Every time our family get’s together my mom will whip up a big batch of her homemade Cold Tuna Pasta Salad. We love pasta salads and this one is perfect for the entire family to enjoy. There is NOTHING spicy within it, even the kids enjoy eating it!
Mom’s Cold Tuna Pasta Salad Recipe
1 box elbow macaroni, cooked and drained
12 cherry tomatoes, halved
12 oz. can tuna, drained and flaked
1 3/4 cup reduced-fat mayonnaise
1 1/2 Tbsp. Italian salad dressing
2 Tbsp. granulated sugar
1/2 to 1 tsp. salt
1/2 to 1 tsp. ground black pepper
1/4 to 1/2 tsp. celery seed
3 hard boiled eggs
Cook, rinse and drain pasta. Set aside. Cook eggs until done. Cool, remove shells. Slice eggs and set aside.
In a medium-sized mixing bowl combine together the mayonnaise, Italian salad dressing, granulated sugar, salt, ground black pepper and celery seed. Whisk ingredients together until blended.
In a large mixing bowl toss together the cooked pasta, halved cherry tomatoes and tuna. Pour the first bowl (the dressing) into the pasta bowl, stirring all of the ingredients together. Stir in your sliced hard boiled eggs.
Cover bowl and refrigerate for 2-3 hours before serving.
Note: The amount of mayonnaise that you use will vary. Pasta soaks up a lot of mayonnaise as it sits. You may need to add additional mayo. I can usually tell if I need to add more after it has been in the refrigerator for 2 hours. If so, add additional mayo by the tablespoonful, until you have enough.
Variations: You can add finely chopped celery, onions and/or bell pepper. My uncle likes it with green olives tossed in. If you want to add-in a little kick, you can add additional ground black pepper, red pepper flakes and some ground paprika too. Hubby and I like our’s made as the recipe shows with the addition of green seedless grapes tossed into the mix and some shredded cheese on top. YUMMY GOOD!
* This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, we may or may not receive a small commission which helps to support this site.
I like adding a lot of vegetables to my tuna pasta salad. This would be a good recipe to make for a brunch or with fewer vegetable for sandwiches.
This salad looks amazing and I would love to make it for my hubby!
II like a good pasta salad. These make for such a good lunch on their own, My Mom made this same one, and you’re right the add ins would vary! In the winter, no tomatoes. I like the idea of green oives, that wold be good too, I have thrown in back olives.
I love tuna salad. This reminds me of my Grandma’s recipe. I like this much better than the ones that toss in spicy ingredients. This is sort of a comfort food to me.
I am going to make this but with chicken. It sounds so good. Thank you for the recipe.
Great flavors in this salad. I like that it has the tuna in it for protein.
These sounds delicious Shelley! I can easily see this being a great recipe to serve during the summer time for a picnic, for an office potluck or a church social. Also, I like that you offer many variations to the basic recipe.