Skip to content

A Tuna, Olive & Tomato Pasta Recipe For An Easy Weeknight Dinner

Eliza Sullivan
Author:
April 8, 2020
Eliza Sullivan
mbg Nutrition & Health Writer
By Eliza Sullivan
mbg Nutrition & Health Writer
Eliza Sullivan is a food writer and SEO editor at mindbodygreen. She writes about food, recipes, and nutrition—among other things. She studied journalism at Boston University.
Tuna & Olive Pasta Recipe
Image by Amanda Frederickson / Beautiful Simple Food
April 8, 2020
Our editors have independently chosen the products listed on this page. If you purchase something mentioned in this article, we may earn a small commission.

You may have stocked up on canned goods, but we're quickly running through our arsenal of recipes that use these canned foods. One thing we'll never tire of? Pasta. And this recipe from Simple Beautiful Food takes the best of canned ingredients to make something that will satisfy any salt craving.

Just where does that salty flavor come from? In part, the Castelvetrano olives you'll be putting and slicing to toss with your pasta. These green olives hail from Sicily and have more of their natural olive taste than their vinegar-cured relations. You'll find them in jars, not cans, but they're still a good pantry item for adding a buttery bite to favorite dishes.

Advertisement
This ad is displayed using third party content and we do not control its accessibility features.

After we got talking with some registered dietitians about the glories of canned fish, we realized we'd maybe been sleeping on these low-cost, sustainable protein sources. While canned tuna may bring to mind images of mayonnaise-y tuna salads, this one-pot wonder flips it into a satisfying pasta dish (no mayo required). We may have more time on our hands, but that doesn't mean we're hoping to spend it all doing dishes—another reason to make this a weeknight staple.

Pasta With Tuna, Castelvetrano Olives & Blistered Cherry Tomatoes

Makes about 4 servings

Ingredients

  • 12 ounces dried pasta
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 shallot, minced
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 3 cups cherry tomatoes
  • ½ cup Castelvetrano olives, pitted and thinly sliced
  • 5 ounces canned tuna
  • Red pepper flakes, to taste
  • Fresh basil, to taste
  • Parmesan cheese, to taste

Method

  1. Cook 12 ounces of dried pasta according to the package instructions.
  2. Drain, rinse with cool water, and set aside.
  3. In the same pan, warm 2 tablespoons of olive oil over medium heat.
  4. Add 1 minced shallot, 2 minced cloves of garlic, and 3 cups of cherry tomatoes and sauté, covered, for about 15 minutes, until the tomatoes are blistered and soft.
  5. Toss the cooked pasta with the tomatoes, along with ½ cup of pitted and thinly sliced Castelvetrano olives and 5 ounces of drained canned tuna.
  6. Garnish with fresh basil, freshly grated Parmesan cheese, and red pepper flakes.

Tip: Cut cherry tomatoes in half if they are large.

Reprinted from Simple Beautiful Food. Copyright © 2020 by Amanda Frederickson. Published by Ten Speed Press, an imprint of Random House, a division of Penguin Random House.
Advertisement
This ad is displayed using third party content and we do not control its accessibility features.
Eliza Sullivan author page.
Eliza Sullivan
mbg Nutrition & Health Writer

Eliza Sullivan is an SEO Editor at mindbodygreen, where she writes about food, recipes, and nutrition—among other things. She received a B.S. in journalism and B.A. in english literature with honors from Boston University, and she has previously written for Boston Magazine, TheTaste.ie, and SUITCASE magazine.