4157 seems very high and I really want to eat this more but the sodium amount is a little more than I would like to eat.
Liked the lemony flavor! Used pickles instead of capers, an extra clove of garlic, miso instead of anchovy and doubled the parsley. So easy and so good. Thank you.
I made this for lunch today. It was delicious. Thanks once again Nagi.
Where does the remaining 2/3rds cup of pasta water go?
Next time, won’t add salt at end as anchovies in mix.
Hi Nicholas, I chucked out the rest of the water and I didn’t add any salt. I tend to halve the amount of salt in Nagis or leave it out altogether.
Thanks
Sooo delicious! Loved the lemony flavour and the touch of heat!
I was skeptical that something so cheap and easy could be amazing but it really is!! Done in the time it takes to cook your pasta + a minute. Devoured by the whole fam. Will be on repeat rotation and not just for the “there’s nothing to cook for dinner” days.
A must! So tasty…good weeknight meal.
Simple: check. Delicious: check check check. Only thing different was I upped the anchovies to 5 as I only had one can (5oz) of tuna, and will probably use more anchovies next time! Maybe an add of frozen peas, too????
This was absolutely delish. I devoured it all as did my partner who looked reluctant to try it at first. I used 3 tablespoons of lemon juice instead of 2 and I used 1&1/2 teaspoons of lemon rind as I really wanted that citrus flavour to come through. It was perfect. I never eat all my dinner but I inhaled this. Great recipe. Xx
Very tasty and will definitely make again only I will reduce the lemon juice by half, otherwise a great new meal for canned tuna.
Rly flavorful! Used dry parley bc I didn’t have fresh but still great! Don’t have a lot of experience with anchovy but loved it!
I made this tonight and it turned out really nicely. I subbed the following: olive oil for the tuna in water, dill pickle relish for capers, and vinegar for lemon juice. I upped the chili pepper flakes. My husband also loved it with Parmesan. Literally took 15 mins and used stuff we had in the pantry. Far better than anticipated!
Erin, Parmesan is a must for me as well. I thought your advice on alternatives was very helpful for those who don’t want to use capers etc. I probably doubled the chilli 🙂