Lemon Tuna and Chickpea Pasta Salad (No Mayo)
Updated: 5 days ago
Two cans of tuna and one can of chickpeas turn a whole box of pasta into dinner for ten to twelve people. The dressing is lemon and olive oil shaken in a jar, so it stays light instead of heavy. Make it in the morning and it is better by evening. Serves 10 to 12 · 30 minutes · Serve it cold
What you need
THE BASICS
1 lb short pasta, elbow, rotini or shells
2 cans tuna in water, 5 oz each, drained well
1 can chickpeas, 15 oz, liquid saved
2/3 cup olive oil, plus 1 tablespoon for the pasta
1/4 cup (4 tablespoons) lemon juice — bottled, or the juice of 2 lemons
1 1/2 teaspoons mustard, any kind you have
1 teaspoon each garlic powder and onion powder
1 teaspoon black pepper, 3/4 teaspoon salt
NICE TO HAVES
Zest of 1 lemon
2 stalks celery, chopped small
1/4 cup chopped red onion
1/4 cup chopped parsley or dill
How to Make It
Cook the pasta to the time on the package. Drain it, rinse under cold water until it is cool to the touch, then drain again well. Toss it with 1 tablespoon of the olive oil so it does not stick.
Open the chickpeas and pour 3 tablespoons of the liquid from the can into a jar before you drain them. Rinse the chickpeas, put them in a large bowl and mash about half with a fork.
Add the 2/3 cup olive oil, lemon juice, mustard, garlic powder, onion powder, pepper and salt to the jar. Put the lid on and shake hard for 20 seconds, until it turns cloudy and thick.
Drain the tuna well, pressing the lid against the can, then add it to the bowl with the chickpeas and break it up with the fork.
Add the pasta and pour the dressing over. Fold everything together with the celery, red onion, lemon zest and herbs if you have them, until all of it is coated.
Chill at least 20 minutes. Before serving, stir again and add another tablespoon of lemon juice, since pasta keeps drinking the dressing as it sits.
Good to Know
No stove? Leave the pasta out and cut the dressing back to 1/3 cup olive oil and 2 tablespoons lemon juice. It feeds four with no cooking at all, on crackers or in a tortilla.
Ways to serve it. A bowl on its own is a full meal. It is also good spooned over lettuce or sliced tomato, or piled into a sandwich.
Keeping it. Cover and refrigerate, and keep it up to 3 days. It tastes better on day two. Tuna should not sit out more than 2 hours.
Why it is Built this Way
Olive oil instead of mayonnaise. Same job of carrying flavor and coating the pasta, but the fat is mostly unsaturated rather than the blend of oils and egg in mayonnaise. It also holds up better in a lunch bag.
Chickpeas do real work. They bring fiber, which canned fish has none of, and they stretch two small cans of tuna across a whole pound of pasta. Mashing half of them is what makes the dressing cling.
Lemon is the whole trick. Acid wakes up canned fish and keeps a cold pasta bowl from tasting flat. Bottled lemon juice does the job just as well as fresh here. Add the last splash right before it goes on the table, not before it goes in the refrigerator.
Reviewed by Olivia Meza, RD.
Print the card. One page, English and Spanish, the same one that goes in the bags.
