Tuna, Pasta, and Romaine Salad

Jeff the Chef

This Tuna, Pasta, and Romaine Salad is packed with protein and veg, coated in a tasty, zesty yogurt dressing. It’s hearty enough to make a satisfying dinner, but it doesn’t feel heavy.

Tuna, Pasta, and Romaine Salad
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Tuna, Pasta, and Romaine Salad

Recipe by Make It Like a Man!Course: Salads, Dinner
Makes

8

main-dish servings
Prep time

45

minutes

Ingredients

  • For the dressing:

  • 1-2/3 cup plain, Greek yogurt

  • 1/2 cup fresh parsley

  • 1/2 oz. fresh chives

  • 2 Tbs lemon juice

  • 2 Tbs Dijon

  • 2 tsp vinegar

  • 2 tsp Worcestershire sauce

  • 1 tsp dry mustard

  • 1/8 tsp pepper

  • 1 tsp garlic salt

  • For the salad:

  • 1/2 lb. medium shell macaroni

  • 1 very large head of Romaine, shredded

  • 1 cucumber, sliced into thin rounds

  • 1/2 cup (2 oz.) shredded cheddar

  • 1 cup chopped, seeded tomato

  • 1 can (9.25 oz.) chunk white tuna, drained and broken into chunks

  • 1/4 cup chopped celery

  • 1 package frozen peas

  • 1/2 cup grated Parmesan (optional)

  • 1/2 cup (2.25 oz.) olives, drained and halved

  • 4 hard-cooked eggs, roughly chopped

  • 1 green onion, thinly sliced

  • 4 avocados, halved, seeded, and diced

Directions

  • Make the dressing: with a food processor fitted with the steel blade, blend all ingredients thoroughly. Makes 2 cups. Refrigerate until needed.
  • Cook pasta according to package directions; drain. Soak briefly in cold water and drain again; repeat until the pasta is cooled.
  • Place shredded lettuce in a very large salad bowl. With the exception of the avocado, layer remaining ingredients on top, in order.
  • To serve, toss lightly with avocado and dressing, to taste.

Notes

  • Substitutions: replace 1 cup of the yogurt with mayo, and in that case consider the vinegar optional. Swap in cavatelli, penne, or whatever pasta shape for the shells; iceberg for the Romaine; 8 oz. flaked, cooked tuna for the canned.
"Tuna, Pasta, and Romaine Salad," from Make It Like a Man!

Although this pasta has ingredients similar to a tuna noodle salad, it’s much lighter.

The Backstory

This recipe produces a huge amount of salad. But it’ll keep, refrigerated and undressed, for days. That’s a critical part of my cooking strategy. I love salad, and I don’t at all mind having this one for lunch or dinner several days in a row.

Adult Lunchbox

If you’re going to pack this salad in your lunch, it’s important to keep the dressing separate, since it’ll sog the lettuce over time.

Social Learning

When cooking from an online recipe like the ones you find on my blog, you may find yourself having to scroll back and forth between the ingredients and the directions. This can be problematic when you have flour or lemon juice or whatnot all over your hands. The last thing you want is to get stuff into your keyboard, and a touchscreen gets filthy fast.

I used to lay a piece of plastic wrap loosely over the keyboard. But lately, it’s become very easy to split my screen, and I can do it just as easily on my notepad as I can on my computer. I thought I’d mention it to you, because I find it incredibly useful. I won’t go into detail about how to split the screen, because the commands are completely device-dependent. Research your device online to find out how. On my computer, it simply involves a hover and two easy clicks, and on my notepad, it’s nothing more than a long-press followed by a drag along the touchscreen.

What you wind up with is a webpage like the one you’re reading right now, duplicated, side by side. Then you scroll so that one of them is showing you the ingredients list, and the other one is showing you the directions. I can even easily change the layout so that the direction side is wider and the ingredients side is thinner.

"Tuna, Pasta, and Romaine Salad," from Make It Like a Man!
Tuna, Pasta, and Romaine Salad

Credit for images on this page: Make It Like a Man! unless otherwise credited. This content was not solicited by anyone, nor was it written in exchange for anything. Thank you, Kesor. References: “Layered Tuna and Pasta Salad,” in Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook. (Des Moines, IA: BHG, 1996), 428. BBC Good Food, Food Network, Lil’ Luna, The Slow Roasted Italian. Make It Like a Man! is ranked by Feedspot as #13 in the Top 30 Men’s Cooking Blogs.

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37 thoughts on “Tuna, Pasta, and Romaine Salad”

  10. This salad looks so good, Jeff! I think we have to make this next week when we meal prep. My husband and I love salad, and my teenager is getting into salad lately too, I love it. This would make a perfect lunch to pack for work. Thanks for the tip about splitting the screen, I’ll try that!

    Reply

  12. Going to try this when I return home overseas. Looks deliciously healthy! 🥗
    Cheers!
    Valerie

    Reply

  13. Looks delicious, Jeff! 🥗
    I’ll give it a go for our family once I return home mid-September!
    Cheers!
    Valerie

    Reply

  15. This sounds great. I’ve always loved combine green salads with ingredients you wouldn’t necessarily expect to see with them . . . . pasta, for example. Love it! 🙂 ~Valentina

    Reply

  16. Hi Jeff 🙋‍♂️

    I like so much this recipe for this salad. This looks very amazing and tasty. I say that this recipe not just is very easy to make but also very fantastic choice of ingredients. Thanks so much for it that you share here with us this recipe. 👍🙂

    Best regards to you 🥰🤗❤
    Patrick

    Reply

  17. We have been only buying Romaine of late because it seems that it’s the only green that won’t go rotten before I get a chance to use it! It’s been rather annoying but so nice to have another recipe to add to my rotation for summer salads. The dressing sounds great too, not too heavy but packed with flavour. We are a big fan of the Italian canned tuna (great deal at Costco).
    Great tips on how to view recipes on line, I just use my phone and yes, I get it very dirty so I love the tip about the plastic wrap!

    Reply

    • You just have to be careful with the plastic wrap, 1 lightly lag a sheet over my keyboard, which is a peripheral. Plastic may overheat your phone. I don’t know that for sure. Just guessing.

      Reply

  19. The Yoghurt dressing looks delicious as does the large salad. I love salads that keep well for a few days. Perfect for our summers .phew I’m finally catching up with all your recipe posts Jeff, they are so good.

    Reply

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