Print Options

Tuna Macaroni Salad

Tuna Macaroni Salad

Almost every other Friday growing up my mother would serve the family this tuna macaroni salad. With six kids she loved this standard; it was easy to make, filling, relatively inexpensive, and best, we all gobbled it up.

Print Options

Tuna Macaroni Salad Recipe

Ingredients

  • 1 cup uncooked elbow macaroni
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 quart water
  • 1/2 cup chopped green onion
  • 1 cup chopped red, orange, and or yellow bell peppers, seeded and de-stemmed
  • 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley, packed
  • 2 cans of tuna, packed in olive oil (do not drain), or if you get tuna packed in water, drain the water out and add 2-3 Tbsp olive oil.
  • 2 stalks of celery, chopped
  • Juice of 1/2 lemon, freshly squeezed
  • 1/4-1/3 a head of lettuce (preferably iceberg lettuce), sliced first and roughly chopped into 2 inch long strips
  • 1/2 cup mayonnaise
  • 1/2 teaspoon paprika (we use sweet Hungarian)
  • Fresh ground pepper

Method

1 In a saucepan, add 1 cup of elbow macaroni to 1 quart of boiling water with an added teaspoon of salt. Simmer either covered or uncovered for about 10 minutes until the macaroni is just a little more cooked than al dente. When ready, remove from heat, drain and rinse with cold water.

2 While the macaroni is cooking, assemble the other ingredients. In a large bowl mix the green onion, bell peppers, parsley, tuna, celery and lemon. Fold in the iceberg lettuce and mayonnaise until well mixed. Add the paprika. Add fresh ground pepper to taste.

Eat up. This salad does not make good leftovers as the lettuce will eventually get soggy.

Serves 4.

You might also like...

9 Comments

I make a salad similar to this. I absolutly love tuna and will give your recipe a try, thanks so much for sharing it!

Posted by: Michele on December 3, 2005 1:55 PM

Aha! Something else to do with studenty staples (Tuna, Peppers, Lettuce)
Hot pasta and bolognaise with a salad on the side gets a bit tired. This will make a fun alternative and no dairy!
Chunks of apple and nuts would be fine too right? Waldorfy Macaroni?
Thanks again!

xX cj

Posted by: Coralie on December 4, 2005 7:16 AM

I also make a salad similar to this, but without the lettuce. I always make double since leftovers are always the best. There is always a fight for whatever is left the next day for lunch!!

Posted by: Tara on December 4, 2005 11:17 AM

This sounds really good, and I think my family will like it also. Thanks for the recipe!

Posted by: Andrea on December 4, 2005 12:51 PM

My mother made this salad but added chopped hard boiled egg also, it's delicious.

Posted by: Linda on July 16, 2007 11:55 AM

Instead of intermixing the lettuce with the either ingredients, I make a bed of chopped lettuce in a plate, then serve the salad on the lettuce. This keeps the salad fresh if you have leftovers.

Otherwise a very good and easy set of instructions. My cat, Bogart, and I both enjoy it although I limit his serving size.

Posted by: Bob Sewell on July 8, 2008 2:40 PM

We just ate this for dinner tonight, and it was SO GOOD. Thank you for posting it!

~Q

Posted by: hishtafel on November 7, 2008 6:09 PM

This is similar to my tuna pasta salad that calls for canned tuna packed in olive oil and is adored by my sister. The foundation of the recipe includes the following ingredients:

cooked pasta; canned tuna in olive oil; extra virgin olive oil and/or a mixture of evoo and walnut and/or hazelnut oils; a lot of fresh italian parsley; green onion; red wine vinegar and/or lemon; chopped garlic; baby tomatoes...

Capers add a nice touch if you'd like or have them on hand, and though I haven't used them specifically for this, I believe peppers, especially yellow or red, would be a great fresh vegetable to add as well. I have used shelled edamame, which add more plant-based protein, and beans such as garbanzos and cannellini would be great, too!

Posted by: Susan on January 23, 2009 3:13 PM

Had this for supper yasterday and packed it for lunch at work, delicious, thx for sharing.

Posted by: Sherihan on June 23, 2009 5:52 AM

Post a comment

(Your comment may need to be approved before it will appear on the site. Thanks for waiting. First time commenting? Please review the Comment Policy.)

Link to this recipe

Bookmark this page using the following link: http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/tuna_macaroni_salad/

Do you have a website? You can place a link to this page by copying and pasting the code below.

<a href="http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/tuna_macaroni_salad/">Tuna Macaroni Salad</a>