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Tuna Noodle Casserole

by Toni Herrbach

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I love meals that contain all the food groups—it makes dinner so easy! This tuna noodle casserole is one of those meals, and is inexpensive.

I love meals that contain all the food groups—it makes dinner so easy! This tuna noodle casserole is one of those meals, and it only costs a little over $5.

If you are looking for a recipe that doesn’t use cream soup, I’ve shared a “cream soup free” version here. 

Print Recipe

Tuna Noodle Casserole

Total cost around $5!
Prep Time15 mins
Cook Time25 mins
Total Time25 mins
Course: Main Dish
Servings: 6 -8
Author: Toni Anderson

Ingredients

  • 2 cans tuna
  • 1 can cream of celery soup
  • 8 ounces frozen peas
  • shredded carrots zucchini, or other veggies (optional) - $0.50
  • 1 bag egg noodles
  • garlic powder minced onion, salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes to taste - $0.30
  • 1/2 cup shredded cheese

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 350° F. Coat a 9 x 13 inch baking dish with non-stick spray.
  • Boil egg noodles according to directions.
  • While noodles are boiling, drain tuna and mix together tuna, soup, peas, veggies, and seasonings.
  • Drain the noodles and mix into the tuna mixture.
  • Spread in the prepared dish, cover with foil, and bake for 20 minutes. Remove the cover, top with shredded cheese (we prefer cheddar), and bake for 5 more minutes.

My mom used to make this recipe when I was a child. What I love about this tuna noodle casserole is that it is impossible to mess up. It always tastes delicious. 

You can freeze this recipe, however due to the egg noodles it tastes better fresh. Actually it tastes the best as leftovers!

However if you plan on making this a freezer meal  undercook the noodles slightly. They will absorb the liquid from the cream soup and cook perfectly when reheating. 

If you have someone in your family that doesn’t like peas (that’s basically everyone in my family, however they will eat it in the casserole). Substitute peas for broccoli, corn, or lima beans. 

Comments | 19 comments

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Comments

  1. Sherry says

    at

    This sounds yummy! I wish my children liked tuna like I do. 🙁

    Reply
    • Sam says

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      This is an easy recipe to replace with canned chicken. I cook this for my husband and I often with Tuna because it’s super inexpensive, but when he gets sick of Tuna I use chicken. I am always looking for healthy ideas but my husband is a meat and potatoes man through and through so i generally find recipes like this one where I sneak veggies in he doesn’t notice are there. 🙂

      Reply
  2. The American Homemaker says

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    We love tuna casserole at our house 🙂

    Reply
  3. gail says

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    i make this too. and in a pinch i’ve even made my own white sauce to sub for the cream soup. i think its cheaper, but not sure how much you would save …

    Reply
    • TheHappyHousewife says

      at

      I think it would be cheaper to make your own cream soup, and healthier too. But this casserole is one of my quickie meals so I usually cheat with the canned soup.
      Toni

      Reply
  4. Sharon says

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    I would eat this right up, but I’m afraid my family wouldn’t, including my husband. Sigh.

    Reply
  5. Traci Best says

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    This sounds yummy…I usually do “Tuna Noodly Stuff” with Kraft Blue Box. This sounds like a good alternative!

    I’m all for something different lately!!! 😉

    Reply
  6. Lawanda says

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    I am SO using this recipe.

    Reply
  7. Kristen says

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    Tuna casserole is always so comforting; this looks wonderful! I’m curious – have you ever frozen it? I’m thinking about freezing portions for my lunches!

    Reply
  8. Somebody's Mimi says

    at

    This was the first meal I made my husband about 41 years ago. He still loves it although sometimes I spice it up a bit and add some chili powder or red pepper powder and I then layer it with cheese. I think my kids always liked tuna casserole, also. Yours looks so fresh and yummy!

    Reply
  9. Karen W says

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    Yum! I bet my son would love this. Thanks!!

    Reply
  10. Niki says

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    This is my absolute favourite meal. To make it a little cheaper (and a tad healthier) I tried this recipe (as yours was the same as my old one) I now use this recipe. It uses a simple white sauce instead of canned soups. You can now get reduced fat or low salt ones but this is totally from scratch. Great alternative if you ran out of creamed soups (which I always do) http://www.hillbillyhousewife.com/tunanoodlecasserole.htm

    Reply
  11. AnaM says

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    I tried this recipe but replaced the tuna for chicken breast in a can. It was delicious!

    Reply
  12. Justine says

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    I made this tonight, and we enjoyed it. I shredded a carrot and added a small can of mushrooms, and used canned peas instead of frozen. Also, I used Wacky Mac noodles, which have been all but free here lately with coupons, and which added some extra color. Lastly, I used some homemade Cajun seasoning that was gifted me last Christmas instead of the variety of spices you listed. Next time I might try out one of the sample packets of Emeril’s seasoning that I received recently 🙂
    Thanks for sharing and for inspiring my creativity!

    Reply
    • TheHappyHousewife says

      at

      Justine-
      I love your “twist” on the recipe. Sounds delish! I like to spice mine up a bit too, love Emeril’s seasoning, I have used it in the casserole before, yum!
      Toni

      Reply
  13. Tracey M says

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    I love that you put the cost of the items next to the ingredients. I love tuna casseroles and never realized it’s such an economical meal. Just browsing from MPM … looks like a blog I’ll have to come back to again! Like it.

    Reply
  14. Judie says

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    I made this tonight, doubling the recipe with just a few changes/additions:
    1can cream of celery
    1 can cream of mushroom
    mixed in about a cup of shredded velveeta
    used fresh asparagus instead of peas
    put buttered panko breadcrumbs on top

    So yummy!! My husband had three servings! Thanks for sharing!

    Reply
  15. MotherofTwins says

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    I’m wondering if I used too many noodles because it was a bit dry and definitely didn’t look like this picture, in the picture it looks super creamy? I used one bag, are there different egg noodle sized bags?? I don’t recall different sizes when I was there.

    Reply
  16. Allie says

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    Mine was as creamy as the picture either. I’m wondering if a whole bag of noodles is too much

    Reply

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