Easy and quick to prepare main course, tuna and taggiasca olives pasta is creamy and fragrant, perfect for a quick summer lunch or for those who don’t feel like spending much time cooking. Tuna and olives pasta was one of the main courses my father often made when we arrived home late from work and school. While the water was coming to a boil, he’d change out of his uniform and I’d put on my tracksuit, then he’d get the pan to sauté the onion, heat the canned tuna and mix it with the taggiasca olives, and then with a quick toss in the pan the pasta was ready. We enjoyed lunch in front of the TV with Dragon Ball. Such fond memories tied to food that we carry in our hearts forever!
It might not be the first dish you’ll remember forever, but it’s a main course that saves lunch when you’re late or have little time to prepare something more elaborate. In my home, tuna and olive pasta is that dish! You can also make it with black olives or green olives, but I recommend taggiasca olives as they add an extra flavor punch to the tuna pasta.
Below, in addition to the recipe, you will find the step-by-step video recipe, not because this is a difficult pasta dish to prepare, but simply to better explain the steps. Do you know how many times I’ve answered your messages about this tuna and taggiasca olives pasta? A ton, and do you know what question you all asked: “Do you sear the tuna in the pan?” Now, I don’t know what pans and stoves have done to you, but it’s obvious that the canned tuna we use needs a little work with the other ingredients.
Many of you have confessed the following: I open the tuna can, pour it into a bowl, add two tablespoons of cooking water, add the taggiasca olives after draining them, boil the pasta, stir it in the bowl, and serve! Now, I don’t know about you, but if you serve me pasta like this, we won’t be friends anymore!!! I believe even university students nowadays wouldn’t go that far. It’s fine we’re talking about a main course with canned tuna, but let’s put in a little effort, we’ll be rewarded in taste and appearance later! Let’s take ten minutes to flavor the tuna and olive sauce and enjoy a main dish worthy of its name!
Below, I’ll leave you with other recipes you can prepare using canned tuna, easy and quick recipes for preparing appetizers, first courses, sides, and second courses with tuna. For many, you’ll also find video recipes! Every link is clickable and will take you directly to the recipe you choose to read! I recommend saving and trying the Tuna and Zucchini Sandwiches, they drive me crazy!
Every morning I’m waiting for you in the group and on the Facebook fan page with the Recipe of the Day, an unmissable appointment to start the day with a sweet or savory indulgence!
- Difficulty: Very easy
- Cost: Very economical
- Preparation time: 5 Minutes
- Portions: 2People
- Cooking methods: Stove
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: All seasons
- Energy 631.72 (Kcal)
- Carbohydrates 68.68 (g) of which sugars 2.47 (g)
- Proteins 28.21 (g)
- Fat 29.44 (g) of which saturated 4.30 (g)of which unsaturated 4.67 (g)
- Fibers 2.98 (g)
- Sodium 739.80 (mg)
Indicative values for a portion of 225 g processed in an automated way starting from the nutritional information available on the CREA* and FoodData Central** databases. It is not food and / or nutritional advice.
* CREATES Food and Nutrition Research Center: https://www.crea.gov.it/alimenti-e-nutrizione https://www.alimentinutrizione.it ** U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central, 2019. https://fdc.nal.usda.gov
Ingredients for two servings of tuna and taggiasca olives pasta
- 6.3 oz linguine (or another type of long pasta to your liking)
- 5.6 oz canned tuna
- 2.5 oz taggiasca olives
- 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- Half onion (in my case white onion, golden is also fine)
- 0.7 fl oz white wine
- to taste chopped parsley (or dried as in my case)
- 1 pinch salt
- 1 pinch pepper
You can also add a light grating of lemon zest. If I prepare this pasta with olives and tuna and have lemon, I gladly add it to give more aroma and flavor to the pasta!
Tools to prepare tuna and olive pasta
- 1 Cutting board
- 1 Knife
- 1 Pan
- 1 Kitchen spatula
- 1 Pot
- 1 Colander
- 2 Spoons
Steps for tuna and taggiasca olive pasta recipe: easy and quick main course
Start by filling a pot to cook the pasta with plenty of water, place it on the stove and bring to a boil. Meanwhile, proceed with the recipe by cutting the onion in half, whether white or golden, placing it on a wooden cutting board, and chopping it into small pieces. Pour a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil into the pan, add the chopped onion, and place on the stove to sauté. Deglaze with white wine and just before it fully evaporates, add the canned tuna.
Let it cook, stirring occasionally, for about 5 minutes. Then add the taggiasca olives and a light first sprinkling of parsley. You can use fresh parsley if you have it, after chopping it finely, or dried parsley like I do, which is more convenient and always in my pantry. Continue cooking for another 5 minutes, then turn off the heat. Also sprinkle with salt and pepper.
Wait for the water to boil, add the salt and then drop the pasta. I chose linguine for this recipe, but you can obviously change the type of pasta, although I recommend sticking with long pasta, which in my opinion goes perfectly with this sauce. Set the timer according to the instructions on the packaging of the chosen pasta.
Once ready, we’ll drain, keeping aside a ladle of cooking water if needed for creaming in the pan. Turn the heat back on under the pan where we prepared the tuna with olives and add the pasta to toss everything together. In the video recipe, you can clearly see that I don’t stir the pasta but, using the handle of the pan, toss the pasta with the tuna sauce. We’re ready to plate.
Take the ladle and a fork, twirl the pasta and place it on a serving plate, sprinkle with a generous amount of parsley, and as mentioned earlier, if you wish, add a grating of lemon zest.
We’re finally ready to enjoy this main course of tuna and taggiasca olives pasta. Can you smell that aroma? All that’s left is to wish you a good meal and remind you that I’m waiting for you every morning with the Recipe of the Day in the group and on the Facebook fan page! Also remember that new recipes are published here on the blog on: Monday, Wednesday, and Friday!
Tips and variations:
As already emphasized in the recipe text, preparing this tuna and olive pasta is not difficult; there are just two steps not to skip if you want to enjoy a simple yet fragrant and delicious dish like these linguine with tuna and olives that I just presented to you.
My tips are therefore quite simple: take the 10 minutes to prepare and cook the tuna sauce, quickly toss the pasta in the pan with the sauce, and plate by adding a sprinkling of parsley and, if available, lemon zest. Let the onion blanch and then evaporate the white wine; you’ll see how delightful this dish is!
The main variations I feel like highlighting are: you can vary the type of tuna, whether canned in water or with olive oil, even tuna fillets in jars work well if you already have them in your pantry. Obviously, then there’s the type of pasta, although I always prefer long pasta with this sauce. Then there are the olives; I prefer taggiasca ones, but you’re free to use green or black olives, especially if they’re already opened and forgotten in the fridge. Lastly, but not least, as Chef Canavacciuolo says, lemon cuts through the richness and goes well with everything, so if you have it and like it, add a light grating when plating this tuna and taggiasca olives pasta!
