Tuna Noodle Casserole

Tuna Casserole is an easy dinner recipe and full of fresh and wholesome comfort food ingredients like whole wheat pasta and a creamy mushroom sauce.

This is one of my favorite weeknight dinner recipes. Everyone loves it and I’m sure you will too.

I’m all about making simple dinners for my family. I grew up eating tuna casserole and it falls into the comfort food category because I consider it hearty and satisfying. The way we made it growing up, however, used canned cream of mushroom soup, canned peas, and regular pasta.

I’ve made this recipe more hearty is by incorporating more fresh ingredients rather than processed ones, including fresh mushrooms, fresh English peas, and milk. I use whole wheat pasta instead of standard white pasta which increases the fiber and protein.  Plus, I use a fair amount of pecorino romano cheese which is just downright delicious.

What are the ingredients?

The basic components of tuna noodle casserole are pasta, tuna, cream of mushroom, and peas.

The ingredients used in this delicious tuna casserole include whole wheat pasta, English peas, extra-virgin olive oil, onion, mushrooms, butter, all purpose flour, milk, kosher salt, white albacore tuna, and finely grated pecorino romano cheese. All together, these ingredients will form one of the most simple and delicious skillet tuna casseroles that your family is sure to enjoy!

Why this recipe is so good:

There are a few things that set this tuna noodle casserole recipe apart from the best.

1. We used to bake our tuna casserole when I was a kid. After all, when you’re dumping a bunch of room temperature foods into a casserole dish, you need to heat it all up. I always found that dried it out, and dried up tuna casserole is gross. I love this skillet method because your peas get cooked with the pasta and they get added to your hot homemade mushroom sauce. Everything is ready to eat right on the stove, but I like to stick it in the oven just long enough to melt the cheese and not dry anything out. Long story short – cooking tuna casserole in a skillet and finishing just for a few minutes in the oven makes it super moist.
2. This tuna casserole recipe uses fresh ingredients. Nothing from a can. Heck, if you want to go above and beyond you could even make your own homemade pasta!
3. When all is said and done, this is a 30 minute dinner recipe. If you have a busy weeknight with homework and sports, this is a great recipe with everything you want in one pan.

How to make this classic recipe:

You will want to start by boiling some salted water. Then you will want to cook the noodles until they are tender. While you are in the last minute of the noodles cooking, add the English peas to the water and noodles. After you do this you will want to preheat your broiler to on high.

While you are waiting for the water to boil for the pasta, you will need to heat up some oil in a large ovenproof skillet over high heat. Then, add the onion and mushrooms to the oil and stir them occasionally until they are fragrant. Then you will melt in the butter and sprinkle flour over the vegetables after the butter melts. Stir and sprinkle the flour until the vegetables are coated.

Then, add milk and stir in the noodles. Sprinkle on your cheese and broil the casserole until it is bubbly and lightly browned. This should take you around three to four minutes. The end result is a super quick and easy dinner that your entire family will love. This is the kind of meal that quickly becomes part of your standard go-to weekday menu.

Love dinner casserole recipes?

Well then you’ll want to try these:

• Chicken Cordon Bleu Casserole
• Cheesy Ham and Broccoli Tater Tot Casserole
• Cheeseburger Casserole
• One Pot Cheesy Chicken Broccoli Rice Casserole
• Sloppy Joe Casserole

This post was originally created in September 2015 and has been updated with more fun facts and tidbits for your reading pleasure.