Bucatini with Tuna and Baby Peas
Easy dinner alert! This one’s a family favorite. We love this dish! Well, honestly, my younger kids don’t because they don’t like tuna or garlic. Crazy kids, right? But my 13 year old loves it, too!
Not only does this one taste great, but the ingredients in it can be kept on hand for a complete pantry dinner! Who doesn’t love that? So not only is it delicious, but you can have everything on hand to make this at a moment’s notice. In fact, I’ll bet a lot of you have nearly all of the ingredients already! And a bonus? It’s extremely quick to make. But it’s pretty! And you know what that means. Guests will oooh and ahhh because it looks and tastes great, but you’ll know you didn’t slave over it. And that also makes this a “guests dropped in, what do I make for dinner?” dinner.
I got this one in an email a few years ago—from my local news station. I’ve made a few little changes, but the main idea is the same. Pasta cooking in one pot, and the rest in a sauté pan, then toss the two together. As far as the tuna goes, I use tuna packed in oil, but if you prefer, you can use tuna packed in water. And the pasta is also up to you—spaghetti, bucatini, this would also be good with penne—but use what you like or have on hand. Bucatini is fun—the noodles are like straws! We love trying new pasta shapes. I know, I know—we need to get out more. You’re preaching to the choir here!
Bucatini with Tuna and Baby Peas
This comes together very quickly—so have everything ready to go and right on hand. Because you don’t want to burn the garlic while running around looking for the broth and peas. That would completely ruin this, or any dish! 
* 16 oz. bucatini, spaghetti, or your favorite pasta
* 3 tbsp. olive oil
* 6 cloves garlic, minced
* 1 cup chicken broth (or vegetable broth, if you prefer)
* 1 1/2 -2 cups frozen baby peas
* 2 cans tuna packed in oil, drained and flaked
* 1/2 tsp. freshly ground pepper, or to taste
* 1/8 tsp. salt, or to taste
* 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
* olive oil to drizzle over
Directions
1. Cook the pasta according to package instructions is a large pot of salted boiling water.
2. While the spaghetti is cooking, heat the oil in a large nonstick sauté pan over medium-high heat.
3. Add the garlic; cook, stirring constantly, until fragrant, about 30 seconds--don't let it burn!
4. Add the chicken broth, peas, tuna, salt, and pepper; stir gently until heated through, about 1 minute.
5. Remove from the heat.
6. When the spaghetti is done, drain well and put it in a large bowl, then add the tuna mixture; toss gently to coat the noodles.
7. Add the Parmesan, and toss it all together.
8. Taste and adjust the seasoning.
9. Garnish with more parmesan, and add a drizzle of olive oil and some fresh black pepper.
Elle | Print Article | Share Article | Email Article | 32 Comments tagged cheese, cooking, lunch, main dish. new england, pasta, recipe
Reader Comments (32)
Those are simply gorgeous pics you got on this one. You know they're good, when you're drooling over tuna pasta at 6:45am!!
What a terrific pasta dish! And Congrats on your new partnership. I will have to look into their spices!
Tasty, tasty, tasty
Thank you so much Lori and Maria!
I love high-impact, low-effort cooking--this looks wonderful! And bucatini is my favorite, because of the straw thing. :D
Lovely pasta; and CONGRATULATIONS ON THE NEW PARTNERSHIP!!
I am in love with Bucatini! (Plus I just love saying!) This dish looks fabulous. Thanks for sharing.
Yum. This sounds delicious.
I'll have to check out the spice sage :)
I'm always on the lookout for bucatini, but I can never find it here. This sure does look tasty!
Love everything about this dish except the peas but I'll just sub another veggie for it! Now to find bucatini. I haven't seen it at my local grocery store.
~ingrid
I just love bucatii and so rarely use it--thanks for the inspriation. Love the tuna and peas, too!
I just found bucatini at Trader Joe's for only 99 cents! A local italian market sells it for $8 - so this was a true find. Thanks for the fun recipe - this will be a great spring dinner.
oh! I forgot to say: i made a wonderful banana bread that I know you would love to death. come see if ya get a chance Ms. Elle! have a great weekend chicklet!
I love bucatini. Bucatini Al'Amatriciana is my favorite pasta dish.
I never thought to use tuna though, smart idea, especially when the groceries are low in the house.
That sounds good, although my girlfriend wouldn't eat it. Heh, no tuna for her. Maybe next time she has a girls night out...
Congrats on the partnrship, YAY for you. That pasta looks delish, each frame is calling my name!!
Looks amazing and simple Elle!
This looks like a great recipe for busy weeknights! I'm always looking for new ways to get dinner on the table without too much effort. I love bucatini, it's one of my favorite pastas.
peas and pasta are an unexpected and completely wonderful combo. great dish, and a big ol' "woohoo" to you for your partnership!
Bucatini huh?! Looks great! Congrats on your new partnership. This is soooo my style.
Emily
www.justeatfood.com
This dish tastes so good. I love the combination of flavors and always remember tuna in oil and not water.
Recent blog post: http://selfhealingjournal.blogspot.com/2009/03/not-all-dark-chocolate-is-healthy.html">Not All Dark Chocolate Is Healthy Chocolate
Oh, wow, that looks beautiful! I love tuna with pasta...yum, yum. :)
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Love the pasta! My mom makes a similar dish to this.
The new comment set-up looks great! I was confused by the 1st block, but I left it at Guest. Hope you get this. ;)
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I'm still trying to decide whether I'm a guest, or if I should use my Facebook acct., or...decisions, decisions! Yummy pasta. Love bucatini. TJ's used to have a really big bag with long pasta -- we loved it. And I know we'd love this recipe.
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We loved those long noodles! They were a little hard to eat, but fun, just
the same.
This sounds like a quick and tasty meal that my whole family will love. Thanks for posting.
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I'm probably jinxing myself by saying this, but that actually looks like something that I could cook. I'm one of those people who could burn water, but I'm usually able to make spaghetti without burning down the kitchen, so I bet I could do this. I might just try it after my next run to the grocery store. Thanks for posting.
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Elle, this dish on the bucatini alones makes this a winner but I'll take the tuna, the peas and a few scrapes of cheese too!
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I am a freaky tuna eater - has to be just right, but, you made this dish look fantastic and sound great. Will be trying it out!
LOVE the photos - fantastic shots!
Congratulations!
I love peas in pasta - I don't know what it is but they go well in so many dishes!
Thank you so much, all of you! :)
Speaking of peas....
http://pastexpiry.blogspot.com/2009/05/cartoon-strained-peas.html
http://pastexpiry.blogspot.com/2009/05/cartoon-strained-peas.html" REL="nofollow">Past Expiry Cartoon *LINK*