tuna noodle casserole Archives - Good Food St. Louis

Time to Tune Up Your Tuna

April 10, 2023

Tuna Noodle Casserole has its own Wikipedia page!!

The Era of the Casserole

The first year I was married, I learned to make a popular tuna-noodle casserole with help from a can of Campbell’s mushroom soup. The “meal-in-one” was cheap, quick, adaptable, and, best of all, required no cooking skills. Yes, Chicken of the Sea and Campbell’s got me through many a day as a new housewife, finishing up my last year in college.

The classic casserole is made with egg noodles, canned tuna, frozen peas, and mushroom soup diluted with milk. All is topped with Cheddar cheese and crushed potato chips, or bread crumbs. Many have attempted to gussy up the old recipe with chic ingredients such as dried porcini mushrooms, Mozzarella, sherry wine, or thyme. The Australians have further refined the dish by calling it Tuna Mornay.

The Fancified Recipe

Bon Appetit featured a version that incudes leeks, fresh dill and Gruyere. While famed chef J. Kenji Lopez-Alt adds crème fraiche and lemon juice. The Pioneer Woman cranks things up with a cup of sour cream.

Choose the retro version that’s sauced with canned soup or one of those made from scratch. Either way, you’ve got a blue-ribbon dish for potlucks, family dinners, or a freeze-ahead meal.

Be sure to cook noodles al dente to prevent casserole from being dry. Also drain tuna before using.

A hearty spoonful of comfort and goodness.

1950’s Tuna Noodle Casserole

Ingredients

8 oz. dried egg noodles, cooked al dente (about 3-4 cups cooked)
2 (5-oz each) cans white albacore tuna
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1/2 cup milk
3/4 cup cheddar cheese, shredded
3/4 cup frozen peas (or peas/carrot mixture)
Salt and pepper, to taste
1-1/2 cups coarsely crushed potato chips\
Fresh parsley for garish (optional)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 1.5 qt. casserole dish. (Recipe makes 4 servings. Use an 9″x9″” dish for one recipe or, if doubled, use a 9″x13″ dish).

Cook noodles in large pot of salted boiling water according to package directions. Undercook them slightly since they will cook more when in the oven.

In a large bowl combined can of mushroom soup and milk. Stir till smooth. Gently add cooked and drained noodles and flaked tuna. Taste for seasoning. (It’s usually salty enough for me.) Gently stir in frozen peas—no need to cook. Transfer mixture to casserole dish, sprinkle with shredded cheese and top with crushed potato chips.

Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes. Edges will be bubbly and the chips slightly brown. Leftovers freeze well, though if making entire dish for later it’s best to freeze without cooked noodles and add those after the sauce is thawed.

Tuna Noodle Casserole Still a Comfort Food

December 2, 2018

Would you believe this creamy Tuna Noodle Casserole has its own Wikipedia page?

The first year I was married, I learned to make a popular tuna-noodle casserole with help from a can of mushroom soup. The meal-in-one was cheap, quick, adaptable and, best of all, required no cooking skills. Yes, Chicken of the Sea got me through many a day as a new housewife, finishing up my last year in college.

Time and Tuna March On

As my kitchen file of scribbled 3×5 recipe cards grew, I became less dependent on canned items. I explored new flavors and fresh ingredients. Still the old standby remained part of my culinary arsenal, especially handy to take to sick or mourning neighbors.

I thought about the heart warming dish this week after reading a piece by David Lebovitz. In his healthy makeover of the fish-pasta-soup combo, he chucks the pasta for zucchini sticks. But I wasn’t quite ready to leave out the noodles.

I scanned the Internet until I found a recipe that was close to my memories: Old School Tuna and Noodle Casserole with Potato Chips and Peas. It looked good, but in the end, I went with Ree Drummond’s recipe (aka the Pioneer Woman), who jettisoned the clumpy canned soup, mayo, peas, cheese, and potato chips. The recipe was especially appealing because I had all her ingredients on hand—though my mushrooms were a bit scruffy.

I cooked the noodles while sauteing the vegetables.

Then I sprinkled flour over the soffritto of onions, garlic, carrots and mushrooms. (Carrots were my addition for a bit more color and sweetness.)

Next came the addition of milk and sherry wine to form a creamy sauce. Lastly, I folded in the tuna chunks and cooked noodles. The casserole topped with buttered Panko crumbs went into the oven for a half hour.

Fancify the Recipe

Many have attempted to fru-fru the old recipes with upscale ingredients: dried porcini mushrooms, Mozzarella, and thyme, as did USA Today‘s Ellen Brown. She did a side-by-side taste test of the original vs. her upscale, no-soup version and found the new recipe much preferred by taste testers. You might call this gussied up version Company Tuna Mornay.

I think the zucchini version has possibilities, too. I intend to give it a go. Perhaps using my spiralizer and cutting the zucchini into noodles, so the casserole looks like it has pasta, when it really contains a green vegetable. I could call it a Tuna-Zoodle Casserole. Or, perhaps, politicize the dish and call it “Fake Noodle Casserole.”

Comfort in a 9×13″ dish! (Though, I halved the recipe and baked it in an 8″ square dish, it was still comforting.) The dish can also be made ahead of time, placed in the fridge, and cooked later in the day or frozen for future use.