Tuna Pasta with Olive Oil and Garlic

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Make this simple tuna pasta recipe for dinner tonight! It’s an easy pantry dish you can whip up without having to go to the store. With tasty canned tuna, sun-dried tomatoes, linguine (or spaghetti), and a spicy garlic and olive oil sauce, it’s easy and incredibly delicious. An Italian-style “aglio e olio” pasta, it’s ready in 25 minutes or less.

You know when you walk in the door after a long day — so tired and also very, very hungry?

Maybe you just order takeout and move on, because chances are the only things in the fridge are shriveled limes and moldy cheese.

Times like that call for one of our all-time favorite Mediterranean diet recipes, with ingredients coming straight out of a well stocked pantry.

That’s when this easy tuna pasta recipe will feel like a lifesaver!

The whole point of having a well-stocked pantry is to be prepared for those days when you can’t get to the store to buy ingredients.

It’s definitely not fun to overthink dinner in order to make something on the fly  — the whole point is to nourish yourself deliciously, and the sooner the better.

I grew up in an Italian-American family, and my mother made a version of tuna pasta for us almost weekly when I was growing up. I’ve always loved it.

She kept it much simpler by using solid white canned tuna, some chopped garlic, and served it with linguine or spaghetti with chopped parsley sprinkled on top.

But it always had lots of olive oil and slivers of toasted garlic in it — so savory and delicious! It’s been one of my favorite easy pasta recipes for my whole life, right next to her classic Italian meatballs!

Is canned tuna healthy?

Canned tuna is packed with protein, as well as other nutrients like omega-3 fatty acids, selenium and vitamin D.

My mom showed that it’s easy to make a tasty tuna pasta with canned tuna, and the family will devour it. But once I tasted oil-packed tuna in jars, I often use it that instead of canned tuna.

The difference between canned tuna and tuna preserved in glass jars is that the latter retains a firm, flaky texture. You’ll notice it’s also less dry, and flakes into nice large pieces.

Unlike canned tuna, which can turn out mushy depending on the brand and how it’s processed.

In southern Italy, tuna preserved in oil, tonno sott’olio, is a prized food to make and keep.

What kind of tuna is good with pasta?

Jarred tuna is definitely a bit pricier by a few dollars, but I think the extra bucks are totally worth it. After all, we’re making dinner here!

My favorite brands to have on hand are Italian and Spanish jarred tunas, available at many grocery stores and online.

If you opt to use canned tuna or tuna packaged in pouches, look for yellowfin tuna packed in olive oil. This type of tuna will give you the best flavor and quality.

I find that one jar and a pound of pasta feeds a small family very nicely and elegantly.

It might seem counterintuitive, but I don’t use the oil the tuna is packed in for a few reasons:

• Extra-virgin olive oil is my oil of choice for cooking, and as precious as these jars are, the oil the fish is packed in is probably not extra-virgin but more likely a lighter oil.
• The oil can taste diluted or watered down after its processed — not what you want in your finished dish.

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• Best Ever Seared Scallops
• Parchment Baked Cod Provencal
• Roasted Calamari and Tomato Pasta
• Baked Feta Shrimp with Tomatoes

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