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.
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.
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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.