What could be better than a salad that can be made in advance, takes less than 15 minutes, is healthy and also super easy to make? This healthy tuna pasta salad ticks all the right boxes in flavour, for the budget conscious and the time poor.
Jump to:
- Why You’ll Love This Healthy Tuna Pasta Salad (No Mayo)
- Which Type of Pasta Is Best for Salad Making?
- What Is Fusilli?
- What is Tri Colour Pasta?
- Recipe Overview
- Ingredients
- Variations and Substitutions
- Instructions
- Expert Tips: How to Make This Salad Perfectly
- What To Serve with Healthy Tuna Pasta Salad?
- Frequently Asked Questions
- Recipe
Why You’ll Love This Healthy Tuna Pasta Salad (No Mayo)
A delicious and healthy tuna pasta salad is one that is not overly complicated with too many ingredients, has a great combination of crunch and soft textures and doused in mayonnaise.
This super easy recipe is a cold tuna pasta salad that uses tri colour pasta.
It is so simple to make any time of the week. It is also a recipe that you can throw together using leftover ingredients, or perhaps you want to use up that opened packet of pasta.
It’s great to have as a quick meal on its own, pack for school lunches as it doesn’t have to be warmed up or brought as a dish for a potluck party or picnic.
Which Type of Pasta Is Best for Salad Making?
Did you know that there are over 600 types of pastas? Pasta is made for all types of recipes.
There are pastas made for soups, pastas made for holding sauces, pasta specially for baking and of course, those long pasta made for slurping!
So, which is the best pasta for salads?
Simple, any type of short pasta will make for an excellent choice. This includes the likes of fusilli, penne, macaroni, bow tie, farfalle, rotini and casareccia, such as we did in our Peas and Pasta Salad with Prosciutto.
This is because it has ridges, holes and spirals that help grab onto a myriad of ingredients and absorb any pasta salad dressing or mayonnaise.
It is easy to pick up as a cold dish, easy to serve as a side dish and certainly much easier when packing it up and taking it over to a dinner party.
Non spiral pasta such as a the Orecchiette also work really well as they are easy to serve in a salad. You can try our Asparagus Pasta Salad with Pecan Pesto.
What Is Fusilli?
Fusilli pasta is also known as rotini in the United States. It essentially refers to a variety of pasta that is spiral or corkscrew in shape. In Australia, we simply refer to them as spirals.
It is called fusilli which comes from the word “fuso”, which in Italian means spindle. The pasta, traditionally made with semolina flour, is wound around a spindle or rod to create the corkscrew shape.
Fusilli pasta is usually short in length and can vary a little in thickness. It is a popular pasta to use as it can trap all the delicious sauces within its nooks and crannies.
What is Tri Colour Pasta?
For this healthy tuna pasta salad, not only did we use fusilli pasta, we used tri colour pasta. The tri colour pasta just helps to give the tuna pasta salad a little lift in colour.
Tri coloured pasta usually comes in yellow, orange and green. Dehydrated spinach powder is used to make the green, tomato or beetroot powder is used to make the orange/red, while normal semolina is for the regular yellow kind.
Recipe Overview
Flavour/Texture: The tri colour pasta should be cooked to al dente, so it should be tested regularly. Al dente pasta is bouncy and mixed together with the other ingredients, it has crunchy and soft elements.
As this is not a Mediterranean tuna pasta salad or a classic tuna pasta salad, it is not creamy in texture from the mayonnaise or has any cheese. It is a healthy recipe that is light and perfect for the summer months.
Ease: This is one of the easiest cold pasta tuna salads to make. There is no salad dressing to make. Just cook up some fusilli pasta, chop up some vegetables and mix with some olive oil. Easy.
Time: It only takes 15-20 minutes! A lot of the prep can be done while the tri colour pasta is cooking away.
Ingredients
These are the ingredients you need for Healthy Tuna Pasta Salad (No Mayo):
Fusilli pasta: Try getting the tri colour fusilli pasta. It just helps to brighten up this cold tuna pasta recipe, making it more appetising. And make sure it’s cooked al dente. Run it under cold water after cooking to stop the cooking process and prevent it from going mush!
Tuna: For this recipe, a flavoured canned tuna of spicy chilli was used. It just helps to add some flavour to the overall salad recipe.
You can, of course, stick to the normal canned tuna in spring water, or you can try all sorts of fun flavours available on the supermarket shelves.
Vegetables: This recipe uses baby spinach, celery and cherry tomatoes. All staple ingredient items consumed in their raw form. It helps to make a nice and healthy tuna pasta salad.
Pine nuts: Helps to add some roasted flavours while also adding some crunch. It’s a delicious addition to the whole pasta salad.
Variations and Substitutions
Mediterranean version: Add some feta if you like the Mediterranean version of a simple tuna pasta salad.
You can either crumble it and mix it throughout the tuna pasta salad or just place the whole block on top as we do in our Greek Salad. That way, people can break off as much or as little as they like.
Classic version: There have been many iterations of a good tuna pasta salad recipe over the years. Perhaps a classic version is one that has onions and peas tossed throughout with mayonnaise to make it nice and creamy.
Flavoured tuna: As this healthy tuna pasta salad has no mayonnaise or salad dressing, you can add flavour to your recipe by using flavoured tuna. This recipe uses the spicy chilli tuna, giving the salad an excellent kick.
Some of the great flavours you can try include red curry, honey BBQ, lemon pepper, onion & tomato, red bell peppers, teriyaki, and the list goes on.
Vegan: Vegan tuna is fast becoming a popular item on the market as they continue to improve how good they are. Touted to smell like tuna and have the textures of the Albacore tuna, it also maintains it is still high in protein.
