Tuna Pasta Salad with Celery and Egg
When we think of comfort food, we sometimes think of buttery, beefy, potatoey, or cheesey dishes often slaved over on the stove or in the oven. But sometimes comfort food can be linked to a memory or memories. This dish reminds me of my siblings and what my older sister, Quyen, would make for us on the weekends or during the week after school. My Mom worked a lot and sometimes two or three jobs and our older sister, Quyen, was our second Mom. She made us plain crepes (how gourmet, right?) and sometimes this tuna pasta salad that I’m sharing with you today. When you have limited options and groceries, you make do. My sister didn’t realize it at the time but what she was doing was bringing us comfort, feeding our bellies and creating lasting memories.
Having a connection and special bond with your siblings is very important. That connection lasts through tough times and I’m so thankful I have my sisters and my brother. Recently, I had a conversation with my sister, Quyen, and we decided that we would needed to have a sibling retreat. She lives in a different country and we’re finding it hard to keep in touch with each other. We’re going to try to reconnect at a different location every year and just spend time together. No spouses, no kids. Often, we get so busy and I’ll go a few weeks without even talking to one of my sisters, who lives just an hour away from me. With life being so short, we realized we need to do this and create even more memories together. And I can’t wait to cook with my sisters and brother.
This is my version of Quyen’s tuna pasta salad, it’s really easy and I love to make it and just have a bowl to snack on in front of the tv and will even take it for lunch. It’s a great dish to serve at a little party.
You may even have all of the ingredients on hand. I recently threw a party for a couple of friends after Bosch Appliances contacted me and one of the first things I thought of was to make this dish.
I also made those wonderful peanut butter cup cupcakes to share with my friends, Kathy, Katie, Kelly and Nancie. It was fun to share my favorite Tassimo drink, the chai latte with them. That was almost everyone’s favorite…Kathy loved the Starbucks espresso latte. After the party, they all got to take home a T20 brewer and some fun accessories, courtesy of Bosch!
I would love to hear about what foods bring you comfort, do you have any memories from your childhood that have to do with food? Or what is your favorite comfort food?
Tuna Pasta Salad with Celery & Egg
Ingredients:
14-16 oz. box of macaroni or corkscrew pasta
5 oz. can of solid white albacore tuna, in water (refrigerated), drained
4 celery stalks, diced (I use Dandy Fresh brand)
4 boiled eggs, refrigerated, peeled & then diced
2/3 cup mayonnaise
1 lemon
salt & pepper
Directions:
- Cook pasta acording to the instructions on the box, allow to cool and then refrigerate.
- Combine cold tuna, celery stalks and cold diced eggs together in a large mixing bowl and add salt and pepper to taste.
- Add macaroni pasta and mix well. Add mayonnaise and mix well.
- Add more salt and pepper to taste and squeeze as much lemon juice as you want into the pasta, to taste. Refrigerate and serve cold.
Tips:
- You can prepare all of your ingredients the day before serving but I wouldn't add mayonnaise and lemon juice until you're almost ready to serve this dish.
- I forgot to mention initially that I used whole wheat pasta and have used regular pasta in the past, it tastes great either way.
Disclosure: Bosch Appliances provided the Tassimo brewers for my friends. I received no compensation for hosting the party or this post. Duda Farm Fresh Foods is a sponsor of mine. All opinions are always my own. Some links in this post are affiliate links.
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Hi, my name is Julie and I love to share the cooking and baking adventures from my little kitchen. Cooking and baking is in my blood, thanks to my Mom! 
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I think this looks like an absolutely delicious summer salad. It’s often to warm to turn on the oven and this provides protein and carb! Delicious!
I love this Julie. I love reading about your family too, makes me want to call mine today realizing we haven’t talked in a while. Isn’t it great how certain foods bring such wonderful memories.
This is my kind of dish! I’m totally making it, would love to have it waiting for me in the fridge for a quick lunch! I loooove that bowl!!
