Tuna Pasta in a White Sauce
Tuna disintegrates when it is cooked in the sauce. Tinned tuna is already cooked and only needs warming through. Add it in the final minute after the pan leaves the heat, and fold it in gently so it stays in recognisable pieces.
- Prep
- 8 min
- Cook
- 18 min
- Total
- 26 min
- Calories
- 440
Photo: FotoosVanRobin from Netherlands — CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Tuna pasta is a complete meal from a tin in the cupboard, ready in twenty minutes. The mistake everyone makes is letting the tuna break down into dust in the sauce.
Method
-
1
Boil the pasta
Bring plenty of water to the boil and salt it like seawater, then cook the pasta one minute short of the packet time. It finishes in the sauce.
⏱ 11 min -
2
Save the pasta water
Before draining, keep a cup of the cooking water. The dissolved starch binds the cream to the pasta so the sauce does not slide to the bottom of the bowl.
⏱ 2 min -
3
Drain the tuna
Drain the tuna thoroughly of its oil or water and break it into large flakes, not fine shreds. Large pieces stay visible in the finished dish.
⏱ 4 min -
4
Build the base
Soften the onion in the olive oil for 5 minutes, then add the garlic and chilli for 45 seconds only, just until fragrant and before they colour.
⏱ 7 min -
5
The sauce
Add the cream, half a cup of pasta water and the salt, and warm over low heat for 3 minutes without boiling until slightly thickened.
⏱ 4 min -
6
Combine the pasta
Add the drained pasta and Parmesan and toss over low heat for two minutes until the sauce clings. Loosen with more pasta water if it tightens.
⏱ 3 min -
7
Tuna at the end
Take the pan off the heat, add the tuna, lemon and parsley, and fold gently. Vigorous stirring shreds it.
⏱ 2 min
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Tips that actually matter
- Tuna goes in after the pan leaves the heat — it is already cooked.
- Fold, do not stir, so the flakes stay visible.
- Keep the pasta water — it is what binds the sauce.
- The lemon at the end cuts the cream and lifts the flavour of the tuna.
People also ask
Why does my tuna fall apart?
You cooked it in the sauce. Tinned tuna is already cooked and only needs warming. Add it after the pan comes off the heat and fold it in gently so the flakes stay large.
Tuna in oil or in water?
Oil-packed is richer and better suited to pasta, and you can use some of its oil in the base. Water-packed is lighter and better for salads — but it needs more olive oil to compensate.
Can I make it without cream?
Yes, with a lighter version: olive oil, pasta water, lemon and Parmesan. The emulsion between oil and starch gives a glossy sauce at a quarter of the calories, with a cleaner, sharper flavour.
Cook mode
Tuna Pasta in a White Sauce
-
1
Boil the pasta
Bring plenty of water to the boil and salt it like seawater, then cook the pasta one minute short of the packet time. It finishes in the sauce.
-
2
Save the pasta water
Before draining, keep a cup of the cooking water. The dissolved starch binds the cream to the pasta so the sauce does not slide to the bottom of the bowl.
-
3
Drain the tuna
Drain the tuna thoroughly of its oil or water and break it into large flakes, not fine shreds. Large pieces stay visible in the finished dish.
-
4
Build the base
Soften the onion in the olive oil for 5 minutes, then add the garlic and chilli for 45 seconds only, just until fragrant and before they colour.
-
5
The sauce
Add the cream, half a cup of pasta water and the salt, and warm over low heat for 3 minutes without boiling until slightly thickened.
-
6
Combine the pasta
Add the drained pasta and Parmesan and toss over low heat for two minutes until the sauce clings. Loosen with more pasta water if it tightens.
-
7
Tuna at the end
Take the pan off the heat, add the tuna, lemon and parsley, and fold gently. Vigorous stirring shreds it.
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