This Creamy Tomato Tuna Pasta Bake recipe is perfect for busy days! Just throw pasta, onions, peppers, garlic, oregano, passata, tuna, cream cheese, basil and cheddar into one pan, then let the oven do all the hard work. Better still, it’s high in protein, surprisingly low in calories and ideal for meal prep.
Another easy one pan dinner!
I am a huge fan of one pan dinners. I just love a dinner where you can throw a few things into a pan, let the oven do all the hard work and then, as if by magic, return to the kitchen to find dinner is already made!
I have so many easy one pan dinners on this website:
- Easy Meatball Pasta Bake (One Pan, High Protein)
- Chicken Fajita Rice Bake (One Pan, High Protein)
- Easy Chicken Breast Traybake
- Easy Salmon Traybake
- Easy Sausage Traybake
But one of the big omissions – until now – was a One Pan Tuna Pasta Bake!
So I set to work, creating a simple-yet-utterly-delicious Creamy Tomato Tuna Pasta Bake – and this is the result!
It’s ridiculously easy, takes just 10 minutes hands on time, and delivers excellent results every single time.
Low Calorie + High Protein Tuna Pasta Bake
Not only is this One Pan Tuna Pasta Bake easy and delicious, it’s also surprisingly low calorie – just 477 calories per portion! AND it’s high in protein – coming in at a whopping 31g of protein per serving.
How to make Creamy Tomato Tuna Pasta Bake (One Pan, High Protein)
This One Pan Tuna Pasta Bake really is ridiculously easy to make!
All you need to do is throw pasta, onions, peppers, garlic, oregano, passata, tuna and cream cheese into one pan, mix and cover with foil, then pop it in the oven for 30 minutes.
After the 30 minutes is up, add some fresh basil, top with grated cheddar and pop it back in the oven for 10 minutes to melt the cheese and cook the pasta to perfection. Easy Peasy!
(Full recipe given in the recipe card below.)
What to serve with Creamy Tomato Tuna Pasta Bake
This Creamy Tomato Tuna Pasta Bake is a complete meal in its own right and does not really need any sides. However, I always like to serve it with a simple green salad to get an extra portion of veggies in.
If you wanted to make this more substantial and/or stretch it further you could also add a side of garlic bread or crusty French bread.
What to drink with Creamy Tomato Tuna Pasta Bake
This delicious Tuna Pasta Bake goes brilliantly with Sauvignon Blanc – especially a gutsy New Zealand one. Australian, Chilean or South African Sauvignon Blancs would also work well here – basically you want a Sauvignon Blanc with a bit of “oomph”, so I’d avoid delicate French Sauvignon Blancs here.
If you’d prefer to drink red wine, I suggest something like Montepulciano Abruzzo, Chianti or Sangiovese di Toscana.
Can you reheat Tuna Pasta Bake?
Yes, in fact this is a great meal prep recipe! Place any leftovers in a lidded container in the fridge, where they will keep for up to 3 days.
Reheat in your oven (set to 220C / 200C fan / gas mark 7 / 425F) for 10-15 minutes, or until piping hot all the way through.
Alternatively, you can reheat this Tuna Pasta Bake in the microwave.
Can you freeze Tuna Pasta Bake?
Yes, you can freeze this dish.
Place the cooked and cooled Tuna Pasta Bake in a lidded container in the freezer, where it will keep for up to 1 month.
Defrost overnight in the fridge and reheat as above.
If you like this recipe…
…you might also like:
- Easy Meatball Pasta Bake
- Cauliflower, Broccoli and Bacon Pasta Bake
- Easy Halloumi Pasta
- Easy Bacon and Tomato Pasta
- Creamy Cajun Chicken Pasta
Easy Halloumi Pasta
Creamy Tomato Tuna Pasta Bake (One Pan, High Protein)
Ingredients
- 400 g passata
- 300 ml water
- 100 g cream cheese (full fat or low fat - I used low fat in the nutrition calculation)
- 200 g pasta (I recommend fusilli)
- 1 medium onion finely diced into ½cm x ½cm pieces
- 1 red pepper diced into 1cm x 1cm pieces
- 1 yellow pepper diced into 1cm x 1cm pieces
- 3 cloves garlic grated or crushed
- 2 teaspoons oregano
- Salt and black pepper (to taste)
- 300 g tinned tuna drained weight (See Note 1)
- 10 g fresh basil leaves chopped, plus extra for garnish (optional)
- 100 g cheddar cheese grated
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 220C / 200C fan / gas mark 7 / 425F.
- Place the passata, cream cheese and water in a large roasting dish and stir until everything is well mixed together. (See Note 2.)
- Place the pasta, onions, peppers, garlic, oregano, salt, pepper and tuna into the roasting dish.
- Use a large spoon to lightly break up the tuna and mix everything together, then ensure that the contents of the roasting dish are evenly spread out. (See Note 3.)
- Cover the dish with foil and place it in your preheated oven for 30 minutes. (See Note 4.)
- After the 30 minutes is up, remove the roasting tin from the oven and double check the pasta is cooked to your liking. (It should be done a little less than your preference, as it will have 10 more minutes in the oven.)
- Add the chopped basil and give the whole dish a good stir, then spread it all out evenly again.
- Sprinkle over the cheddar cheese.
- Place the roasting dish back in the oven and cook for a further 10 minutes, uncovered.
- Serve at the table, accompanied by a simple side salad.
Notes
- If you buy your tinned tuna in brine or spring water, this will probably be about 3 x 145g tins. In any case, the label should state the drained weight.
- At first it may seem a little hard to get the cream cheese to blend into the sauce, but just keep squashing it down and it will quickly blend in to give you a lovely creamy tomatoey sauce that works so well with the tuna!
- The dish I use is 31cm x 25cm x 5cm, so that is the size I recommend. But this dish is fairly flexible – you can use a slightly smaller or larger dish and it will be just fine.
- Cooking time will of course depend on the specific brand/shape of pasta you use and your personal preferences. I use Tesco Fusilli and this comes out cooked all the way through, but not too soft. If you like your pasta less cooked, reduce the main cooking time by 5 minutes. If you like your pasta very soft, increase the main cooking time by 5 minutes.
- Suitable for freezing.
- Nutrition information is approximate and meant as a guideline only.
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