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Cold Tuna Pasta Salad is an old fashioned recipe that is perfect for picnics, potlucks, or anytime you need a delicious and easy to make side dish. The combination of pasta, tuna, peas, onions, mayonnaise and miracle whip comes together to make the all time best pasta salad.
This easy side dish recipe is perfect during the summer months, at backyard barbecues, church functions, baby showers, or anytime you’re craving an easy to make side salad.
WHAT INGREDIENTS DO YOU NEED TO MAKE COLD TUNA PASTA SALAD
With easy ingredients you’ll be amazed to see just how basic and easy this vintage recipe is. It uses a small secret ingredient (miracle whip) to make it completely crave worthy.
No matter where you serve this recipe I guarantee it will be a huge hit!
Here’s what you’ll need to get started:
- large elbow macaroni, cooked per package directions
- canned peas, drained
- Albacore Tuna, in water
- yellow onion, finely chopped
- miracle whip
- mayonnaise
- salt
- ground black pepper
INGREDIENT SUBSTITUTIONS AND ADDITIONS
MEAT: Canned Albacore Tuna is called for in this recipe. However, not everyone likes tuna. You could easily swap out the tuna for rotisserie chicken that is chopped up or shredded.
MAYONNAISE: If you don’t like mayonnaise, or want to cut down on calories and fat opt for plain greek yogurt instead. It’s easily interchangeable with mayonnaise. You might want to do a taste test first before serving and adjust the salt and pepper if using plain greek yogurt.
ONIONS: As long as you add onions to this recipe it won’t matter what kind they are. My go to favorites are yellow sweet onions and green onions. However, if you prefer a less noticeable onion taste in this cold tuna pasta salad, you can easily use a red onion instead.
HOW TO MAKE THIS EASY TUNA PASTA SALAD
FIRST STEP: Bring water and oil to a boil. Add noodles and cook per package directions. Drain and rinse under cold water to cool.
SECOND STEP: Place cooled and drained noodles in a large mixing bowl. Add peas, tuna, yellow onion, miracle whip, mayonnaise, salt, and ground black pepper. Stir to combine.
THIRD STEP: Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate 1 hour, or until ready to serve.
FOURTH STEP: Serve and enjoy!
Tuna Pasta (Cold)
Ingredients
- 16 ounces large elbow macaroni, cooked per package directions
- 1 15-oz can peas, drained
- 1 can Albacore Tuna, in water
- 1/2 medium yellow onion, finely chopped
- 2 tbsp miracle whip, add 1 additional tbsp if desired
- 1 cups mayonnaise, *as this recipe sits it will dry out
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
DIRECTIONS
- Bring water and oil to a boil. Add noodles and cook per package directions. Drain and rinse under cold water to cool.
- Place cooled and drained noodles in a large mixing bowl. Add peas, tuna, yellow onion, miracle whip, mayonnaise, salt, and ground black pepper. Stir to combine.
- Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate 1 hour, or until ready to serve.
- Serve and enjoy!
I use the pickle relish also…the shells taste better…I have no idea why!
Could you replace the mayonnaise just for the Miracle whip instead of using both?
Hello, could you tell me how many this recipe serves? I am thinking of making it for a graduation party and wondering how many times to double or triple it. Thank you. Dianne
love, love, love some cold tuna salad! I really like to make tuna casserole, but this is perfect for summertime fun!!
Thank you for this wonderful recipe. I love tuna pasta salad but I did not know of a good recipe and this one is perfect. I made the mistake of making the whole batch and I ate it literally for days. I didn’t mind at all.
Can you use regular tuna?
I’m sure you could!
I love this salad also. Some variations we like… sometimes I use cut up cold cooked chicken instead of tuna. My family likes the “crunchiness” factor.. so I usually add cut up celery and carrots in tiny pieces. I have also added garbanzo beans; black beans or even sweet kernel corn. ( canned or frozen ) fun to experiment.
When I was a kid there was a Tuna Helper Cold Tuna Pasta that you could buy at the store…it was soo good. My Mom found a copycat recipe for it…we use Onion Flakes in ours…the longer it chills the more the flavor sets in….and I am like you..I can eat it for Breakfast, lunch and supper!!
Oh my goodness!! That is the recipe I am looking for!!! It was my favorite!!!
So miss that Tuna Helper!! I ate it ALL the time!!!
