This Canned Tuna Pasta features tuna fish in a rich and creamy alfredo sauce made with butter, heavy cream, milk, and parmesan. And it’s ready in under 20 minutes!
The distinct taste of the ocean from the tuna, fresh, bold garlic, and the luxuriously rich dairy ingredients make this a great combination for me.
My family loves fish dishes in all its forms, with the exception of my folks, who grew up believing that seafood and dairy shouldn’t be mixed, because they’re not cats! Is that even a thing?
I love creamy pasta sauces and this tuna dish is one of my favorites. However, I do realize that the amount of dairy in this recipe can be overwhelming for some, so you may want to tweak the quantities to suit your palate.
More Pasta Recipes To Try
Cheese Pasta Pesto
No Tomato Feta Pasta
Curry Pasta (No Coconut Milk)
Table of Contents
Ingredients for Tuna Fish Pasta
Pasta: I used spaghetti in this recipe, because I wanted the sauce to lightly coat the pasta. Use whichever style of pasta you have on hand.
Butter: I find that butter gives an extra bit of flavor and creaminess to the tuna sauce. You can omit it if you prefer, but I don’t recommend substitution.
Olive oil: Adds a silkiness to the sauce, and a hint of earthy flavor. If you’re not using butter, you may want to double up on the quantity of olive oil in your sauce.
Fresh garlic: Garlic pairs very well with fish dishes, and this sauce recipe is no exception. I don’t recommend using garlic powder to replace the fresh garlic, because you’ll lose out on the authentic pasta sauce experience.
Heavy cream: You can swap out the heavy cream for more whole milk, or vice versa. Only the viscosity of the sauce will be affected, and you may need to add more salt to balance out the natural sweetness of the heavy cream.
Whole milk: I’ve only ever used full fat, whole milk in my pasta sauces, but feel free to experiment with other milk alternatives that you prefer.
Parmesan cheese (grated): This time, I used thinly sliced parmesan shavings in place of grated, and it worked just as well. Grated parmesan does melt a bit easier in a sauce though.
Canned tuna (in oil): There are countless varieties of canned tuna at the stores in my area, flavored and plain, chunky and fine, but I opted for regular chunky tuna in oil.
Salt: Be sure to taste test the tuna sauce before adding salt, to determine just how much you need. Some brands of tinned tuna are saltier than others, so you may not even need to add any at all.
Black pepper: I do love a good sprinkling of coarse black pepper in pasta sauces, and I think that the pairing of dairy with black pepper and fresh garlic is so tasty.
Garlic chives (chopped): Garlic chives have a subtle hint of garlic, and I sometimes prefer to use it to replace fresh parsley for less of a green herb flavor in sauces. They don’t taste alike at all, it’s just my preference.
Lemon zest (garnishing): I’ve had some unpleasant experiences with lemon juice in dairy-based sauces, so I’ve decided to use lemon zest in creamy sauces from now on. You can use freshly squeezed lemon juice if you prefer.
How to make Tuna and Pasta: Step by step
This tuna and pasta dish is incredibly simple and easy to make, and comes together very quickly, since the canned tuna doesn’t require cooking at all.
Step 1: Cook The Pasta
Bring a large pot of water to a boil, add a generous pinch of salt, and cook the pasta according to package instructions.
Step 2: Make the Tuna Sauce for Pasta
Five minutes before the pasta is cooked, add the reserved oil from the canned tuna, butter, and olive oil to a pan over medium heat.
Once hot, add the garlic and saute for 30 seconds.
Stir in the tuna and garlic chives, heat through.
Step 3: Combine, Season, and Serve
Add a scoop of the pasta water to the sauce, drain the pasta and toss with the sauce.
Season with salt & pepper to taste.
Serve pasta topped with extra grated parmesan cheese, garlic chives, lemon zest, with crusty garlic bread on the side.
Recipe Tips for this Tuna Pasta Dish
You can saute the tuna with the garlic briefly before adding the dairy ingredients if you prefer. The tuna will turn a greyish light brown color as it cooks, which is completely normal.
It’s better to use all the dairy ingredients as close to room temperature as possible, for best results.
This dairy-based pasta sauce can be quite bland if you omit some of the ingredients, so I highly recommend not skipping any.
Storing Pasta with Tuna Fish
Store your leftover tuna pasta in the refrigerator in an airtight container. Because it’s a fish-based dish, I suggest storing it for 2 days at most.
Reheat only as much as you want to serve at a time. Refrigerating and reheating this sauce multiple times may cause it to go bad faster.
If you decide to make this tuna pasta dish for lunch or dinner, let me know what you serve on the side!
Easy Canned Tuna Pasta
Ingredients
- 4 oz uncooked pasta any long thin variety
- 1 tsp butter
- 1 tsp olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- ¼ cup heavy cream
- ¼ cup milk whole
- 2-3 Tbsp parmesan cheese grated
- 1 5 oz can tuna in oil, oil drained and reserved
- Salt to taste
- Black pepper to taste
- 1 Tbsp garlic chives chopped
- Lemon zest for garnishing
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil, add a generous pinch of salt, and cook the pasta according to package instructions.
- Five minutes before the pasta is cooked, add some of the reserved oil from the canned tuna, butter, and olive oil to a pan over medium heat. Once hot, add the garlic and saute for 30 seconds.
- Stir in the tuna and garlic chives, and heat through.
- Add 2 Tbsp of the pasta water to the sauce, drain the pasta and toss with the sauce.
- Season with salt & pepper to taste.
- Optional: serve pasta with extra grated parmesan cheese, garlic chives, and lemon zest.
