Tuna Salad {Summer Meal with NO-OVEN}

Why, hello! It's been a while.  If you want to hear my excuses, they are: 1) I'm pregnant and 2) we just moved to New Mexico. With those 2 factors life has been crazy for the last several months to say the least.  But I still love doing this recipe blog, and am determined to be back at it again weekly.  Enough about that.  

The real reason I'm here today is that I've been on a quest to not turn my oven on this summer.  I'm sure several of you feel like this is an important thing too during the heat of the summer.  We are living in New Mexico now and the heat isn't really much different than Utah, but we are on a swamp cooler system now vs air conditioning.  So far I'm not a huge fan of the swamp cooler.  I mean, I'm happy that I have it, cause nothing would be worse. But I used to turn the A/C to like 68 or so, and bask in my frigid cold house, and now that is not so much a possibility.

So as I was brain storming some NO-OVEN meals. This tuna salad came to mind. My mom made this for us growing up and I have always loved tuna!  This salad comes together quick, about 30 minutes and is best chilled. I usually make it while I'm eating/making lunch and then let it sit until dinner time in the fridge so it's nice and cold.  And I had everything on hand in my barely moved into house, except for fresh celery.  So you probably have all the ingredients on hand too.

I don't really have exact amounts on my recipe. But I recorded what I did yesterday when I made this.  It's really a flexible salad, you can add more or do less of anything.  So easy! Enjoy!



Browse our recipe index for other NO-OVEN meals!

Tuna Salad

Printable Version

Ingredients:

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2 heaping cups of pasta, cooked & drained (I like mini shells, elbow, or mini rotini)

1-2 small cans tuna (light tuna or albacore)

2-3 stalks of celery, diced small

¾ cup kosher dill pickles, diced (I like Vlasic brand)

4 hard boiled eggs, diced

¾ + cup mayo (pick your dressing scale, I like it light)

1 teaspoon Mrs. Dash seasoning (or other saltless seasoning blend)

¼-1/2 teaspoon celery seed

Fresh ground pepper to taste.  

Directions:

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Cook pasta, drain and rinse.  Add to a large bowl with lid (or that you can cover with plastic wrap). Boil 4 eggs til done (I boil them in white vinegar, water and salt for 10 minutes).

Add all ingredients to the same mixing bowl and mix until combined.  Chill for 3-4 hours for best result.  

Note:

I usually like to make this at lunch time so that it can be very chilled for dinner.  If I’m short on time I just cook the noodles and eggs and put them along with 2 cans of tuna in the fridge (all the other ingredients besides the seasoning I already have refrigerated), so everything will be cold for mixing right before serving.

Enjoy!

We serve with artisan bread and fruit salad.