This olive tapenade and tuna pasta salad is a quick and easy, high-protein pasta salad recipe with tomatoes, parsley, feta, and tuna. It used olive tapenade as the main dressing ingredient, which provides a delicious briny, salty flavor!
If you're an olive hater, you're probably going to want to skip this one because we're about to talk olive tapenade. A delicious spread on its own, it's also one of my favorite kitchen ingredient life hack! You might already know it, but here goes: olive tapenade makes an incredibly delicious foundation for pasta salad dressing. With just a lit bit of extra olive oil and lemon to help it coat all those noodles, you've got the perfect summer pasta salad in progress.
How to Make Olive Tapenade and Tuna Pasta Salad
The Ingredients
Here's what you'll need:
- Pasta - I've been *mildly* obsessed with chickpea pasta lately (especially the kinds by Banza and Barilla) because it helps me sneak an extra dose of protein in my day. But, feel free to pick your favorite kind or use what you have on hand. As for shapes, you're going to want something shorter like bowtie, rotini, cavatappi, or casarecce (what I used!).
- Tuna - I love using the white albacore tuna packed in water or olive oil for this recipe.
- Olive tapenade - I use store bought for convenience, though you can certainly make your own.
- Feta
- Tomatoes
- Parsley
- Lemon + olive oil + black pepper
The Pasta Salad
Start off by cooking your pasta according to the package instructions, meanwhile prepping the other ingredients in down times (such as waiting for the pasta water to boil).
All you'll need to do for the other ingredients is: drain the tuna, dice the tomatoes into large chunks (or halve grape/cherry tomatoes), and chop some parsley (I use love using kitchen shears for this). The rest is just a matter of retrieving items from your fridge or pantry (feta, tapenade, and/or lemons and pepper). If desired, you can whisk the olive tapenade in with a little more olive oil to create a thinner consistency.
Once your pasta is cooked and drained, combine everything together in a big bowl, toss with tapenade and either serve immediately, or place in the fridge, covered, until you're ready to eat it (if that's you, I admire your patience).
Guys, let me just say, this salad saved me this week for a few days of work lunches! Having a high-protein, nutrient dense meal in the middle of the work day helps keep my energy up throughout the afternoon.
Then on the non-work, summery, fun side of the equation, you've got your picnic lunches covered, as well as a side dish for grilling out, or bringing a tasty pasta salad to pass at a friend's barbecue.
Which reminds me... some other summery pasta salads you might like are: fruity caprese pasta salad (this is one I have repeat throughout summer!), pesto pasta salad with chicken and sun-dried tomatoes, or late summer veggie pasta salad.
For now, though, this olive tapenade and tuna pasta salad has your name all over it.
Print📖 Recipe
Olive Tapenade and Tuna Pasta Salad
- Total Time: 20 minutes
- Yield: 5 cups 1x
Description
A quick and easy, high-protein pasta salad recipe with tuna, tomatoes, feta, and parsley tossed in olive tapenade as a sauce. Perfect for picnics, barbecues, work lunches, or any time!
Ingredients
- 8 oz. dry small pasta (I used Barilla chickpea casarecce)
- ¾ cup olive tapenade
- 2 5 oz. cans solid white albacore tuna, in water or olive oil
- 1 lb. tomatoes (your favorite kind), diced large
- ½ cup feta crumbles
- 1 cup parsley, chopped
- Juice of 1 lemon
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (more if desired)
- a few turns of freshly cracked pepper
Instructions
- Make pasta. Cook pasta according to package instructions, drain, and rinse to cool down the pasta.
- Combine pasta salad ingredients. In a large bowl, toss pasta with olive tapenade. Then add tuna, tomatoes, feta, and parsley. Gently stir to combine.
- Lemon & olive oil. Finish the pasta by adding the lemon juice and olive oil. Top with freshly cracked pepper, and serve immediately or chill until ready.
Notes
*If you want the olive tapenade to have a thinner consistency with a more olive oily coating, whisk a couple tablespoons of olive oil in with the ⅓ cup tapenade before adding it to the pasta.
- Prep Time: 10
- Cook Time: 10
- Category: Pasta salads
- Method: Combine
- Cuisine: Mediterranean
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