This Healthy Tuna Pasta Salad recipe is protein packed with a few healthier swaps and great for weekly meal prep or a quick and easy lunch. Packed full of colorful vegetables, it is filling, light and fresh and it's perfect for making ahead of time. Pasta in a creamy dressing, with protein packed tuna, egg and beans - it's healthy comfort food that is budget friendly too.
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This cold tuna pasta salad couldn't be easier to make. Just cook and drain the pasta, boil some eggs, blend the sauce and then mix everything together. Tuna pasta salad with cottage cheese is ready in under 20 minutes and easy to adapt with your favourite vegetables.
We love having this high protein tuna pasta salad in the fridge for a quick lunch, and the kids love it for a packed lunch at school too. Use this healthy pasta salad recipe as a base and then adapt it with your favourite vegetables.
We have even given options below to add cheese if you want to make it a little more indulgent.
If you are looking for more protein pasta salads, then why not try our amazing Chicken Caesar Pasta Salad, creamy Chicken Pesto Pasta Salad, delicious High Protein Pasta Salad, easy Orzo Pasta Salad or our convenient Meal Prep Pasta Salad Jars.
For more healthy lunch ideas, see all our lunch recipes.
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Ingredients and Substitutions
A full ingredients list, along with US Customary and Metric measurements, can be found in the recipe card at the end of this post.
- Pasta - This is the bulk of the dish. You can use any pasta you like, or even a mixture of a few if you have lots of little bits in your cupboard. You can use whole wheat pasta for added fiber, like we have. You could use protein pasta if you wanted to make this tuna pasta salad with cottage cheese even higher in protein.
- Tuna - We use tuna in spring water, as that is our personal preference. However, you can use tuna in oil instead.
- Cottage cheese - This is the base of the sauce for the cottage cheese tuna pasta salad and makes it deliciously creamy. We used fat free to keep it light, but full fat would make it creamier.
- Greek yogurt - Instead of using mayo, we added some fat free Greek yogurt to make up the other half of the creamy sauce. You could use all cottage cheese, or all Greek yogurt if you prefer.
- Cucumber - An easy way to add some crunch and lighten up the whole dish. We used an English cucumber.
- Tomato - An easy way to add a pop of color. We used cherry tomatoes, however you could dice up a larger tomato. Add some extra tomato flavor with some diced sun-dried tomatoes too.
- Sweetcorn - An easy way to give these a little veggie boost. You really could add any quick cooking vegetables to this, like peas. You could add edamame which would be higher in protein.
- Celery - This adds lots of delicious crunch to the tuna pasta salad, and a slightly salty flavor too.
- Dill - One of our favourite herbs for a salad. So much flavor, and it really lightens up the salad. You could swap it for chives, basil, parsley or cilantro (coriander leaves).
- Apple cider vinegar - This helps to lighten up the dressing, and balances out the creaminess of the cottage cheese and yogurt.
- Beans - Such a great way to add some extra protein and fiber to this high protein tuna pasta salad. We used white kidney beans (cannellini beans), but any beans like garbanzo beans (chickpeas) or black beans would work.
- Eggs - Another easy way to add some extra protein and bulk it out too. Make hard boiled eggs either on the stove or follow our Air Fryer Boiled Egg recipe.
- Pickles - We would happily put pickles in everything. Not only do these add some crunch, but they add extra tartness too. You could use our quick pickled cucumbers.
- Onions and garlic - Both scallions (spring onions) and red onion go into this healthy tuna pasta salad for color and crunch.
- Mustard - A little bit of Dijon mustard adds a lovely flavor. You could use wholegrain mustard instead, or just leave it out.
High Protein Tuna Pasta Salad Variations
This is such an easy dish to make, and also an easy dish to adapt. Once you have the basic recipe of the tuna, pasta and dressing, then there are so many different vegetables that you can add in.
Vegetables - Give this tuna pasta salad a green veggie boost with some chopped up spinach mixed in at the end. We also like chopped red bell peppers, olives and capers for lots of flavor. You can also swap the sweetcorn for peas or do half and half.
Cheese - To make this more indulgent, add finely grated mature cheddar (mature has a stronger flavor, so you can use less) or some chunks of feta or a blue cheese.
How to make Healthy Tuna Pasta Salad
- Step 1: Cook the pasta according to the packet instructions, around 10 minutes. Drain and rinse under cold water.
- Step 2: At the same time, boil the eggs until hard-boiled, around 10 minutes.
- Step 3: Put the beans, yogurt, cottage cheese, garlic and mustard into a food processor (a). Blend until smooth (b).
- Step 4: When the eggs have boiled, peel and chop them finely.
- Step 5: Pour the bean mixture and chopped eggs into a large bowl and add the remaining ingredients.
- Step 6: Give everything a really good mix.
Tuna Pasta Salad Dressing
Tuna pasta salad would usually be loaded with mayo, which makes it not the most nutritious choice. However, we have made a few swaps with the tuna pasta salad dressing to make it lower in fat, higher in protein, but still super creamy.
We have ditched the mayo and replaced it with Greek yogurt and cottage cheese. We blended it up with the mustard to make it smooth (this is good if you don't usually like the texture of cottage cheese), but we also blended the beans into it (you could blend the dill in too).
This does give it more of a gritty texture, so if you don't like that then don't blend the beans and add them in whole.
Serving Suggestions
We love making this as part of our weekly meal prep and add it to Picky Plates. But in the summer we love this as a BBQ side dish, served alongside Honey and Lime Chicken, Vegetable and Halloumi Kebabs or Hidden Vegetable Beef Burgers.
