Pesto Pasta With Tuna
Of all the ways to make pesto pasta for dinner, this THE dish I want to make all the time. If you love a good pesto pasta and have a soft spot for tuna, then you will love this pasta recipe.
Al dente pasta and tender pieces of tuna all combined with fragrant pesto, this pasta makes for a perfect meal for the weekend.
This tuna pesto pasta is certainly a whole meal on its own, but an easy side dish, like fresh tomato salad or simple arugula salad, is always a nice way to round up this pasta dinner.
Choosing The Right Pasta
I have gone with spiral pasta, although any tube-shaped pasta is perfect for making tuna pesto pasta. These types of pasta, spiral and tube, will work great, as this type of pasta can hold a good amount of pesto.
Ingredients For Pesto
This pesto pasta sauce is bright and herby, with just a little rich creaminess, which helps it cling to the pasta. You can either use store-bought pesto or make your own.
To make your own you will need:
- ½ cup basil leaves
- 2 tbsp parmesan cheese
- 2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 tsp minced garlic
- 1 ½ tbsp pine nuts or walnuts
- Salt and pepper, to taste
To make the pesto, process basil with pine nuts until coarse. Add parmesan and garlic and pulse several times. Scrape down the sides as needed.
Slowly drizzle in the olive oil, in a steady stream, while the processor is running on low speed. Once you have a smooth and creamy pesto, stop the processor and season it to taste with salt and pepper.
Can I Use Jarred Pesto?
Absolutely! Any pesto sauce is fair game in this recipe. Still, when buying pesto, go with familiar brands and avoid those manufacturers whose price is unrealistically low. Low prices will not meet your high expectations in quality.
Choosing The Tuna
For this recipe, I used canned tuna. You can use leftover fresh cooked tuna, but in case you do not have any, canned tuna will work like a charm.
With the fresh tuna, there is not much to discuss. You will have to check the texture, smell, and overall appearance. If your tuna does not have a weird texture or smell, and the color is nice and red, then the tuna is perfectly okay to buy.
With canned tuna, many things can go wrong. I cannot tell you how many times I have bought bad tuna. This bad tuna was not bad according to the expiration date, but the quality of the tuna itself.
Here are some tips and what to look for:
- Always choose the chunks or fillets of tuna. The tuna that comes in this form is a higher quality tuna than tuna in small pieces. For this dish, I went with tuna fillets, which I broke into pieces.
- Choose oil-packed tuna – Some people say, “buy tuna in olive oil, or just buy chicken.” If your tuna is packed in water, then all the flavor of the tuna is in that water. Oil-packed tuna, on the other hand, seals in flavor and gives you some luxurious fat to work with.
- By canned, sometimes I mean jarred; there is some seriously good stuff in some cans, but a lot of my favorite products come in jars. Tuna is no exception. If you are clueless about what to look for on a can of tuna, then go with the jarred tuna. The jar allows you to see the contents and you will know what you are buying.
How To Serve Tuna Pesto Pasta
This is a rich dish and can be served alone, but if you want to add something extra, you can serve your pasta with:
- Garlic bread, just a slice or two
- Fresh salad; you can serve spinach and arugula salad, or pear and walnut salad
Variations On The Recipe
This recipe is basic, but I wanted to leave some space to fill in. This recipe can be made with ingredients like:
- Olives – Choose pitted green or black olives and stir them through the pasta before serving
- Cream cheese – You can stir the cream cheese through the warm pasta and make this pasta more creamy.
- Add tomatoes – Tomatoes make a nice pair with both tuna and pesto. Slice some tomatoes into the pasta and stir through just before serving.
Pesto Pasta With Tuna Recipe
Preparation time: 5 minutes
Cooking time: 15 minutes
Servings: 4
Ingredients
- 0.75 lb dried pasta
- 10 oz tuna packed in oil
- ½ cup basil pesto
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- Salt and pepper, to taste
- ½ tbsp olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
Instructions
1. Cook pasta in boiling water according to package directions.
2. Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Add garlic and cook until fragrant.
3. Add tuna and cook until the tuna is dried a bit.
4. Add pasta and pesto and stir thoroughly. Season the pasta to taste with salt and pepper.
5. Serve pasta warm, drizzled with some lemon juice.
Pesto Pasta With Tuna
A super easy and quick recipe that packs a punch of flavor!
Ingredients
- 0.75 lb dried pasta
- 10 oz tuna packed in oil
- ½ cup basil pesto
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- Salt and pepper, to taste
- ½ tbsp olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
Instructions
- Cook pasta in boiling water according to package directions.
- Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Add garlic and cook until fragrant.
- Add tuna and cook until the tuna is dried a bit.
- Add pasta and pesto and stir thoroughly. Season the pasta to taste with salt and pepper.
- Serve pasta warm, drizzled with some lemon juice.
Related Articles
What Does Pesto Taste Like (And How To Tell If It’s Gone Bad)
