Easy old fashioned tuna casserole recipe made from scratch. This casserole has everything you need as a complete meal but also can be served as a side dish to accompany any main course.
This old-fashioned tuna casserole is amazingly delicious and comforting. It's the best tuna casserole recipe made of canned tuna but without canned soup! It's so creamy, cheesy, and tasty!
If you are looking for some easy casserole ideas or don't know what to do with canned tuna, try this homemade tuna and noodles casserole!
Also, check out this easy CANNED TUNA PASTA recipe.
Old-Fashioned Tuna Casserole Made Without Canned Soup
Many casserole recipes call for canned soups (such as cream of celery, cream of chicken, or cream of mushroom soup) to create a rich and creamy dish.
Canned soup is a pantry staple and so convenient, but also packed with sodium.
My version of cheesy tuna noodles casserole doesn't contain canned soup. Instead of using canned soup, I made my own white sauce, also known as béchamel.
Béchamel is so versatile. It is so easy to make and at a fraction of the cost of canned goods. You can use this smooth white sauce in just about any recipe that requires canned soup as one of the main ingredients. And since it's not made with canned soup, you can control the amount of salt you put in this recipe.
Classic Tuna Casserole Ingredients:
To make this easy tuna casserole, you will need the following ingredients:
- Canned tuna in water
- Egg noodles
- Celery
- Yellow onion
- Butter
- All-purpose flour
- Garlic powder
- Chicken broth
- Whole milk
- Frozen peas
- Cheddar cheese
- Panko breadcrumbs
- Kosher salt
- Black pepper
How to Make Easy Tuna Casserole from Scratch:
Step 1. Cook the Noodles until Al Dente
Bring a large pot of water to a boil over high heat. Add a teaspoon of salt, then noodles. Turn the heat down to medium, and cook noodles for about 1 minute less than the direction for al dente (cooked through but still firm).
Step 2. Make the Béchamel sauce
Melt butter in a medium-sized saucepan over medium-high heat. Add onion and celery, cook until soft and translucent for about 3-4 minutes.
Add flour, cook, keep stirring for about 2 minutes or until it smells toasted.
Whisk in the broth, milk, garlic powder, salt, and black pepper. Cook, whisking frequently until thickened, about 4-5 minutes.
Adjust seasoning with additional salt or a small amount of bouillon if needed.
Step 3. Combine All Ingredients
In a large mixing bowl, add pasta, tuna, cheese, frozen peas, and béchamel sauce. Stir to combine then transfer to a 2 to 2½ qt baking dish.
Mix panko breadcrumbs with melted butter. Sprinkle on top of casserole.
Do not use a 9" x 13" or larger baking dish to avoid dry casserole.
Step 4. Bake
Bake in the oven at 425°F until bubbly and the cheese is melted for about 18 minutes.
Let the casserole cool for 5 minutes before serving.
Make-Ahead Casserole:
You can assemble and refrigerate this casserole a day in advance. Don't forget to let it sit for 30 minutes at room temperature before baking it in the oven.
How to Store Leftover Tuna Casserole:
First, let the casserole cool at room temperature but no longer than 2 hours. After it is completely cool, store it in an airtight container and transfer it to the refrigerator.
Properly stored, this casserole can last up to 3-5 days in the fridge or up to 3 months in the freezer.
How to Reheat Frozen Casserole
I highly recommend defrosting the casserole in the refrigerator for 24-48 hours until completely thawed before reheating.
Here's how to reheat the casserole in the oven:
- Loosely cover the casserole with foil.
- Bake the casserole in the oven at 350°F for about 20-30 minutes or until the casserole reaches 165° F for food safety.
Check Out More Casserole Recipes:
- Corn Souffle
- Green Bean Casserole
- Summer Squash Casserole
- Fresh Broccoli Casserole
- Baked Spaghetti Casserole
- Cheesy Hashbrown Casserole
Did you make this recipe? Be sure to leave a rating and a comment below! I'd appreciate it.
