Make the most of store cupboard staples and whip up this tasty week night meal in under 15 minutes. This Spicy Tuna Spaghetti is easily adaptable to add extra vegetables and different flavours and you can make a kid friendly version too. Spaghetti tossed with lemon juice and olive oil for the sauce and loaded with tuna, peas, olives and plenty of herbs.
We love a cupboard raid meal for something quick and easy when you just need dinner on the table quick. This tuna spaghetti ticks all the boxes, and it's easy to adapt too. Add in anything you have hanging around in the fridge that needs using up. Protein packed, comforting and full of flavour - this meal is a family favourite.
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Why should you try it?
- Made with store cupboard ingredients
- Protein packed
- Easy to adapt
- Kids love it
Step by step
One: Add the pasta to a pan of boiling water and simmer for 12 minutes. 5 minutes before the pasta is ready, add the peas.
Two: Drain and spaghetti and peas (reserving a little of the water) and put back in the pan with the rest of the ingredients (including reserved water) and stir well.
Three: Serve.
Do I have to use tuna?
As not everyone is a fan of tuna, so you could use canned (or fresh) salmon, or even some mackerel or crab. Not a fan of fish? Throw in some leftovers shredded chicken, tofu or beans, or just leave it as a the peas and sun dried tomatoes with pasta to keep it vegetarian. It's really easy to adapt.
What vegetables to add
This is a good opportunity to get some vegetables into the dish. You could chop up some onions and garlic and as they are cooking, you could also add some chopped bell pepper, mushrooms, courgette (zucchini), baby corn or anything else you have in your fridge that needs using up.
We just used peas for a bit of a green boost, but you could wilt in some spinach too. We love adding a generous amount of sun dried tomatoes and olives, as they add so much flavour to a pasta dish.
Pasta sauce
There isn't a sauce in the traditional sense, however we have made a sauce using lemon juice, olive oil and some reserved pasta water. Never throw all the pasta water away, as not only does the salty and starchy water add lots of flavour, but it helps thicken a sauce and kind of glues it to the pasta. It's always our "secret" ingredient in pasta dishes.
What to serve it with
Garlic bread of course! Pasta and garlic bread are such a delicious match. Either buy some ready made, or make your own easy garlic bread by cutting up some French stick and spreading it with a mix of butter, crushed garlic and dried herbs. Then pop it in the oven for 10 minutes.
We like to serve this with a big green salad too. Because, you can never have too many greens in your life, right?
FAQs
You can freeze this, and it will keep in the freezer for up to 3 months in an airtight container. However, spaghetti can lose it's quality and become quite mushy when defrosted and reheated.
You can store this in the fridge, again in an airtight container, and it will be good for 2-3 days.
Extra tips
- You can swap the spaghetti for any other type of pasta.
- We topped ours with shaved Parmesan, however you could use cheddar, goats cheese or feta.
- This pasta dish is topped with fresh chopped basil, however you could use parsley, dill or chives.
- You can make this dish even creamier by swapping the pasta water for some cream or creme fraiche.
- A few capers stirred in to this add so much flavour.
- Use tuna in olive oil for the best flavour. Tuna in water doesn't tend to have as much flavour.
- Add some spice with a sprinkle of red chilli flakes before serving.
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Recipe
Spicy Tuna Spaghetti
Ingredients
- 140 g spaghetti
- 80 g frozen peas
- 110 g canned tuna drained
- 2 tablespoon fresh basil finely chopped
- 1 pinch sea salt and black pepper
- 20 kalamata olives halved
- 5 sundried tomatoes chopped
- 2 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 lemon juice only
- 0.5 teaspoon red chilli flakes Optional to serve
Instructions
- Add the pasta to a pan of boiling water and simmer for 12 minutes. 5 minutes before the pasta is ready, add the peas.
- Drain and spaghetti and peas and put back in the pan with the rest of the ingredients and stir well.
- Serve.
Notes
- You can swap the spaghetti for any other type of pasta.
- We topped ours with shredded Parmesan, however you could use cheddar, goats cheese or feta.
- This pasta dish is topped with fresh chopped basil, however you could use parsley, dill or chives.
- You can make this dish even creamier by swapping the pasta water for some cream or creme fraiche.
- A few capers stirred in to this add so much flavour.
- Use tuna in olive oil for the best flavour. Tuna in water doesn't tend to have as much flavour.
- Add some spice with a sprinkle of red chilli flakes before serving.
BloggerMummyLauren
This look delicious, although I'm not a fan of fish so would just omit the tuna. You can't beat a pasta based dish for an easy meal.
nicol
I'm always at a loss with tuna and pasta and stick to the usual tuna sweetcorn. ill try this out next time!
emma amoscato
My son would eat tuna and pasta for every meal if I let him. I can't convince him on olives though!
Rachel
The addition of Olives has me liking this a lot, I am obsessed with them x
Elizabeth
This is very much like one of my favourite comfort food dishes - a tin of tuna, a tin of sweetcorn, fusilli pasta, tomato sauce and heaps of cheddar and chilli powder. Yum! :)
Emma @sophieellaandme
This looks delicious, although I'm not a huge fan of olives but it looks so simple and easy to make. Thank you for sharing! x
Melanie Edjourian
Great recipes it looks delicious and simple to make which is great.
Tanita
This looks very yum! I love olives. I even eat them on my pizza. yummy x
tanya brannan
This looks so tasty! I love olives in anything, so this is right up my street. Printed off already! x
Jo
Mmmmmm!!!! Tuna and spaghetti is a combo i'd never have thought of and this really surprises me. Can't wait to try it x
Alida @My Little Italian Kitchen
I love your pasta dish and I often make something similar. Tuna and tomato is certainly a winning match!
Chloe Ciliberto
This sounds incredibly delicious and looks amazing. I love tuna, I love spice, I love spaghetti. I'm sold! I'm trying this tonight xx
Kelly
Nice comfort food recipe. And I like that you offer ways of adapting it for vegans and vegetarians!
Tandy | Lavender and Lime
You will not believe this, I bought tinned crab to make a pasta dish this weekend. I agree, the quality of the tinned tomatoes makes all the difference
mira
Grat idea and simple to make! Thanks for sharing Dannii!
Laura ~ RYG
My girls love tuna fish salad (not a big tuna fan here) and makes it once a week for them. But I bet they'd love this, even the spice spin. Going to show my husband right now =)
The London Mum
Perfect combination! I'll give this a try. x
peter @Feed Your Soul Too
Basic, simple but good quality ingredients. This looks very satisfying.
Liz Mays
Oh this sounds like an a awesome meal. I need to see if the guys would want to make this instead of our standard spaghetti next time.
lacey@fairytalesandfitness.com
I hate tuna noodle casserole but this sounds delicious.