I don’t the cook the frozen peas but put them in the colander and then drain the cooked pasta over the peas. This defrosts them and Helps cool down the pasta at the same time. Your recipe looks great!
Thanks for the idea for the peas
Is there a substitute for the miracle whip? It is not sold in my country. Is there another suggestion on what could i mix together to get the same texture and flavor?
Miracle Whip is a lot like mayonnaise, so I think you could use that instead!
Miracle Whip has a bit of sweetness.
I make it as my mom taught me yrs ago..hellmans mayo , peas in can ( hate frozen peas), 2 hard boiled eggs chopped up and cucumber and tuna…i could eat it all day also!!! Dont forget diced onion..?
I love classic recipes passed down from mom and grandma! So delicious!
I love this type of salad, but haven’t made it in probably two years. I add a couple tablespoons of pickle relish to my dressing. It gives it just a little bit of tang.
That’s a great idea!
This was something I learned to make when I was growing up but we didn’t have a recipe. Thank you for reminding me of the ingredients. I, too, only use Miracle Whip. I only use Mayo for Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing. My daughter dislikes peas so I suggested celery and a red onion instead of the yellow onion. I also told her we could use shredded or tiny diced cheddar cheese.
we love this salad ! I added chipotle and garlic seasoning , added a kick !
Yes – SO good! The chipotle and garlic seasoning sound like great additions as well. Thanks for the suggestion.
OK love the recipe. You have olive oil in the recipe but it doesn’t tell me where to incorporate it in.
Sorry Cindy, we just put a little in our water while it’s cooking. Definitely not necessary but that’s just what mama always did and how we learned.
Have you ever added celery?
No, but I bet that would be yummy as well! Thanks for stopping by.
Quick question….what size cans of tuna do you use? I intended to use small ones, but I sent my husband to the store and he came home with 3 large cans!
Lol. That is something that my hubby would do! Yes, we used the little ones. So 1 big one should be fine 🙂
I had to make it before I received your REPLY….I used ALL 3 large ones and I thought it was barely enough!!!!
Lol! Glad you had a chance to make it Brenda!!!
Thank you for this recipe! It really is the best pasta salad I’ve ever tasted. I made a half recipe and wish I’d made the whole thing. Your comment about breakfast, lunch and dinner is right on for me. I just had it for breakfast for the second time. I used medium shells instead of elbows. I used CW petite peas frozen and did not cook them. For the half recipe I used just one can of tuna and for me it was PERFECT. Perfect.
Yay Marsha! So glad you liked it! You’re making me want to go and make some right now as a matter of fact 😉
I made a full batch yesterday and took half to my son for his lunches. I just got a text telling me he has eaten NOTHING but your salad for every meal and in between since he got it yesterday. He was going to share it but now he’s not so sure about that. I started with two cans of tuna and decided, like you, it needed three. Your use of a small amount of Miracle Whip is genius, just the perfect bright note. Brava!
That is so awesome Marsha! We are SO happy you came back and left a comment 🙂 It really made our day!!! SO glad your son loved it too.
Instead of using so much mayonnaise, I use half milk and half mayo or Miracle Whip. The dressing is not so thick and it doesn’t dry out as fast. If it does get a little dry, I add milk, not mayo.
My husband who can tolerate creamy dressings will only eat my pasta salads because the dressing is not so thick.
My mom makes this all the time but she uses all miracle whip and adds lots of celery and it never lasts long! Everyone loves it!
I make this for the kids.. but i just add tuna , mac, baby peas , and corn … mayo.. i make a huge bowl.. they want it all the time soo good for a hot day
I also add peppers and sweet corn to mine X
i like tuna pasta salad.
Can you use just miracle whip in place of the mayo I’m not a mayo fan
I’m sure you could! I’ve never tried it that way but if you don’t like mayo and use miracle whip it will just be sweeter which is always good too 😉
I had a tuna fish salad years ago at a party that was very good. This sounds like it, except she had used baby shell pasta and she had added some celery as well. I will be making this dish soon. I am hoping that this is the recipe that she had used.
Love tuna pasta salad and this one looks fantastic. Thanks so much for sharing it at Silver Pennies Sundays! x
Thanks Danielle! Glad I could come over and link up 🙂
This is a great twist on a basic dish. Thanks so much for linking up to Saturday Dishes.
Pinned! thanks for linking up to SAt Dishes!
I love tuna salad and pasta salad! This is a perfect match!