Lightened-Up Tuna Casserole Recipe | Gimme Some Oven

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This lightened-up tuna casserole recipe is tossed with a creamy garlic-herb sauce, a number of veggies, tender egg noodles and a crispy Panko topping.

Elevate your hand in the event you grew up consuming tuna casserole! ♡

This was one among our household’s favourite weeknight dinners rising up, and nonetheless continues to be a kind of recipes I like turning to this time of 12 months once we’re craving some heat and comfy casserole consolation meals. (Without end and at all times a Midwesterner at coronary heart, proper?)

Three a long time in the past, we at all times used to make tuna noodle casserole from a field or with the assistance of some canned cream of mushroom soup. However it’s really extremely easy to make home made tuna casserole fully from scratch, which provides us the possibility to additionally toss in a number of recent veggies and loosen up the creamy sauce a bit. If wanted, you too can simply adapt this recipe to be gluten-free too.

I’ll say that favor to only serve this pasta “casserole” straight out of the pan these days, topped with a beneficiant sprinkling of toasted Panko breadcrumbs, slightly than baked the standard additional 20 minutes within the oven. (Why overcook the pasta when it may be served completely al dente with with a melty cheddar cream sauce?) And whereas I made this batch with the standard mushrooms, carrots and peas, this recipe would welcome nearly any leftover veggies that you simply occur to have sitting in your crisper drawer.

Let’s make some trendy tuna casserole!

Tuna Casserole Elements

Listed here are just a few transient notes in regards to the tuna casserole elements you will have to make this recipe:

• Tuna: I like to recommend a good-quality model of oil-packed canned tuna for this casserole. (Water-packed canned tuna may even do, however it will likely be much less flavorful.) If potential, please contemplate on the lookout for a more sustainable brand of tuna too!
• Egg noodles: I at all times grew up consuming tuna casserole made with curly huge egg noodles, which style scrumptious right here. However you’re welcome to sub in some other type of semolina, entire wheat, legume or gluten-free pasta that you simply favor.
• Veggies: We’ll use a standard mixture of carrots, onions, child bella mushrooms, frozen peas and garlic, sautéed in butter (or you need to use olive oil in the event you favor).
• Cheddar cheese: I like making this casserole with sharp white cheddar cheese, however see strategies beneath if you want to swap in a unique type of cheese.
• Flour: We’ll use fundamental all-purpose flour to barely thicken the cream sauce.
• Broth + milk: I like utilizing a 50/50 mixture of broth (both hen or vegetable broth) and plain milk (dairy or plant-based) as the bottom for the cream sauce.
• Seasoning: All you want is Italian seasoning, advantageous sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper to season this retro casserole. That stated, be happy to swap in some recent Italian herbs for dried in the event you occur to have them readily available.
• Panko: Crispy panko breadcrumbs will function a easy topping for this casserole, which you’ll toast till golden both on the stovetop in a sauté pan or within the oven on a sheet pan.
• Non-compulsory garnishes: Lastly, I like to recommend a beneficiant sprinkling of chopped recent parsley or thyme. And I additionally positively suggest serving up every portion with a big lemon wedge for squeezing.

How To Make Tuna Casserole

Full step-by-step directions for methods to make tuna casserole are included within the recipe beneath, however listed here are just a few ideas to assist make this recipe successful!

• Grate the cheese by hand. As at all times, I like to recommend buying a block of cheese and grating it by hand (I exploit this box grater) to ensure that it to soften easily into the sauce. Retailer-bought pre-grated cheese can work in a pinch too, however the coating on it’s going to doubtless forestall it from melting completely easily.
• Watch the Panko carefully whereas toasting. Whether or not you select to toast the Panko on the stovetop or within the oven, it may go from golden to burnt in a matter of minutes. So preserve an in depth eye on the Panko, and remember to give it shake/toss as soon as the primary layer begins to show golden in order that the entire Panko can toast kind of evenly.
• Don’t overcook the noodles. Make sure you switch the noodles into the sauce when they’re simply *barely* al dente, since they’ll proceed to prepare dinner barely extra whereas being tossed with the recent cream sauce. 

Recipe Variations

Listed here are just a few further ways in which you’re welcome to customise this simple tuna casserole recipe if you want:

• Add additional veggies: Add (or swap) some other veggies into the sauté that you simply assume would go properly with this casserole, equivalent to asparagus, bell peppers, broccoli, cauliflower, celery, inexperienced beans, kale, spinach, zucchini, and so forth.
• Use a unique cheese: Use your selection of shredded cheese rather than the cheddar, equivalent to Gruyere, Gouda, Monterrey Jack, mozzarella, and so forth. Or scale back the quantity and as an alternative use a crumbled cheese, equivalent to feta, goat cheese, Parmesan, and so forth.
• Use completely different seasonings: There are a selection of various instructions that you would go together with the dried or recent herbs and seasonings used to season this casserole. I typically love utilizing recent as an alternative of dried Italian herbs if I occur to have them readily available, equivalent to recent basil, rosemary or thyme. Or I’ve additionally made this casserole utilizing numerous Cajun seasonings, which was scrumptious. Or you would actually amp up the lemon and black pepper to go for a lemon pepper vibe. Numerous enjoyable choices!
• Make it gluten-free: Use your favourite number of gluten-free noodles rather than the egg noodles. Then I’d suggest utilizing a tablespoon or two of cornstarch slurry (equal elements chilly water whisked with cornstarch) to thicken the sauce rather than the all-purpose flour.

Extra Favourite Casserole Recipes

On the lookout for extra traditional casserole recipes to attempt? Listed here are just a few of my tried-and-true favorites:

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