Tuna Noodle Casserole is the one that raised most of us, and this version skips the canned soup entirely. You build a real cheese sauce from a roux, fold in noodles, peas, and tuna, and bury the whole thing under buttery crackers.
There is no quiet way to open a can of tuna in this house.
The sound carries. It goes through walls. Jack Ryan is already in the shop with me, because Jack Ryan is always in the shop with me, but the can changes his posture. He doesn’t beg while I cook, that’s his whole professional identity, and I watch him hold that line with visible effort every single time.
Solo is outside being king right up until the moment he isn’t. Somewhere between the can opener and the peas, the King of the Acreage decides the yard can run itself.
This is the only dish I make where both employees report to the same station voluntarily. And it’s worth the audience. Tuna Noodle Casserole has a bad reputation it mostly earned in the era of gray cans and mushy noodles, but that was never the recipe’s fault. That was the shortcut’s fault.
Make the sauce yourself and it’s a different dish. Roux, milk, sharp cheddar, Parmesan, a hit of paprika. Sour cream off the heat for tang. Crushed Ritz on top so there’s actual crunch against all that soft. It’s 6 servings, 1 hour, and one 9×13 pan.
Ingredients in Tuna Noodle Casserole
- Egg noodles (12 ounces): Wide egg noodles are traditional and they hold up better than most shapes. Cook them just to al dente, no further. They’ll keep softening in the oven.
- Butter (2 tablespoons): For the roux.
- Onion (1 small, finely chopped): Chop it small so it disappears into the sauce. Nobody wants a raw onion crunch in a casserole.
- Garlic (2 cloves, minced): Thirty seconds in the pan is all it needs. Any longer and it turns bitter under the flour.
- All purpose flour (¼ cup): This is what thickens the sauce. Cook it for a full minute before the liquid goes in or the casserole tastes like paste.
- Milk (2 cups): Whole milk gives the best body. Skim will work but the sauce comes out thin.
- Chicken broth (½ cup): Adds savory depth that straight milk doesn’t have. Vegetable broth works if you want to keep it pescatarian.
- Cheddar cheese (1 cup, shredded): Sharp cheddar, and shred it yourself. Preshredded is coated in anticaking starch and it makes the sauce grainy.
- Parmesan cheese (½ cup, grated): Salt and savory backbone.
- Salt (1 teaspoon) and black pepper (½ teaspoon): Taste the sauce first. Between the pasta water, the Parmesan, and the crackers, this can get salty fast.
- Paprika (½ teaspoon): Sweet paprika, not smoked. It’s there for warmth and color, not smoke.
- Frozen peas (1 cup): Straight from frozen, no thawing. They’ll cook through in the oven and stay bright green.
- Tuna (10 ounces, 2 cans of 5 ounces each, drained): Solid or chunk light both work. Drain it properly, and I mean press it. Wet tuna waters down the sauce you just spent 10 minutes building.
- Sour cream (½ cup): Goes in off the heat so it doesn’t split. This is the tang that keeps the whole thing from tasting flat.
- Buttery crackers (1½ cups, crushed) and melted butter (2 tablespoons): Ritz is the standard. Crush them to coarse crumbs, not dust, or you lose the crunch.
How To Make Tuna Noodle Casserole
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and cook 12 ounces of egg noodles until just al dente. Drain them and set them aside. Don’t rinse.
Melt 2 tablespoons of butter in a large skillet or pot over medium heat. Add the chopped onion and cook for 5 to 6 minutes until it’s soft and translucent. Stir in 2 cloves of minced garlic and give it 30 seconds, no more.
Sprinkle in ¼ cup of flour and cook for 1 minute, stirring constantly. This step isn’t optional. Raw flour has a taste and it will follow you into the finished casserole.
Slowly whisk in 2 cups of milk and ½ cup of chicken broth. Go slow at the start so it doesn’t lump. Cook for 4 to 5 minutes, stirring often, until the sauce coats the back of a spoon.
Stir in 1 cup of cheddar, ½ cup of Parmesan, 1 teaspoon of salt, ½ teaspoon of pepper, and ½ teaspoon of paprika until the cheese melts and the sauce is smooth. Taste it here.
Pull the pan off the heat and stir in ½ cup of sour cream, 1 cup of frozen peas, and the drained tuna. Off the heat matters. Sour cream added to a hot pan will break and go grainy.
Preheat the oven to 375°F (190°C). Add the cooked noodles to the sauce and fold gently until everything’s coated. Transfer it all to a greased 9×13 inch baking dish and spread it level.
Mix 1½ cups of crushed crackers with 2 tablespoons of melted butter and scatter it evenly over the top.
Bake uncovered for 30 minutes, until the edges are bubbling and the topping is deep golden.
Let it rest for 5 minutes before you serve it. The sauce needs that time to settle, and cutting into it immediately gets you a puddle.
Things You Should Know
- Shred your own cheddar. I know it’s a chore. It’s the difference between a silky sauce and a slightly gritty one.
- Press the tuna dry in the strainer. Every bit of liquid you leave in there thins your sauce.
