When I come home late at night and there is little or nothing in the pantry, white tuna pasta is one of the dinner-saving recipes I make most often: canned tuna is never missing in my house, nor is pasta, and then little else is needed: garlic, oil, chili pepper, a little white wine and – but they’re not essential – some capers and a couple of anchovies in oil… and the white tuna pasta is done! A very simple and quick dish, white tuna pasta is a very tasty first course and very little is needed for it to turn out perfectly: a nice flavorful sauté, thick spaghetti well-drained al dente and, above all, some of their cooking water that you will need to save to cream the white tuna pasta for a few minutes. In this way, pasta and sauce will bind perfectly and the starch contained in the pasta cooking water will form a sort of cream. I find white tuna pasta to be delicious, at least as good as its version with sauce (which you can find here), which is another classic when I’m in a hurry 🙂
- Difficulty: Very easy
- Cost: Very economical
- Preparation time: 2 Minutes
- Portions: 4 people
- Cooking methods: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: All seasons
- Energy 344.80 (Kcal)
- Carbohydrates 28.24 (g) of which sugars 0.59 (g)
- Proteins 18.50 (g)
- Fat 15.60 (g) of which saturated 2.43 (g)of which unsaturated 3.02 (g)
- Fibers 1.75 (g)
- Sodium 393.15 (mg)
Indicative values for a portion of 270 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 white tuna spaghetti
- 12.7 oz spaghetti (for me gluten-free)
- 6.3 oz tuna in olive oil (weighed after draining)
- 1 clove Garlic
- 1 hot chili pepper
- 2 anchovies (in oil)
- 1 tablespoon capers in salt
- 1/4 cup dry white wine
- 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- to taste parsley
Tools
- 1 Skillet large sauté pan
- 1 Pot
- 1 Ladle
- 1 Knife
- 1 Fork
How to prepare white tuna pasta
To prepare white tuna pasta, start by rinsing the capers under running water and coarsely chopping them. Place oil, garlic, chopped chili pepper, and anchovies in oil in a pan (1).
Turn on the heat and sauté the garlic well; when the anchovies have melted, reduce the heat to low and add the drained tuna (2), crumbling it with a fork.
Let it flavor for a minute or two, then add the capers, turn up the heat to high and deglaze with the white wine (3).
Allow it to evaporate, and when you no longer smell alcohol, turn off the heat (4). Cook the pasta in plenty of salted water, drain it al dente, saving some of its water, and transfer the pasta to the pan with the sauce.
Turn the heat back on and sauté it for a minute or two, creaming it with some of the reserved cooking water (5).
When the sauce is well integrated with the pasta, turn off the heat and add chopped parsley (6).
Serve the white tuna pasta immediately.
A video recipe for white tuna pasta is also available, follow me on my YouTube channel!
Notes
Tips and Variations
As with many other white recipes, the risk is that pasta and sauce may appear unbound: the pasta cooking water, taken a couple of minutes before draining, is therefore the essential ingredient to achieve a creamy and blended cooking base, thanks to the starch the pasta releases during cooking.
If you’re looking for other quick first course recipes, look here, while in this special section you’ll find other ideas with canned tuna!
