Healthy Tuna Pasta Salad (Gluten Free Option)
This healthy tuna pasta salad is the ultimate make-ahead weeknight dinner, and it’s also perfect for picnics! The salad features juicy tomatoes, fresh spinach, kalamata olives and nutty pine nuts, with a vibrant Dijon dill dressing. To toast pine nuts, cook them in a dry skillet over medium heat, stirring often, until golden and fragrant, about 5 minutes. Feel free to double the recipe if you’re feeding a crowd!
Servings: 3 -4 people
Ingredients
Dijon Dill Dressing
- 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
- 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
- 1 tablespoon honey or maple syrup
- 2 tablespoons finely chopped shallots or chives
- 1 garlic clove, grated
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh dill, plus more for serving
- ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Pasta salad
- 8 ounces shaped pasta, such as rotini, fusilli or bow tie (gluten free or regular)
- 1 5-6 ounce can tuna, drained and flaked (preferably pole caught wild albacore tuna)
- 1 cup grape tomatoes, halved
- 2 cups baby spinach
- ½ cup pitted Kalamata olives, sliced crosswise
- ¼ cup toasted pine nuts
- Pinch red pepper flakes (optional)
Instructions
Make the dressing
- In a bowl or jar, combine the Dijon mustard, lemon juice, red wine vinegar, honey, shallot, garlic, dill and extra virgin olive oil. Season with salt and pepper. Whisk or shake to combine. Do Ahead: The dressing can be refrigerated for up to 5 days.
Cook the pasta and assemble the salad
- Cook the pasta according to the package directions. Drain and rinse in warm water, then transfer to a large bowl. Immediately pour half of the dressing over the warm pasta and toss to coat (this will allow the pasta to soak up lots of flavor). Season with salt and pepper, and let cool.
- Add the tuna, grape tomatoes, spinach, olives, pine nuts, and red pepper flakes (the pepper flakes are optional but add a lovely hint of heat). Do Ahead: At this point, you can cover the bowl and refrigerate it until you’re ready to serve, up to 6 hours.
- Pour the rest of the dressing over the top of the salad, and toss everything together to coat. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Give the salad a taste—if you think it could use a splash more oil or vinegar, then go for it! Serve the pasta salad immediately, or let it sit at room temperature for up to 2 hours. Garnish with fresh dill before serving, if you’re feeling fancy.
Notes
Storage: The pasta salad is best the day it’s made, but leftovers can be refrigerated for up to 2 days (it makes for a scrumptious lunch!).
Tips:
- If you don’t have spinach, try arugula, watercress or baby chard.
- You can use jarred roasted red peppers instead of the grape tomatoes.
- Swap out the pine nuts for toasted walnuts.
- Use a good quality canned or jarred tuna for this recipe. I recommend pole-caught wild albacore tuna, such as American Tuna or Wild Planet. Drain the tuna before adding it to the salad.
- You can swap out the canned tuna for cooked fresh swordfish or tuna (check out my foolproof method for slow cooking swordfish in my book, Fresh Flavors for the Slow Cooker!).
- Tossing the pasta with half of the dressing while it's still warm allows it to soak up the flavors, giving you a much more flavorful pasta salad.
- Put that canned tuna to use in the Tuna Nicoise Bowls from my book, Build-a-Bowl!