This Tuna Pasta Salad is soaked in a rich dressing and stuffed Greek style fillings. This genuinely is the best fish pasta serving of mixed greens formula on the planet!!
A lot of tuna salad recipes opt for more oil based dressings, but quite frankly if I’m having canned tuna and it’s not in some way shape or form connected to full fat mayonnaise, then somethings seriously not right.
The base of the dressing is a 50/50 split between Greek yogurt and mayo. The mayo gives the dressing a bit of body, full yogurt dressings always fall a little short for me. I also add extra virgin olive oil, which gives the dressing a nice rich and silky undertone.
In terms of what herbs to use, firstly unless you’re going to rest the dressing I highly recommend using fresh herbs. For this dressing we’re going for parsley and dill. Both of which work great with the Greek theme and both go beautifully with tuna.
Ingredients:
Pasta Salad
- 10.5oz / 300g Short Cut Pasta (here I use Fusilli)
- 2x 6.5oz/185g cans of Tuna, drained
- 3.5oz / 100g Baby Plum Tomatoes, halved
- 3.5oz / 100g Cucumber, sliced & quartered
- 3oz / 75g Kalamata Olives, halved
- 2oz / 60g Greek Feta, crumbled
- 1/2 small Red Onion, finely diced
Creamy Dressing
- 1/2 cup / 120g Plain Greek Yogurt
- 1/2 cup / 120g Mayo (full fat)
- 1.5 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- 1 Lemon, juice only (or to taste)
- 1 heaped tbsp finely diced Fresh Parsley
- 1 tbsp finely diced Fresh Dill
- 1/2 tsp Sugar
- 1/4 tsp Garlic Powder (or 1/2 small cloves, minced/grated)
- 1/4 tsp Salt & Black Pepper, or to taste
Instructions:
- Add your pasta to a large pot of salted water and cook until al dente. Drain in a colander and rinse with cold water until completely cold. Leave rested to drain out water.
- Meanwhile, in a small mixing bowl add 1/2cup/120g mayo & yogurt, 1.5 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, juice of a lemon (or to taste), 1 heaped tbsp finely diced parsley, 1 tbsp finely diced dill, 1/2 tsp sugar and 1/4 tsp garlic powder, salt & pepper (or to taste). Give it a good mix, taste for seasoning then place to one side.
- In a larger bowl add your pasta, tomatoes, cucumber, feta, olives and onion. Pour in your dressing and stir with a spatula or toss with salad tossers until the pasta is completely coated and the fillings are evenly distributed.
- Pop over cling film and rest in the fridge until needed or tuck in straight away!
Notes:
- Fillings – Whilst I do suggest the pasta salad filling measurements are optimal, feel free to adjust the measurements to preference (i.e more of olives etc).
- Cold Pasta – Important to ensure your pasta is completely cold before mixing through the dressing. If it’s at all warm the dressing will start to congeal slightly and won’t keep it’s creamy texture, especially if making ahead of time.
- Make Ahead – Pasta salads are perfect to make ahead of time! You could either make the dressing ahead of time, or make the whole thing. I usually keep the pasta salad tightly covered in the fridge for 3-4days, but keep longer at your discretion.
- Calories – Based on sharing between 6 people.
