Classic Tuna Casserole with Egg Noodles
Tuna casserole with tender egg noodles, sweet peas, and sharp cheddar in a creamy mushroom sauce, baked under crushed potato chips. An easy budget dinner.
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Tuna Casserole is the pantry dinner I fall back on when the fridge looks empty and everyone still needs to eat. Egg noodles, canned tuna, sweet peas, and sharp cheddar bake together in a creamy mushroom sauce under a layer of crushed potato chips that go golden and crackly in the oven.
The one thing that decides whether this comes out tender or mushy is how long you boil the noodles. They keep cooking in the oven while they sit in all that hot sauce. So I pull them a full two minutes before the package says to. Firm noodles going into the dish means tender noodles coming out of it.
Sour cream is my one addition to the standard formula. Condensed soup on its own can taste flat and a little sweet, and half a cup of sour cream gives the sauce enough tang to taste like something somebody made instead of something that came out of a can.
Why You’ll Love This Tuna Casserole Recipe
- A true pantry dinner. Canned tuna, condensed soup, and a bag of egg noodles cover most of the ingredient list.
- Creamy without making a roux. Condensed mushroom soup, whole milk, and sour cream come together into a smooth sauce in about a minute of stirring.
- A crunchy, golden top. Crushed potato chips bake into a crackly layer over all that soft noodle underneath.
- Feeds six for very little. This is one of the cheapest dinners I put on the table, and it makes generous leftovers.
Tuna Casserole Ingredients
Reach for chunk light tuna packed in water and drain it hard, pressing the lid down over the sink until nothing more runs out. Every tablespoon of water left in the can ends up thinning the sauce in the oven, and thin sauce is the number one complaint about this dish.
- 12 oz wide egg noodles
- 2 tbsp butter
- 1 small yellow onion, diced
- 2 (10.5 oz) cans condensed cream of mushroom soup
- 1 cup whole milk
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 2 (5 oz) cans tuna in water, drained and flaked
- 1 1/2 cups frozen peas
- 2 cups shredded sharp cheddar, divided
- 1 1/2 cups crushed potato chips
- 2 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped, for garnish
Recipe Variations
- Add 8 ounces of sliced mushrooms to the pan with the onion for a version that leans harder into the mushroom flavor.
- Swap the potato chips for crushed Ritz crackers, buttered panko, or French fried onions; all three brown up the same way.
- Stir in a diced celery rib with the onion if you like a little crunch running through the noodles.
How to Make Tuna Casserole
- Heat the oven and boil the noodles: Heat the oven to 350°F and lightly grease a 9×13-inch baking dish. Boil the egg noodles in salted water for about 5 minutes, two minutes shy of the package directions, then drain them well. Don’t rinse them.
- Cook the onion: Melt the butter in the empty pot over medium heat and cook the diced onion for 4-5 minutes, until soft and translucent.
- Mix the sauce: Pull the pot off the heat and stir in the condensed soup, milk, sour cream, garlic powder, salt, and pepper until smooth. Taste it and adjust the salt now; condensed soup varies a lot between brands.
- Fold everything together: Add the drained noodles, tuna, peas (run them under warm water and drain them well first), and 1 1/2 cups of the cheddar. Fold gently with a spatula so the tuna stays in flakes instead of breaking down into paste.
- Assemble the tuna casserole: Spread the mixture into the prepared baking dish. Scatter the remaining 1/2 cup cheddar over the top, then cover it evenly with the crushed potato chips.
- Bake: Bake uncovered for 30 minutes, until the sauce bubbles around the edges and the chips are deep golden. The center should register 165°F on a thermometer.
- Rest and serve: Let it sit for 5 minutes so the sauce thickens up, then sprinkle with parsley and scoop into bowls.
Recipe FAQs
Can I Make Tuna Casserole Ahead of Time?
Yes. Assemble everything except the chip topping, cover, and refrigerate for up to 24 hours. Add the chips right before it goes in the oven and give it an extra 10 minutes of baking since it’s starting cold.
Can I Make It without Canned Soup?
Yes. Melt 6 tablespoons of butter, whisk in 6 tablespoons of flour, and cook it for a full minute, then slowly whisk in 2 cups of whole milk and 1 cup of chicken broth. Simmer, whisking, until it’s thick enough to heavily coat the back of a spoon, season it well, and use it in place of the soup and the milk. It needs to be much thicker than a pouring sauce, since condensed soup is what it’s replacing.
