Tuna, sweetcorn and pea pasta salad
27 min · 37 g protein · 407 cals / serving
The British lunchbox pasta salad, made lighter and creamier: pasta shapes with plenty of tuna, sweetcorn and peas, crunchy cucumber, red pepper and red onion, in a lemony Greek-yogurt and light-mayo dressing with chives. Four lunches from one bowl, and it eats well straight from the fridge.
Ingredients
Salad
- 1 3/4 cups pasta, fusilli or other short shapes, uncooked
- 1 1/3 cups cooked frozen green peas
Dressing
- 3/4 cup + 1 tbsp nonfat Greek yogurt
- 3 tbsp light mayonnaise
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 tsp lemon zest
- 1 tsp Dijon mustard
- 3 tbsp fresh chives, snipped
- 1/3 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
Salad
- 4 cans (5 oz each) canned tuna, drained, in big flakes
- 1 can (11 oz) canned sweetcorn, drained
- 1 small cucumber, diced
- 1 medium red bell pepper, diced
- 1/2 small red onion, finely chopped
Steps
- Cook the pasta in well-salted boiling water until just al dente. Tip the frozen peas into the pan for the last minute, then drain both together and rinse under cold water until cool. Drain very well; leftover water thins the dressing.
- Stir the yogurt, light mayo, lemon juice and zest, mustard, chives, salt and pepper together in a big bowl.
- Add the pasta and peas, tuna, sweetcorn, cucumber, red pepper and onion and fold together gently, so the tuna stays in flakes. Taste for lemon and pepper, then divide between four lidded containers.
Good to know
How long does it keep?
4 days in the fridge, eaten cold; take it to work with an ice pack because of the tuna and the dressing. It does not freeze. The pasta drinks dressing as it sits, so by day three stir in a spoonful of yogurt or a squeeze of lemon to loosen it.
Can I keep the cucumber crunchy?
Dice it and pack it in a separate small pot or on top of the salad, then stir it through at lunch. Cucumber left in a creamy dressing for days goes soft and watery.
Can I make it with all mayonnaise, the classic way?
Yes, swap the yogurt for regular mayonnaise and it is richer and more traditional, at about 46 instead of 70.
Alternative
Per
- Calories
- 83
- Protein
- (38%)
- 7 g
- Fat
- (12%)
- 1 g
- Carbohydrates
- (50%)
- 11 g
- of which sugar
- 2 g
- Fiber
- 1 g
- Sodium
- 166 mg
More meals
Computed from the ingredients with our published formula, not yet kitchen-tested. General guidance, not medical advice. Talk to your prescriber. How
As written, 1630 kcal goes into the pot and 1748 g of ingredients comes out as about 1966 g of food: 83 kcal per 100 g. Cooking moves water and energy density is the score's biggest lever, so the dish is scored as cooked, not as an average of its parts. Every ingredient links to its food page, with the same data and score. The label's percentages are each macronutrient's share of the calories. The full formula.