Tuna Noodle Casserole

For those of us of a certain age, or from certain parts of the country, no dish can call us straight back to our childhoods like Tuna Noodle Casserole. For everyone else, this unfussy comfort food is just waiting to be discovered.

Though there are variations, (like Chicken Noodle Casserole) the flavors of this Good-Friday Friendly dish just can't be equalled.

It's a pleasure for both home cooks and their families. The 30 minute pantry staple meal is one of those dishes just made to be pulled out when there's nothing in the fridge, and it always puts a smile on everyone's faces when it comes out of the oven.

Though some recipes have broken this dish all the way down to dump-and-bake levels, we wanted to honor the classic recipe's great flavor with a few fresh staple veggies—namely onions and celery. And though it's an extra step, we found that cooking the noodles on their own yields a much better and more pleasant texture and flavor than trying to cook them in their sauce, in the oven.

All told, our recipe still takes just 20 minutes of prep, and 1/2 hour total, and the resulting dish is a pleasure to eat.

What is the origin of Tuna Noodle Casserole?

Though baking fish and veggies in a creamy sauce has been done by cultures around the world for hundreds of years, the modern Tuna Noodle Casserole, like many other casseroles, was probably first invented (and was definitely popularized) by mid-century cooks in the 1940s and 1950s, when inexpensive canned and frozen foods became ubiquitous in American kitchens.

Ingredients such as condensed cream of mushroom soup became known for their ability to generally turn anything into a stick-to-your-ribs casserole dinner, and it became an easy way for generations of mothers to sneak some veggies into their kids' meals.

What kind of tuna is best for Tuna Noodle Casserole?

The best kind of tuna for this dish is tuna in water, which isn't quite as greasy or heavy as tuna in oil, and allows the sauce to cling better to the fish. Though this is also a classic budget-friendly meal, if you can afford the higher-quality (and more environmentally friendly) cans of line-caught wild tuna — which are often sold without either added water or oil — we found they offer the best flavor. However, this is not a thing to overthink: You should use whatever's in the pantry!

Got more tuna cans? Here are Easy Canned Tuna Recipes for Last-Minute Weeknight Dinners!