Tuna casserole is a classic comfort food dish. It’s also an excellent way to feed a family when you’re on a budget. This dinner excels at making use of pantry items you can stock up on in bulk at the superstore, or buy when they go on sale at the supermarket. The best part is that it’s a fairly hands-off process, thanks to the use of the slow cooker.
For this recipe, grab canned tuna and cream of celery soup from your pantry and frozen peas from your freezer. You’ll need to cook the egg noodles separately before you add them to the slow cooker toward the end of the cooking process. The noodles will retain their texture best if they’re cooked separately from the casserole.
This tuna casserole is easy to throw together and offers lots of variation with substitutes you might have in the pantry. Consider a cream of mushroom soup, for example, along with dried thyme, or a mix of frozen peas, carrots, and broccoli instead of just peas.
- Cooking spray
- 2 (10.5-ounce) cans cream of celery soup
- 1/3 cup chicken broth
- 2/3 cup milk
- 2 tablespoons dried parsley
- 1 (10-ounce) package frozen peas, thawed
- 2 (7-ounce) cans tuna, drained
- 10 ounces medium egg noodles, or pasta, cooked until just tender
- 3 tablespoons buttered breadcrumbs
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Gather the ingredients.
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Use cooking spray to grease the bottom and sides of the slow cooker insert (a 4- to 5-quart crock pot).
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In a large bowl, combine cream of celery soup, chicken broth, milk, parsley, peas, and tuna.
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Fold in cooked noodles or pasta.
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Pour mixture into the prepared slow cooker.
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Top with buttered breadcrumbs. Cover and cook on low for 4 to 6 hours.
The Spruce / Diana Chistruga
- Switch to canned chicken, turkey, or salmon or use leftover rotisserie chicken instead of tuna.
- Substitute cream of mushroom or chicken soup for the cream of celery. Consider adding some chopped celery to the mix, or chopped green onion tops.
- Instead of buttered breadcrumbs, use potato chip crumbs or crushed saltines or Ritz crackers.
Casseroles will keep in the refrigerator if they’re in a sealed container for three to four days. You can also freeze this casserole for future use if it’s tightly sealed off, for up to six months. Reheat in the oven until completely hot.
Tuna Selection and Storage
