Healthy Tuna Pasta Bake (2024)

This Tuna Pasta Bake (a.k.a Tuna Casserole) is made with everyday store-cupboard ingredients and comes together in minutes.

A great-tasting and healthy family meal that’s also suitable for those watching their weight! One serving is under 500 calories, practically Free for those on Slimming World plan and 13 SmartPoints on Weight Watchers.

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We all have a dish to fall back on when a) we don’t feel like cooking and b) the fridge is practically empty.

This ridiculously easy tuna pasta bake recipe is my emergency meal whenever I find myself in this situation. Which, ahem, happens more often than you might think!

I started making meals with tinned tuna when I was still in school in Greece. Think tuna rice salads, tuna sweetcorn jacket potatoes and sandwiches.And I STILL love these unpretentious easy dishes and none more so than tuna pasta.

This recipe is basically for anyone who says they can’t cook. Because all you need to do is boil some pasta and then mix everything else together. Easy peasy – a kid can make this tuna casserole.

Ingredients

Many tuna casseroles are made with cream or creamy sauces. My healthy Italian tuna pasta bake uses a tomato based sauce instead – cutting down on the calories. But I still like a little creaminess so I have added some extra light cream cheese into the mix.

If you leave this out then the recipe is Syn Free making it an excellent Slimming World meal. There’s 13 SmartPoints per serving for those following WeightWatchers. One serving of this healthy pasta bake is under 500 calories.

• Tinned tuna –for a Slimming World pasta bake you must use tuna in brine or spring water. Albacore tuna is a very tasty option but can be more expensive. Whichever type you buy aim for sustainably sourced and line caught tuna. The brand I grew up with was Rio Mare which is Italian and so delicious!
• Pasta – dried penne, fusilli or rigatoni. Or any shapes that allow for the sauce to cling to them! For extra flavour I like to cook my pasta with one vegetable stock cube.
• Passata – preferably passata rustica which is a thicker type of passata. Or you can pick a passata with basil and garlic (check there’s no other added ingredients such as sugar). Alternatively you can use a pasta sauce if you have one you like… I find they always have too much salt and other additives so best avoided.
• Tinned chopped tomatoes or cherry tomatoes. You can also use fresh cherry tomatoes if you prefer.
• Tinned sweetcorn or you can add frozen peas. You can freestyle and add any number of vegetables as long as they either cook quickly or you par boil them first. You can always stick them in with the pasta!
• Extra light cream cheese (such as Philadelphia) which is 1.5 syns per 25g making it .25 syns per serving (I say that’s almost none). Alternatively you can use Dairylea or Laughing Cow cheese which is free but the taste is quite different.
• Grated cheddar and /or mozzarella. Both are allowed as healthy extras and the recipe contains 200g (14oz) which divided by six is within your healthy extra allowance for cheese. You can use reduced fat cheese if you prefer.
• Fresh basil or parsley. I have potted herbs on standby but if you haven’t got any then you can use 1-2 teaspoons Italian Herb Mix.

How to make Tuna Pasta Bake

STEP 1. Preheat the oven 10 180C (350F).

STEP 2. Bring a large pot of water to the boil. Add the stock cube and ½ tsp salt and stir to dissolve. Add the pasta and set a timer to cook it for 2 minutes less than the time on the pack. Drain the pasta into a large bowl, reserving 80ml (⅓ cup) of the pasta water.

STEP 3. Mix the cream cheese with half of the Passata until well blended.

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STEP 4. Add the cream cheese mix, remaining passata and tinned tomatoes to the pasta bowl. Give everything a good stir.

STEP 5. Add the corn, a handful of the grated cheese, drained tuna, chopped basil, salt, sweetener and dried chilli flakes and stir to combine.

STEP 6. Transfer to an ovenproof baking dish (aprox 20x30cm) and drizzle with the reserved pasta water.

STEP 7. Sprinkle with the remaining cheese. Bake for 20-30 minutes, or until the cheese has melted.

STEP 8. Garnish with more chopped basil and serve!

PASTA BAKEVARIATIONS

• Add texture and CRUNCH!Not really suitable for those on a diet but my kids LOVE this. Crumble of a bag of salted crisps and sprinkle over the pasta bake. Alternatively you can use a few tablespoons of Panko breadcrumbs or wholemeal breadcrumbs which are a healthy extra.
• Swap the tuna fordrained lump crab meat. This is more expensive but incredibly tasty. Alternatively you can use raw prawns (shrimp) instead of the tuna, also very yummy.
• Mexican Tuna Pasta Bake add a tin of drained black beans or mixed beans and 2-3 tablespoons sliced green jalapeños (from a jar). Replace the basil with parsley or coriander. Top with some crunched tortilla chips!
• Make it gluten free using good quality gluten free pasta.
• Use wholemeal pasta for added fibre.

Love Tuna? Here’s some other recipes to try

• Cheesy Tuna Pasta Bake cheesy but still Slimming Friendly!
• Mexican Style Tuna Pasta Salad

DID YOU MAKE MY TUNA PASTA BAKE? I’D LOVE TO SEE IT! Snap a photo, add hashtag #supergoldenbakes and tag @supergolden88 on INSTAGRAM