This cold and creamy, tuna pasta salad is vibrant, packed with vegetables and protein and easy to make! Creamy tri-color pasta is combined with chunks of tuna, a variety of colorful vegetables and quail eggs for extra protein.
Make pasta, al dente, according to package instructions. Drain and rinse with cold water. Transfer to a large bowl.
Add the rest of the pasta ingredients to the bowl of pasta and mix well. Season with salt and pepper, to taste.
Chill in the refrigerator for 1 to 2 hours. (Or you can serve it warm, if desired.)
Serve with the toppings.
Notes
Pasta salad is usually served chilled but can be eaten warm as well.
You can use many types of pasta, but some of the most popular are the bowtie (or farfalle), the shell, rotini and penne.
Bowtie pasta is easy to get on your fork, due to being thick and wide and it holds its shape well.
The shell version can get more meat and mayo inside, making a more flavor-filled bite, but it may be a little harder to get it with a fork, with its shape and slipperiness.
Leftovers should be covered well and refrigerated. They can last up to 3 to 5 days in the fridge.
You can freeze pasta salad, but there are a few tips and conditions to freeze the salad correctly:
Make sure the pasta isn’t cooked beyond al dente.
Once cooked, immediately run cold water over the pasta to stop the cooking process.
Make sure the pasta, the liquid ingredients, and the vegetables are put into separate freezer bags. However, because the liquid ingredients are creamy in this recipe, they will not thaw as well. Because of this, I recommend not freezing the liquid ingredients for this particular recipe, but you can freeze the pasta and veg.