An Italian-style “aglio e olio” pantry pasta. This is a canned tuna recipe for dinner, with tasty tuna, pasta and spicy garlic olive oil sauce. Quick and delicious!
You know when you walk in the door after a long day traveling or working, tired and 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.
But that’s never a recipe for happiness.
Times like that call for a good pantry, which always has your back.
That’s when this easy tuna pasta recipe aglio e olio will feel like a lifesaver!
The whole point of having a well-stocked pantry is to be prepared for cooking.
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.
My mother made a version of tuna pasta for us almost weekly when I was growing up, and I’ve always loved it.
She kept it much simpler by using solid white canned tuna, linguine or spaghetti and chopped parsley.
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 forever.
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, as an adult, once I tasted oil-packed tuna in jars, it’s been hard to go back to canned tuna, which is the perfect thing for tuna salad sandwiches (on white bread with mayo).
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 often looks like mushy bland pâté depending on how it’s processed.
In southern Italy, tuna preserved in oil, tonno sott’olio, is a prized food to make and keep.
Jarred tuna is definitely a bit pricier, but I think the extra bucks are totally worth it.
After all, we’re making dinner here!
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.
My favorite brands to have on hand are Italian and Spanish jarred tunas, available at many grocery stores and online.
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Olive Oil and Garlic Tuna Pasta
Ingredients
- 1 can or 6 ounce jar oil-preserved tuna
- Sea salt
- 1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 or 2 garlic cloves, finely sliced
- 1/2-1 teaspoon crushed red pepper or Aleppo pepper
- 1/2 cup dry-packed sundried tomatoes, cut into slivers (soak in hot water for 10 minutes if they're very dry)
- 1 pound linguine or spaghetti
- 2 tablespoons butter
- Handful chopped Italian parsley
Instructions
- Lift the tuna from the jar with a fork, leaving the oil in the jar. Put the tuna into a small bowl and break into smaller pieces with the fork – don’t shred too much as large chunks have a nice texture.
- Set a large pot of water on the stove to boil, adding 1 tablespoon of salt per quart of water.
- Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium low heat for a minute. Toss in the garlic, chili and tomatoes and cook just until the garlic starts to sizzle. Remove from the heat and stir in the tuna and 1/4 teaspoon salt.
- Cook the pasta until al dente. Reserve 1/4 – 1/2 cup of pasta water before draining. Immediately add the pasta to the skillet along with the butter. Use tongs or two large forks to toss the pasta with the sauce, adding a bit of water to loosen the sauce (you might not need all the water).
- Sprinkle the herbs over the pasta, then taste and add more salt or chili if you like. Serve hot.
Dan says
Delicious and easy. A pantry supper for us on a Sunday evening. Recipe does not mention serving with grated Parmesan. The dish is rich in umami flavors, so we opted for no cheese.
Leah says
Soo easy and so yummy! Made this using pantry ingredients while social distancing. We didn’t have very many Sun-dried tomato’s, so we added capers and it was delicious. Will definitely be making again!
Familystyle Food says
Thanks Leah! So happy you made this 🙂