10 Minute Mediterranean Tuna Pasta

This super quick and easy Mediterranean tuna pasta combines many of the most celebrated, vibrant flavours from Italy in one delicious and healthy pasta dish that the whole family will love.

I’d recommend spending a few moments reading the following for useful information and tips on making this 10 minute Mediterranean tuna pasta. If you’d prefer though, skip to the middle of the page for step-by-step instructions or jump to the bottom for quick recipe.

Note that 10 minutes is the approximate time to make this dish after you’ve gathered all of your ingredients. Actual preparation times may vary slightly due to factors like knife skills and how quickly your hob heats up.

Healthy and Delicious

This 10 minute Mediterranean tuna pasta is packed full of Italian flavour – the saltiness of the olives, the sweetness of the sundried tomatoes, the sharpness of the spring onions plus a flavoursome slug of acidy sweet balsamic vinegar helps to create a very quick pasta dish that your taste buds will very much enjoy.

I’m a big fan of tuna in my recipes – both fresh and tinned – as it’s such a quick and easy ingredient that provides a delicious source of lean protein. However, please try to buy line caught tuna rather than the net caught variety if possible as the use of nets in the fishing industry can have a detrimental effect on the ocean wildlife as many species become accidentially entangled in them. In fact, I love using fish in many of my recipes as it’s so quick and healthy, but it’s always worth trying to source the most sustainable varieties as possible where you live.

Time saving Tips

This 10 minute Mediterranean tuna pasta recipe has been carefully created to ensure a healthy and delicious meal can be made in very little time at all. The only chopping up that is required is for the spring onions and the sundried tomatoes- all the other ingredients in the dish can be added straight from their packs and jars which is a big time-saving win.

One of the other main quick elements in creating this dish is the fact that the ingredients of the sauce don’t require any cooking as such, they only need to be mixed together initially and then combined after this with the freshly cooked pasta on the hob, given a quick stir for a minute and then voila! All ready to eat.

Another major time saving aspect of this 10 minute Mediterranean tuna pasta dish is the use of quick cook pasta, which I wholeheartedly recommend. This is how you will definitely ensure the time taken to make this recipe stays comfortably within the 10 minute mark. I think everybody should have a bag of quick cook pasta in their pantry for those days when you just don’t have spare precious minutes to stand over a pot of boiling water for ages. I find this dish works especially well with penne, although most other types of pasta also work. The variety of penne I keep in my pantry takes only 4 short minutes to cook al dente (perhaps 5 if you prefer a softer texture) saving you valuable time!

Finally, in order to really speed up the process, I advocate using pre-minced ‘lazy’ garlic in this 10 minute Mediterranean tuna pasta which can be readily purchased in a jar or squeezy tube, tastes great and keeps well in the fridge afterwards. Lazy garlic is an important ingredient in my pantry and I use this in many of my other recipes such as in this beetroot and smoked mackerel pate (INCLUDE LINK HERE). Of course, you can chop your own garlic if you would prefer but this might mean the total cooking time goes beyond the magic 10 minutes so why not make life easier, and quicker for yourself?

MEDITERRANIAN TUNA PASTA INGREDIENTS

• 1 medium tin tuna chinks (approx. 150g / 5oz), drained
• 200g / 7 oz quick cook pasta (I use penne)
• 2 spring onions
• 5 sundried tomatoes
• 5 rounded tbsp. whole pitted black olives
• 2 tbsp. olive oil
• 1 tbsp good quality balsamic vinegar
• 1/3^rd tsp minced garlic
• small bunch (approx. 10g / 0.3 oz) fresh basil

Mediterranean Tuna Pasta – step by step method

1. Boil the pasta according to pack instructions (typically 4-6 minutes) until al dente. I like penne, however most other varieties will work too.
2. Whilst the pasta cooks, finely chop the spring onions and the sundried tomatoes and place together in a medium bowl.

3. Add the tuna, black olives, olive oil, balsamic vinegar and garlic to the bowl. Stir to combine.

4. Drain the pasta and turn the hob down to medium heat.
5. Place pasta back into the pan along with the tuna mixture. Stir over medium heat for 1 minute to combine and heat through.

6. Divide equally between 2 serving plates. Roughly tear the basil leaves and scatter on top.
7. Serve!