This cold Tuna Pasta Salad recipe is both easy to prepare and extremely versatile – you can serve it for brunch, lunch or dinner. It calls for a tasty pesto dressing with no mayo, making it perfect for picnics and potlucks, too!
I found this intriguing recipe for Tuna and Roasted Red Pepper Pasta Salad buried in my mom’s kitchen files. It was given to her by Marne Kellogg — a friend to us both and the daughter of my parents’ good friends Margie and Jack Davis.
Cooked short pasta (like fusilli, rotelle, rotini, or gemelli) is tossed together with hunks of canned albacore wild tuna, chopped marinated roasted red peppers, green peas or edamame beans, prepared pesto and Parmesan cheese. How easy is that?
I love the flavor combinations in this pasta salad! And, with no mayo, only 2 tablespoons of pesto and 1 tablespoon of cheese per person, it’s healthy too. I can see why this recipe was in mom’s files. She loved recipes that were easy to make ahead of time with pantry ingredients, elegant to serve, and scrumptious – and this salad is all that, and more.
For this Tuna Pasta Salad, I like to use our Spinach Basil Pesto or Genovese Pesto. Feel free to make your own favorite; store-bought will also work. Just purchase prepared pesto that’s in the refrigerated section of your grocery store – it has the most/best flavor in my opinion.
I absolutely love Wild Planet Albacore Wild Tuna packed without oil. It’s moist but not oily and has great tuna flavor, without being too fishy tasting. Plus, Wild Planet tuna are line caught, which is better for the environment and means the fish are smaller with less mercury.
We recommend making it 1 hour up to 24 hours ahead of time, for maximum flavor. However, I have made it 2 days ahead and everyone still loved it!
Pin it now to save for later!
Tuna and Roasted Red Pepper Salad Recipe
This cold Tuna Pasta Salad recipe is both easy to prepare and extremely versatile – you can serve it for brunch, lunch or dinner. It calls for a tasty pesto dressing with no mayo, making it perfect for picnics and potlucks, too!
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Cook Time: 9 mins
- Total Time: 19 minutes
- Yield: 8 servings 1x
- Diet: Low Calorie
Ingredients
- 1 pound dry gemelli (short twisted), rotelle (wagon wheel) or rotini (corkscrew) pasta
- 1 (10-ounce) package frozen shelled edamame beans – see Substitute below
- 2 (5-ounce) cans white albacore tuna in water, drained and broken into chunks
- 16 ounces marinated roasted red peppers, drained and chopped
- 1 cup Spinach Basil Pesto, or regular basil pesto
- 1/2 cup (2 ounces) fresh grated Parmesan cheese
- Kosher salt, to taste
- Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Instructions
- In a large pot, cook the pasta according to package directions. Add the edamame beans to the cooking pasta during the last 6 minutes.
- Drain cooked pasta-bean mixture in a colander; rinse with cold water, drain again. Set the pasta mixture aside to cool.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine tuna, red peppers and pesto, tossing to blend. Add the cooled pasta mixture and toss. Add the Parmesan cheese and toss again. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
- Chill for at least 1 hour. Bring to room temperature before serving.
Notes
Make ahead: Salad can be made up to 24 hours in advance, covered and stored in the refrigerator.
Substitute for edamame: use frozen green peas that have been thawed and drained. Skip directions for cooking the beans.
- Category: main dish salads, fish, pasta
Nutrition
- Serving Size:
- Calories: 501
- Sugar: 7.2 g
- Sodium: 551.3 mg
- Fat: 18.5 g
- Saturated Fat: 3.7 g
- Carbohydrates: 54.1 g
- Fiber: 6.2 g
- Protein: 29.1 g
- Cholesterol: 23.4 mg
Note: if this recipe looks familiar, it’s because it’s an update to a post from a few years ago. I’ve added new photos as well as answers to your questions.
So good and easy!
This looks like a great pasta salad…I love the combination! I’m going to be making this for lunch soon! Thanks for sharing it with us at #FoodieFriDIY…sharing!