Other ingredients: You can add and substitute any of the vegetable and nut components of this healthy tuna pasta salad. It’s a great way to get rid of leftovers in the fridge. You can add onions, broccoli, frozen peas, carrots, hard boiled eggs, bell peppers, cauliflower, etc.
If you prefer, you can also substitute spiral pasta for macaroni.
Lemon juice: Squeeze some lemon juice in the salad for a bit of freshness.
Instructions
Step by step instructions for how to make Healthy Tuna Pasta Salad (No Mayo)
Bring a pot of water to the boil and add some salt. Add dry fusilli pasta and cook according to packet instructions.
It would be approximately 10-12 minutes. Drain, run under cold water to stop the cooking process and set aside to dry.
Wash baby spinach and pat dry.
Slice celery sticks finely.
Dry toast pine nuts in a small fry pan until golden brown.
Cut cherry tomatoes into halves or quarters, depending on how big they are. I tend to do this last so it doesn’t water too much.
How to Assemble the Salad
In a large mixing bowl, add all the ingredients except only use ½ the pine nuts.
Spread olive oil all around the salad.
Season with salt and pepper to taste
Mix thoroughly and serve onto a large platter.
Garnish with the rest of the toasted pine nuts.
Expert Tips: How to Make This Salad Perfectly
Al dente pasta: Al dente in Italian means “to the tooth”. Pasta that is still firm and chewy in texture is the optimal way to eat a pasta dish perfectly. So, to get al dente pasta, pour the pasta into a pot of boiling water with salt.
About 2 minutes before the package says it’s done, taste it. Keep tasting the pasta until you are happy with it. Then drain it in a colander and run under cold water to stop the cooking process.
Avoid soggy pasta: The trick to a tuna pasta salad not going soggy is to ensure the pasta is not only not overcooked but also dry. If the pasta is cooked well, it won’t stick together. However, running it under cold water gets it wet, so you must give it time to dry.
Avoid soggy tuna pasta salad: If you use tuna in spring water, ensure that the tuna is well drained. All that spring water will just make the pasta all go soggy.
What To Serve with Healthy Tuna Pasta Salad?
If you’re feeding a crowd, this tuna pasta salad with no mayo can be served with any of these delicious meals:
For a Middle eastern inspired dish, this lamb-stuffed roasted eggplant would work really well. Such a great combination of flavours.
For a spectacular looking dish, you can’t go past this layered ratatouille while nothing quite beats a good beef tenderloin recipe.
Frequently Asked Questions
Tri colour pasta is no more or less healthy than normal dry pasta made with durum semolina wheat.
Tri colour pasta usually comes in 3 colours. The orange is made with dehydrated carrot or beetroot powder, the green is made with dehydrated spinach powder, while the yellow is the normal pasta you’ll find.
All pasta should be cooked al dente, which is to the point when the pasta is still firm to touch and chewy when eaten. Follow the packet instructions for how long to cook the pasta for.
2 minutes before its recommended time, start tasting the pasta to see if it’s ready. Remove once you get to the point that you’re happy.
Yes, you can. This healthy tuna pasta salad is made without mayonnaise and with canned tuna. It’s great if you have a busy cook ahead and can get the one menu item off the list early in the day.
Simple, easy and hearty, this cold tuna pasta salad is fantastic for all occasions. It is also great on the hip pocket and fantastic for using up leftovers.
That’s all!
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Recipe
Healthy Tuna Pasta Salad (No Mayo)
Ingredients
Click on the toggle below for conversion to US Cooking Units.
Instructions
Salad
- Bring a pot of water to the boil and add some salt. Add dry fusilli pasta and cook according to packet instructions. It would be approximately 10-12 minutes. Drain, run under cold water to stop the cooking process and set aside to dry.
- Wash baby spinach and pat dry.
- Slice celery sticks finely.
- Dry toast pine nuts in a small fry pan until golden brown.
- Cut cherry tomatoes into halves or quarters, depending on how big they are.
Assembly
- In a large mixing bowl, add all the ingredients except only use ½ the pine nuts.
- Season with salt and pepper to taste
- Mix thoroughly and serve onto a large platter.
- Garnish with the rest of the toasted pine nuts.
Notes
- If you like the Mediterranean version of a simple tuna pasta salad, add some feta. You can either crumble it and mix it throughout the tuna pasta salad, or you can just place the whole block on top as we do in our Greek Salad. That way, people can break off as much or as little as they like.
- Over the years, there have been many iterations of a good tuna pasta salad recipe. But if you like the classic version, use onions and peas and toss it throughout with mayonnaise to make it nice and creamy.
- As this healthy tuna pasta salad has no mayonnaise or salad dressing, you can add flavour to your recipe but using flavoured tuna. This recipe uses the spicy chilli tuna, and it gives the salad a real kick. Some of the great flavours you can try include red curry, honey BBQ, lemon pepper, onion & tomato, red bell peppers, teriyaki, and the list goes on.
- For a vegan alternative, you can use vegan tuna. Vegan tuna is fast becoming a popular item on the market as they continue to improve how good they are. Touted to smell like tuna and have the textures of the Albacore tuna, it also maintains it is still high in protein.
- You can add and substitute any of the vegetable and nut components of this healthy tuna pasta salad. It’s a great way to get rid of leftovers in the fridge. You can add onions, broccoli, frozen peas, carrots, hard boiled eggs, bell peppers, cauliflower, etc. If you prefer, you can also substitute spiral pasta for macaroni.
- For a bit of freshness, squeeze some lemon juice into the salad.
Nutrition
*Disclaimer: Nutritional information provided is an estimate only and generated by an online calculator.
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