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Healthy 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 and healthy 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, is the less healthy way because we used canned cream of mushroom soup, canned peas (yuck), and regular pasta.
I’ve made this recipe more healthy 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 deliciously healthy 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.
- 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.
- 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!
- 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, yet healthy, 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
Healthy Skillet Tuna Casserole
Equipment
Ingredients
- 8 ounces whole wheat pasta I used fusilli
- 10 ounces English peas fresh
- 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 medium onion finely chopped
- 8 ounces mushrooms chopped
- 3 tablespoons butter
- 4 tablespoons all purpose flour
- 2 cups milk
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 10 ounces solid white albacore tuna drained (two 5 ounce cans)
- 1 1/2 cups pecorino romano cheese finely grated, divided
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook noodles until just tender, 6 to 8 minutes or according to package directions. During the last minute of cooking, add the English peas. Drain and rinse.
- Position rack in upper third of oven and preheat broiler on high.
- While the water is boiling for the pasta, heat oil in a large ovenproof skillet over high heat. Add onion and mushrooms and cook, stirring occasionally, until they are fragrant, about 5 minutes. Add butter to pan and melt while stirring into onion and mushrooms. Sprinkle flour over the vegetables, stir to coat, and allow to cook until roux is fragrant, 3-4 minutes. Reduce heat to medium and add milk; bring to a simmer, stirring constantly. Stir in tuna and 1/2 cup of the cheese until evenly incorporated. Remove from heat. Then, stir in the noodles (the pan will be very full).
- Sprinkle the casserole with the remaining cheese. Broil until bubbly and lightly browned on top, 3 to 4 minutes.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
This post was originally created in September 2015 and has been updated with more fun facts and tidbits for your reading pleasure.
Hi– what about the teaspoon of salt listed toward the end of the ingredients? Seems like it would make it way too salty with the Pecorino, so is it just to add to the pasta water?
Yes, sorry it’s not clear in the directions. The salt is for the salted water to cook the pasta.
What is the serving size for the nutrition info?
It makes about six servings. My guess is that’s about 1.5 cups each.