- If your sauce looks thicker than you expected before the noodles go in, that’s fine and correct. It’ll loosen as it bakes and the noodles will take some of it.
- If it looks thin, let it cook another minute or two. It’s much easier to fix now than after it’s in the pan.
- Crush the crackers by hand or with a rolling pin in a bag. A food processor turns them to sand in about 3 seconds.
Variations
- Swap the cheddar for Gruyère if you want something a little more grown up.
- Add 8 ounces of sautéed mushrooms with the onion if you miss the mushroom soup version.
- Use panko instead of crackers, tossed with the melted butter and a little Parmesan.
- Stir in 1 teaspoon of Dijon with the sour cream. It sharpens everything.
- Swap the peas for frozen corn or a mix of peas and diced carrots.
Storing and Reheating
Storage: Leftovers keep in an airtight container in the fridge for 3 days. Reheat covered at 350°F (175°C) with a splash of milk stirred in, because casseroles like this always tighten up overnight.
Make ahead: You can assemble the whole thing ahead of time, hold it covered in the fridge for up to 24 hours, and add the cracker topping right before it goes in. Add 5 to 10 minutes to the bake time if it’s going in cold.
Freezing: I wouldn’t freeze this one. Cream sauces and cooked egg noodles both come out of the freezer worse than they went in.
What To Serve With It
This is a rich pan, so keep the sides sharp and green. A simple salad with a lemony vinaigrette. Sautéed green beans with a squeeze of lemon. Roasted broccoli. Something with acid to cut through all that cheese sauce.
Looking for more comfort food dinners? Here are a few of my favorites.
- Lemon Ricotta Pasta with Broccoli
- Tex-Mex Beef Enchilada Casserole
- Pork and Beans
- Slow Cooker Beef with Mushroom Gravy
- Smothered Chicken
Tuna Noodle Casserole
Ingredients
- 12 ounces egg noodles
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1 small onion, finely chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- ¼ cup all-purpose flour
- 2 cups milk
- ½ cup chicken broth
- 1 cup cheddar cheese, shredded
- ½ cup Parmesan cheese, grated
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- ½ teaspoon paprika
- 1 cup frozen peas
- 10 ounces tuna, drained, 2 cans 5 ounce each
- ½ cup sour cream
For the Topping
- 1½ cups crushed buttery crackers, like Ritz
- 2 tablespoons melted butter
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add 12 ounces of egg noodles and cook until just al dente. Drain and set aside.
- In a large skillet or pot, melt 2 tablespoons of butter over medium heat. Add 1 chopped onion and cook for 5 to 6 minutes until softened. Stir in 2 cloves of garlic and cook for 30 seconds.
- Sprinkle in ¼ cup of flour and cook for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Slowly whisk in 2 cups of milk and ½ cup of chicken broth. Cook for 4 to 5 minutes, stirring often, until thickened.
- Stir in 1 cup of cheddar, ½ cup of Parmesan, 1 teaspoon of salt, ½ teaspoon of pepper, and ½ teaspoon of paprika until smooth.
- Remove from heat and stir in ½ cup of sour cream, 1 cup of frozen peas, and the drained tuna.
- Preheat the oven to 375°F (190°C). Add the cooked noodles to the sauce and stir gently to combine. Transfer everything to a greased 9×13-inch baking dish.
- In a bowl, mix 1½ cups of crushed crackers with 2 tablespoons of melted butter. Sprinkle evenly over the casserole.
- Bake uncovered for 30 minutes, until bubbly and golden on top.
- Let it rest for 5 minutes before serving.
Recipe Notes
- Noodles: cook them to just al dente. They keep absorbing sauce in the oven.
- Tuna: drain it thoroughly and press out the liquid. Excess water thins the sauce.
- Cheese: shred the cheddar yourself. Preshredded cheese is coated with starch and can make the sauce grainy.
- Sour cream: add it off the heat so it doesn’t split.
- Salt: taste the sauce before adding the full teaspoon. The Parmesan and crackers both bring salt.
- Make ahead: assemble up to 24 hours in advance and refrigerate covered. Add the cracker topping just before baking and add 5 to 10 minutes to the bake time.
- Storage: refrigerate leftovers up to 3 days. Reheat covered at 350°F (175°C) with a splash of milk. Freezing isn’t recommended.
Nutrition Information
Tuna Noodle Casserole FAQs
Water packed is what I’d use here. Oil packed tuna is richer but the sauce is already doing that work, and it can make the finished casserole greasy.
You can, but the whole point of this version is that you don’t have to. If you’re going that route, swap the roux, milk, and broth for 2 cans of cream of mushroom soup and about ½ cup of milk.
Usually the noodles were cooked too far before baking, or the tuna wasn’t drained and the sauce got thinned then reduced away in the oven. Pulling the noodles a minute early helps.
It’s a cheese sauce, so not easily. You’d be rebuilding the recipe rather than adjusting it.
No. Rotini, penne, or shells all work. Egg noodles are traditional and they’re the softest of the bunch, which suits this dish.
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