What Can I Use Instead of Potato Chips on Top?
Crushed Ritz crackers, panko tossed with a tablespoon of melted butter, French fried onions, or even crushed corn flakes. Anything dry and crunchy will brown up over the sauce.
Can I Use Tuna Packed in Oil?
You can, and it makes for a richer casserole. Drain it just as thoroughly as the water-packed kind, and go a little easier on the salt since oil-packed tuna tends to taste stronger.
Why Did My Casserole Turn out Watery?
Undrained tuna is the usual culprit, followed by noodles that went in wet. Press the tuna cans out hard, and let the drained noodles sit in the colander for a minute before they go into the sauce.
Cooking Tips
- Don’t rinse the noodles after draining them. That starchy coating is what helps the sauce grip instead of sliding off into the bottom of the dish.
- Put the chips on right before the dish goes in the oven. Sitting on wet sauce, they soften within minutes and lose the crunch you added them for.
- Thaw the peas under warm water and drain them well before they go in. Half-thawed peas release water into the sauce as it heats, and folding them in still frozen adds about 5 minutes to the bake.
Storage and Freezing
To store: Keep leftovers covered in the fridge for up to 4 days.
To freeze: Freeze it assembled but unbaked, without the chip topping, for up to 3 months. The sauce holds together much better frozen before baking than after, and the chips only stay crisp if they go on fresh.
To reheat: Cover with foil and warm at 350°F for 20-25 minutes, or microwave single portions in 1-minute bursts with a splash of milk stirred in to loosen the sauce.
How to Serve Tuna Casserole
Tuna Casserole is filling enough to stand alone, so I keep the sides simple: steamed green beans, roasted carrots, or a plain green salad with a sharp vinaigrette to cut through all that cream. This is one of the recipes in our easy weeknight dinner collection, and more budget-friendly casseroles like it are on the way.
Loved This Recipe?
Tuna Casserole costs almost nothing, comes together straight out of the pantry, and still gets asked for again by Friday.
Leave a star rating in the comments below, it helps other people find this recipe. Made it? Tag @allwellfed on Instagram, I love seeing this one in other people’s kitchens.
Classic Tuna Casserole with Egg Noodles
Equipment
- Instant-Read Thermometer Take it to 165°F in the middle. The edges get there long before the center does.
Ingredients
- 12 oz wide egg noodles
- 2 tbsp butter
- 1 small yellow onion diced
- 2 (10.5 oz) cans condensed cream of mushroom soup
- 1 cup whole milk
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 2 (5 oz) cans tuna in water drained and flaked
- 1 1/2 cups frozen peas
- 2 cups shredded sharp cheddar divided
- 1 1/2 cups crushed potato chips
- 2 tbsp fresh parsley chopped, for garnish
Instructions
- Heat the oven and boil the noodles: Heat the oven to 350°F and lightly grease a 9×13-inch baking dish. Boil the egg noodles in salted water for about 5 minutes, two minutes shy of the package directions, then drain them well. Don’t rinse them.
- Cook the onion: Melt the butter in the empty pot over medium heat and cook the diced onion for 4-5 minutes, until soft and translucent.
- Mix the sauce: Pull the pot off the heat and stir in the condensed soup, milk, sour cream, garlic powder, salt, and pepper until smooth. Taste it and adjust the salt now; condensed soup varies a lot between brands.
- Fold everything together: Add the drained noodles, tuna, peas (run them under warm water and drain them well first), and 1 1/2 cups of the cheddar. Fold gently with a spatula so the tuna stays in flakes instead of breaking down into paste.
- Assemble the tuna casserole: Spread the mixture into the prepared baking dish. Scatter the remaining 1/2 cup cheddar over the top, then cover it evenly with the crushed potato chips.
- Bake: Bake uncovered for 30 minutes, until the sauce bubbles around the edges and the chips are deep golden. The center should register 165°F on a thermometer.
- Rest and serve: Let it sit for 5 minutes so the sauce thickens up, then sprinkle with parsley and scoop into bowls.
Notes
If you made this, leave a star rating down in the comments. It takes about ten seconds, and it’s how other cooks decide whether a recipe is worth trying.
