Tuna Casserole (In ONE Pan!)

This easy Tuna Casserole is completely assembled and prepared in one pan — throw uncooked pasta, tuna, and veggies into a baking dish with a handful of other ingredients and watch in amazement as it bakes to creamy perfection!

We love canned tuna casserole recipes — try our one-skillet Creamy Tuna Pasta or this cheesy Tuna Pasta next!

This Is The EASIEST Tuna Casserole

Remember when we threw uncooked rice and a bunch of dried herbs into a baking dish and ended up with perfectly fluffy and ridiculously tasty Herb Rice? Or perhaps when we threw uncooked pasta, uncooked chicken, and a jar of marinara into a baking dish and ended up with ultra-tender and saucy Chicken Parmesan Pasta?

Well, today we’re returning with the same concept to make the absolute easiest tuna-noodle casserole recipe. It’s almost like magic how this dish comes together, but it truly works and it’s absolutely delicious. No — we aren’t creating a dish where you’re okay with sacrificing flavor for ease. This is a dish that is first and foremost downright delicious and then conveniently simple.

Ingredients

• Tuna and Pasta: Tuna adds protein, and rotini pasta holds the sauce well. I recommend rotini pasta. This is a great pasta to soak up all the surrounding flavors and hold the sauce in nicely.
• Flour and Seasonings: Flour thickens the sauce. Seasonings like thyme, onion, garlic, and mustard powders add flavor.
• Dairy Ingredients: Butter and milk make the dish creamy. Use room-temperature milk to help it blend smoothly and heat up faster.
• Vegetables and Cheese: Frozen peas and carrots add color and texture. Cheddar cheese makes it cheesy and rich. Add the frozen veggies directly to the dish to keep them fresh and crisp.
• Optional Panko Topping: Panko breadcrumbs browned in butter create a crunchy topping. For extra flavor, brown the panko in butter before adding it on top.

How To Make Tuna Casserole

1. Generously grease a 9×13-inch pan. We recommend ceramic or glass, but we have tested this recipe in metal, and it works as well.
2. Dump mostly everything in. Right into the dish, we add uncooked pasta, flour (to thicken), seasonings, butter, chicken stock/broth, and milk.
3. Cover and bake!
4. Add everything else in. Remove the foil and give everything a good stir. Add in the frozen veggies, cheese, and tuna.
5. Optional: Top with a crispy panko topping.
6. Bake again! Bake everything once more and, if you’re feeling ambitious in the meantime, whip up a quick side dish like this Garden Salad or Caesar Salad to enjoy along with this Tuna Casserole.

Tuna Casserole FAQs

What type of tuna should I use in this recipe?

Tuna varieties include dark, light, white, and albacore; lighter tuna has a milder flavor, so choose albacore if you prefer mild fish. Tuna can be packed in water, oil, or olive oil. Olive oil tuna offers a rich texture and smooth appearance.

Why is my Tuna Casserole dry?

Tuna Pasta Tips

• Seasonings go a long way! There is no onion in this dish (We’re emphasizing quick prep!) so you’ll want to make sure to add the suggested seasonings and then adjust to personal preference. A few seasonings go a long way and add lots of flavor. That said, if you aren’t a fan of dried thyme, replace it with equal amounts of Italian seasoning.
• Use canned tuna packed in olive oil for the best flavor. My personal favorite is Genova’s® albacore tuna. Tuna packed in olive oil is richer and has a fresher flavor. Albacore is the lightest of the tuna meats, so it doesn’t have a fishy flavor.
• Make a Tuna Casserole with chips. Replace the panko topping with 1 cup of coarsely crushed potato chips
• Make a Tuna Casserole without peas. Use 12 ounces of whatever small frozen veggie you like best! Replace the frozen peas with all frozen corn or frozen diced carrots.
• Add freshly grated cheese. To avoid clumping, I like to freshly grate the cheese (packaged grated cheese has a cellulose coating that keeps it from melting as smoothly). I also highly recommend sharp or extra-sharp Cheddar for maximum flavor. Yes, this recipe is supposed to be simple, but freshly grated cheese makes a world of difference in a cheesy Tuna Casserole! Speed up the grating by using a food processor with a grating attachment.

More Simple Recipes

• Broccoli Pasta ready in 30 minutes or less
• Chicken Orzo made in one pot
• Fish Stick Tacos tacos made with frozen fish sticks (don’t knock it til you try it!)
• BBQ Pork Mac & Cheese made in one pot
• French Bread Taco Pizza with taco-seasoned ground beef

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5 from 6 votes

Tuna Casserole

By Chelsea Lords

This easy Tuna Casserole is a one-pan wonder! Just toss uncooked pasta, tuna, veggies, and a few other ingredients into a baking dish, and let it bake to creamy perfection!