JulieD replied: June 12th, 2011 @ 9:50 pm
Aggie, I need to do the same. My sister, Quyen, and I played phone tag today. The time difference makes it hard sometimes.
Julie, this dish reminds me of my favorite comfort food my mother made! Elbow Noodles, Celery, Green Pepper, Onion, and Mayo. I totally agree on comfort foods from past. Sounds like you had a lovely party
JulieD replied: June 12th, 2011 @ 9:50 pm
Thank you for sharing your comfort food. I know you have wonderful memories of your Mom and her cooking. Thanks for sharing, Courtney!
This looks absolutely yummy! I love cool dishes like this during the summer!
I like tuna pasta salad, minus celery. I’ve never had it with egg in it, I’ll have to try that.
This is definitely my type of food – tuna and anything.
But where did you find that AMAZING bowl it’s in!?
JulieD replied: June 12th, 2011 @ 10:03 pm
Hi Matt, I bought it at TJ Maxx a few months ago and just pulled it out for the party. I love TJ Maxx and HomeGoods!
I would never say NO to a good tuna salad.
Love the idea of adding egg and celery – I haven’t tried this combo yet.
JulieD replied: June 12th, 2011 @ 10:03 pm
I have to give my sister credit for that! I love the crunch that the celery gives it.
I never thought about putting pasta in a cold tuna salad – what a great idea to make it more of a meal! Looks like a great time!
That looks yummy! Thanks for sharing.
Now this sounds sooo delicious!!
It looks so refreshing, Julie!
This tuna salad was yummy! It is wonderful that you had a second mom! I had one too.
Looks soooo goood!! I may need to make this for a summer party!!
You have been stumbled!
I may give that a try but replace the celery with onions (I don’t like celery) – that looks great!
This looks so delicious. My mom actually makes something very similar, she puts raisins in it sometimes, no eggs. I’m hungry now! The pictures and the bowl are just PERFECT!!!
This looks absolutely delicious!
This looks SO delicious! I love new ways to prepare tuna. And I love that bowl!
Oh My! This sounds awesome especially on a hot summer day.
Omg, this is awesome!! I love Tassimo and that recipe rocks!
The salad looks as lovely and as fresh and your *new* blog design! Love it all.
LOVE that you highlighted sibling <3 on this post. I'm the youngest of 5 (only 1 boy in our fam,too!) and we all grew up very close—despite the 11 yr age gap from eldest to youngest
Looks so perfect for summer…I love tuna salad with hard boiled egg…
This pasta salad looks amazing! I love Dandy celery too. To me, the crispness and bright color of the celery adds the perfect crunch and pop!
Have a great day and keep the wonderful recipes coming!
Hungry in Dallas,
Megan
This looks SO good!!! I’m going to have to try this out soon!
Yummy! I love it all but I’m not a big fan of celery. I’ll just keep them out of the recipe.
This is healthy meal, a delicious one too!
This salad is delicious and the addition of eggs makes it even more interestion with tuna. I am drooling! Great picture…well done!!
My brother and I are super close and I definitely couldn’t imagine going a week without talking to him!
This salad sounds delicious and the fact that it’s rife with such good memories makes it that much better!
That actually looks really good! Thanks for the recipe.
Just the perfect summer salad! Love it!!!
Julie – I have a bowl of this in front of me now and it’s wonderful. As a pescetarian, I struggle sometimes with finding a dish to bring to summer grill parties. My standard is mixed bean salad, but this may replace that in my repertoire. I love the lemon juice in it.
JulieD replied: June 29th, 2011 @ 10:11 am
Bethany,
I’m so glad you enjoy it! I love that you came back and told me your story. I hope you continue to enjoy this dish this summer as I have for many, many years! All the best to you and thanks for visiting my blog.
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Mr. B loves tuna and I don’t, but I will certainly make this recipe for him. He would like a twist on tuna salad.
JulieD replied: April 24th, 2012 @ 8:52 pm
It’s really good with whole wheat pasta too! Let me know if he ends up trying it. When I make it, I have it as a snack for the next few days too.