However, if this is the main dish and you are looking for some veggie based sides to serve it with, then we have some delicious options.
Add some crunch on the side with Roasted Butternut Squash, Air Fryer Carrots, or Roasted Lemon Asparagus. If you are looking for more of a salad side, then try our Little Gem Salad, Spanish Olives or Roasted Cherry Tomatoes.
Dannii's Top Tips
- If you don't love creamy dressings, you could use a honey and mustard vinaigrette instead, but this would remove a lot of the protein.
- Avoid using long pastas like spaghetti for this.
- Fresh herbs add lots of extra flavor to this and dill goes really well, but chives also work too.
- Make sure you rinse the pasta well in cold water before mixing it with the rest of the ingredients. Firstly, it cools down the pasta quickly, and it also removes excess starch from the pasta which stops it all sticking together. Make sure it is drained well too, as you don't want a watery dressing.
- Add some diced avocado for extra creaminess.
- You can add a squeeze of lemon juice before serving to freshen it all up.
- If the cottage cheese you use is high in salt, then there is no need to add extra salt.
Frequently Asked Questions
You can store any leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days. It is best eaten fresh though.
If you are making this for a BBQ or picnic, or even to take to work for lunch, then this can definitely be made in advance. It is best eaten after a few hours being kept in the fridge, but it would keep for 2 days. Try to only add the dressing just before serving. If you do make it in advance with everything mixed together, maybe add an extra spoonful of yogurt just before serving to loosen it all up a little.
More High Protein Recipes
If you've tried this healthy tuna pasta salad recipe, let us know how you got on in the comments below.
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Recipe
High Protein Tuna Pasta Salad
Ingredients
- 200 g (7 oz) of Pasta
- 4 Eggs
- 235 g (1.25 cups) of Cannellini beans - canned; drained weight
- 200 g (1 cups) of Fat free cottage cheese
- 115 g (0.5 cups) of Greek yogurt
- 1 teaspoon of Dijon mustard
- 200 g (7 oz) of Tuna - canned; drained weight
- 180 g (1 cups) of Sweetcorn - canned; drained weight
- 4 Gherkins - diced
- 3 Spring onions (Scallions) - chopped
- 100 g (0.5 cups) of Celery - diced
- 8 Cherry tomatoes - diced
- 0.25 Cucumber - diced
- 3 tablespoon of Apple cider vinegar
- 2 tablespoon of Fresh dill
- 2 pinch of Sea salt
- 2 pinch of Ground black pepper
- 2 Garlic cloves - crushed
- 0.25 Red onion - diced
Instructions
- Cook 200 g of Pasta according to the packet instructions, around 10 minutes. Drain and rinse under cold water.
- At the same time, boil 4 Eggs until hard-boiled, around 10 minutes.
- Put 235 g of Cannellini beans, 115 g of Greek yogurt, 200 g of Fat free cottage cheese, 2 Garlic cloves and 1 tsp of Dijon mustard into a food processor. Blend until smooth.
- When the eggs have boiled, peel and chop them finely.
- Put the bean mixture and chopped eggs into a large mixing bowl.
- Add 200 g of Tuna, 180 g of Sweetcorn, 4 Gherkins, 3 Spring onions (Scallions), 100 g of Celery, 8 Cherry tomatoes, 0.25 Cucumber, 3 tbsp of Apple cider vinegar, 2 tbsp of Fresh dill, 2 pinch of Sea salt, 2 pinch of Ground black pepper and 0.25 Red onion.
- Give everything a really good mix.
Recipe Video
Recipe Tips
- If you don't love creamy dressings, you could use a honey and mustard vinaigrette instead, but this would remove a lot of the protein.
- Avoid using long pastas like spaghetti for this.
- Fresh herbs add lots of extra flavor to this and dill goes really well, but chives also work too.
- Make sure you rinse the pasta well in cold water before mixing it with the rest of the ingredients. Firstly, it cools down the pasta quickly, and it also removes excess starch from the pasta which stops it all sticking together. Make sure it is drained well too, as you don't want a watery dressing.
- Add some diced avocado for extra creaminess.
- You can add a squeeze of lemon juice before serving to freshen it all up.
- If the cottage cheese you use is high in salt, then there is no need to add extra salt.
Nutritional Information
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The nutritional information provided is approximate and is calculated using online tools. Information can vary depending on various factors, but we have endeavoured to be as accurate as possible.
As all appliances vary, cooking times are a guide. Please note that by changing the serving size, the cooking time may also need to be altered.
Emma Bottomley says
This was a great recipe that lasted me over 4 lunches which was great for batching and forgetting! Then a nice surprise when reaching on the fridge!
Lima Ekram says
Just made it - absolutely delicious!
Kristen says
This pasta salad is so delicious! Thank you for the recipe!
Claudia Lamascolo says
I love this combination its perfect for pasta salad and delicious!
Gina says
Love the crunch of the celery and cucumber and how you lightened it up with yogurt - a much more delicious version than the original!
Jessica Formicola says
I live off of pasta salads in the summer, and this tuna pasta salad looks amazing! I can't wait to give it a try!
Lima Ekram says
Was just wondering what to make with some tuna that I need to use! This recipe is perfect will let you know how it goes!
Terina R. says
I am interested in adding this recipe to my meal prep rotation, but I have a question: how do your kids have it packed for their lunch if you say to not add the dressing until right before serving?
Irina says
I made this tuna salad for our lunch today! What a delicious taste it holds! It will become our lunch alternative starting today. :)
Cate says
Yum! What a gorgeous and tasty looking summer salad. Thanks for the recipe!