Prep Time: 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 40 minutes minutes

Total Time: 55 minutes minutes

Servings: 4 servings

Equipment

• Baking pan 9 x 13-inch
• Aluminum foil

Ingredients 

USMetric

 

1x2x3x

• ▢ Cooking spray
• ▢ 2 (5-ounce) cans tuna well drained
• ▢ 2-1/2 cups rotini pasta see note 1
• ▢ 1/4 cup flour
• ▢ 1 teaspoon dried thyme or Italian seasoning
• ▢ 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
• ▢ 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• ▢ 1/2 teaspoon mustard powder
• ▢ Salt and pepper
• ▢ 1-1/2 cups chicken stock or broth, see note 2
• ▢ 2 cups milk see note 3
• ▢ 1-1/2 teaspoons minced garlic
• ▢ 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• ▢ 1 (12-ounce) bag frozen peas and carrots or frozen corn, see note 4
• ▢ 1-1/2 cups shredded sharp Cheddar cheese divided
• ▢ 1 cup panko breadcrumbs plus 2 tablespoons butter, optional topping, see note 5 for instructions

Instructions 

• Measure out milk and set aside for now. Preheat oven to 400°F. Generously grease a 9x13-inch baking pan with cooking spray. Drain tuna and set aside.
• Add the following ingredients in this order to the pan: uncooked pasta, flour sprinkled evenly on top, thyme, mustard, onion powder, garlic powder, salt/pepper to taste (I add 1 teaspoon salt and 3/4 teaspoon pepper), minced garlic, stock/broth, milk, and butter (cut into 2 pieces). Stir well. Cover pan with foil and bake 20 minutes.
• Remove foil and stir ingredients together well. Add frozen peas and carrots. Stir through. Add 1 cup Cheddar and stir through again. Place tuna on top of ingredients in an even layer. Gently press into the mixture (no need to stir in it). Sprinkle remaining 1/2 cup Cheddar on top. If adding panko topping (see note 5), add on top in an even layer. Return pan to the oven, uncovered, and bake another 15–20 minutes or until pasta is tender and the top is golden brown (don’t over-bake or the sauce will dry out). Remove from oven and let stand 5 minutes. Enjoy immediately!

Video

Recipe Notes

Note 1: This recipe works best with rotini pasta—it’s the best at soaking everything up and bakes through perfectly in the specified time. Other pasta shapes may hide the flour so the dish won’t properly thicken. If using other pasta shapes, whisk the flour with 1/4 cup of the chicken stock/broth first before adding to the casserole dish. Ensure whatever pasta is being used has a similar boil time to rotini (9–11 minutes).

Note 2: The better the chicken stock, the more flavor this dish will have. I love and use Swanson’s chicken stock. If using chicken broth, you may need a bit more seasoning.

Note 3: For prepping milk, remove from the fridge, measure, and set aside before starting to cook. Room-temperature milk will heat quicker! This is intended to be a creamy recipe, and the lower-fat milk choices won’t achieve the right texture. That said, you can use 1% or 2% (for a less creamy dish). Unfortunately, skim milk or dairy milk alternatives don’t work the same in this recipe.

Note 4: Use 12 ounces of whatever frozen veggie you like best—all peas, peas and carrots, all corn, or peas and corn.

Note 5: Optional panko topping: Melt 2 tablespoons butter in a large pan over medium-high heat. Once melted, add in panko and salt to taste; I add a heaping 1/4 teaspoon. Stir constantly until lightly browned, then sprinkle over the casserole. Don’t want to use stovetop/pan? Just melt butter in the microwave and mix panko through with heaping 1/4 teaspoon salt.

Storage: Leftover Tuna Casserole keeps well in an airtight container in the fridge for 3–4 days. It does thicken and become less creamy as it sits (pasta continues to absorb surrounding liquid). Because of the dairy in this casserole, it isn’t a great candidate for freezing and thawing. The milk solids will separate as it thaws, resulting in a grainy texture with some separation, and the pasta bloats and becomes mushy.

Nutrition

Serving: 1serving | Calories: 514kcal | Carbohydrates: 49.4g | Protein: 32.1g | Fat: 21.1g | Cholesterol: 76.3mg | Sodium: 535.3mg | Fiber: 2.5g | Sugar: 9.5g

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

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