Tuna Pasta Bake
An easy recipe using fresh onion and tomato, as well as some pantry staples to make a cheesy, flavourful Tuna Pasta Bake.
Servings: 6 people
Ingredients
- 1 onion, chopped
- 3 large tomatoes, diced
- oil for frying
- 1 - 2 cloves garlic, chopped
- ½ t red chilli flakes Optional
- 3 170g tins of tuna, drained * see note
- ¼ c mayonnaise
- 2 tbsp chutney Sweet chilli sauce also works well
- 500 g pasta shapes, cooked
- 1 c cheese, grated
- 25 ml fresh parsley, finely chopped
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 200°C and grease a large ovenproof dish.
- Place a pan over medium heat and sauté the chopped onion and garlic until translucent.
- Add the diced tomato and juice left on the board after dicing. Fry with the onion mixture until the tomatoes start to break down, approximately 10 minutes. You can add up to a ¼ cup of water if the mixture is very dry or catches to the pan. The original recipe said you can also add a little bit of the tuna brine to the pan.
- Season the tomato mixture with salt, pepper and chilli flakes.
- Remove the pan from the heat and add the drained tuna, mayonnaise and chutney. Stir lightly to mix through.
- Add the cooked pasta and mix well with the tuna mixture. You can add some reserved pasta cooking water to ensure the sauce coats the pasta evenly.
- Transfer to the ovenproof dish and top with the grated cheese and parsley. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes until golden and bubbly.
Notes
- It seems the weight of tins is forever changing. The original recipe used 185g tins of tuna. Nowadays tuna tins only have about 170g in them. I find that three 170g tins give us ample tuna for a large pasta bake. You can use fewer or more as you need to.
- As mentioned I have used tinned onion and tomato mix before when I was in a hurry. If you want to take a shortcut, mix two 400g tins of tomato and onion mix with the drained tuna, mayonnaise, chutney and cooked pasta. Mix well and season with salt and pepper. Then top the mixture with cheese and bake as per the recipe.
- A very decadent add-on would be mixing the grated cheese with some crushed potato crisps (choose your favourite flavour) before baking. This gives everything a crispy, flavourful boost!
- You can add veggies of your choice to boost the nutritional value of the dish. Fry some chopped bell pepper or sliced mushrooms with the tomato mixture, or add in frozen peas and/or corn or fresh baby spinach when mixing the tuna and pasta together.