Tuna Pasta Bake with Tomatoes is a perfect meal the whole family can enjoy! This is a simple and budget-friendly pasta recipe full of amazing flavors.
If you love pasta recipes for dinner, check out our fettuccine with salmon, meatball pasta casserole and mushroom pasta. Also, you should try our homemade pasta recipe too if you haven't yet.
Pasta is always a hit and it is never refused by kids. How to make it more nutritious is up to your imagination. With that purpose in my mind, I used tuna, tomatoes and milk in this pasta bake. The result? This pasta is taken to our weekly meal list, which means it will be one of the dishes we make every week.
If you are looking for a vegetarian pasta bake then you can make Creamy Caprese Pasta, which is another favorite of us and just bake it in oven.
This Tuna Pasta Bake is creamy without any cream. I made the creamy sauce myself. It is really easy and you will see that you don’t need to buy cream for such creamy pasta recipes. You just need a mixture of flour and milk to make a creamy sauce. Saute tomato puree in a pot for some minutes and add in the flour and milk mixture. Stir continually and cook until it gets thicker. Add in tuna and you will have one of the tastiest pasta sauce ever! Trasnfer drained pasta into this pot and stir with a spoon until all flavors are blended well.
You can definitely have this pasta as is, I’m sure you will love it thay way too, but baking it in oven with a topping of a little cheese will take this amazing dish one step further. It will have a great look in the end and will become a wonderful meal that you can serve on a game day.
I used canned tuna for this Tuna Pasta Bake and as it is already packed in olive oil, I didn’t use much oil for the pasta. I drained the excessive oil in the can and the remaining oil was just enough for the sauce.
This Tuna Pasta Bake with Tomatoes can be an easy meal if you use your time wisely. I recommend you to prepare the sauce while the pasta is cooking in water. Whisk flour and cold milk well. Heat olive oil in a pan and saute tomato puree for about 5 minutes over medium low heat. Then add flour and cold milk mixture and stir continually to have a smooth sauce. When it thickens, let it simmer for some more minutes. The cream sauce is ready in 10-15 minutes. Finally fold in tuna and stir well. Meanwhile you should be watching the pasta as it will be cooked in 7-8 minutes. Just take the pot carefully and drain the pasta.
Pour drained pasta into the sauce pot and stir with a spoon until everything is combined well. Transfer this already-yummy pasta into a casserole pan, top with a little cheese and bake for about 20 minutes or until the cheese melts.
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Tuna Pasta Bake with Tomatoes
A tasty and nutritious pasta dish with tuna and a creamy tomato sauce.
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 40 minutes
- Total Time: 45 minutes
- Yield: 4 1x
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
- 9 ounces pasta of your favorite, I used shell-shaped
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- ¾ cup pureed tomatoes
- 3 tablespoons all purpose flour
- 1 and ½ cups milk
- 2 ounces canned tuna
- 4 tablespoons grated mozzarella
- 2 tablespoons chopped parsley
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 370F (190C).
- Put a large pot of water onto boil. Add in the pasta, sprinkle salt in it. Cook it for 7-8 minutes. Drain and set aside.
- While the pasta is cooking you can prepare the sauce. Heat olive oil in another pot and saute pureed tomato in it for about 5 minutes.
- Whisk flour and cold milk and pour it into the tomato sauce. Stir continually and bring it to boil. Let it simmer until thickens over medium low heat. Add in tuna and stir well.
- Transfer the drained pasta into this sauce and stir with a spoon so that everything combines well.
- Put it in a baking pan, top with grated mozzarella and parsley. Bake for about 20 minutes or until the cheese melts.
- Serve hot.
Nutrition
- Serving Size:
- Calories: 366
- Sugar: 8.8 g
- Sodium: 744 mg
- Fat: 5.1 g
- Carbohydrates: 61.2 g
- Protein: 18.4 g
- Cholesterol: 9.1 mg
Keywords: tuna pasta bake, baked pasta with tuna
Geraldine says
I added frozen peas and corn and made 3 lots to freeze. Looks amazing
★★★★
Zerrin says
I'm sure peas and corn make it even tastier.
Gretchen says
Is there a typo with the milk and flour? Not sure if you wanted a bechemel type sauce, but I needed to use a lot more milk than 1.5 Tablespoons to get a decent sauce...Other than that, a little dry but yummy! Will add more sauce next time..
Zerrin says
Hi Gretchen,
Thank you so much for this comment. I've just corrected the recipe. It must be 1 and 1/2 cups milk, not tablespoons for sure.
doha says
can this be served cold, maybe as a school lunch?