Old-Fashioned Tuna Casserole
Ingredients
- 8 oz egg noodles
- 10 oz (2 x 5-oz cans) canned tuna in water, (drained)
- 9 oz frozen peas
- 1 cup freshly shredded cheddar cheese
Béchamel Sauce:
- ¼ cup unsalted butter
- 1 cup diced yellow onion
- 1 cup diced celery
- ¼ cup all-purpose flour
- 1 cup low-sodium chicken broth
- 1 cup whole milk
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1½ teaspoons kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
Optional Toppings:
- ½ cup panko breadcrumbs
- 2 tablespoons butter, (melted)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425°F.
- Add 1 teaspoon of salt into boiling water. Cook noodles for 1 minute less than the direction for al dente. Drain and rinse under cold water.
- Melt butter in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Add onion and celery. Cook for 3-4 minutes or until soft.
- Add flour, cook, keep stirring for 2 minutes or until it smells toasted.
- Whisk in the broth, milk, garlic powder, salt, and black pepper. Cook, whisking frequently until thickened (as thick as condensed soup), about 5 minutes.Adjust seasoning with additional salt or a small amount of chicken bouillon if needed.
- In a large mixing bowl, add pasta, tuna, cheese, frozen peas, and béchamel sauce. Stir to combine then transfer to a 2 to 2½ qt baking dish.
- Mix panko breadcrumbs with melted butter. Sprinkle on top of casserole.
- Bake until bubbly and the cheese is melted for about 18 minutes.
Katie
Yum
Beth Pierce
I can not wait to make this for hubby! One of his favorites and I really like the fact that does not have that tasteless condensed soup!!
Pam
This recipe brings back memories of my sweet Mama. I can't wait to make it and I'll be thinking of her the whole time.
Caitlyn Erhardt
Thank you for a quick and easy recipe everyone loves! I also love that this doesn't use canned soup, the taste is so much better and you can tell it is from scratch.
Sonal
Super awesome. You have explained the recipe very well with pictures. Saving the recipe.
Rika
Thanks, Sonal!
Rika
You're welcome, Caityln!
Cheryl
Very nice texture, creamy and satisfying. I added a bit of Word fresh ice sauce just because my family likes things with added flavor, but this was right on the money.
Rika
Hi Cheryl,
I am glad that you liked this tuna casserole recipe. Thanks for taking the time to share your feedback.
Best,
Rika
Jan
Really delicious. Will make again. I added 1 c chopped mushrooms near end of cooking celery/onions.
Rika
Hi Jan,
Thanks for taking the time to share your feedback and what you did. I am glad that you liked this recipe.
Best,
Rika
Karl G.
Fantastic flavorful recipe! I made it pretty close to as written, I just like more black pepper than it calls for. I made another batch using Italian sausage instead of tuna and that turned out wonderful.
Rika
Hi Karl,
Thanks for taking the time to share your feedback. I am glad that you liked it. I love the idea of using Italian sausage, it sounds delicious.
Best,
Rika
Kassandra
So good! I’m so happy I came across this recipe. I hate using canned soups because of all the unnecessary ingredients in them. This is the best! I did add mushrooms to the sauce since my family likes mushrooms and I took out the celery, and it still turned out amazing! Will definitely be adding this to my home cookbook, thanks a bunch!!
Rika
Hi Kassandra,
Thanks for sharing your feedback. I am glad that you liked this recipe 🙂 I agree with you there is no reason to use canned soup because this casserole tastes better without it.
Best,
Rika
Sonia
I noticed bechemel sauce in the instructions but not in the ingredient list. Please advise.
Rika
Hi Sonia,
I just added a group name for those items (Béchamel Sauce) in the ingredient list. The homemade Béchamel Sauce is made of butter, onion, celery, flour, chicken broth, milk, garlic, salt, and black pepper.
Please let me know if you still have any questions.
Best,
Rika
Sonia
Thank you so much! Silly me! I understand now. Looking forward to trying your recipe. Thanks!
Rika
Hi Sonia,
You're welcome and Happy Thanksgiving!
Best,
Rika
Lisa Amore
Loved this recipe! But made some enhancements worthy of sharing!
I don't like peas, so instead, I added in chopped carrots, by way of a mirepoix of onions, celery and carrots. And since I love garlic, instead of garlic powder, I also sautéed in two cloves of crushed garlic. Then, I also added fresh thyme leaves when the béchamel started coming together, along with a splash of white wine. Finally, just as the béchamel was almost ready, I grated the zest of a whole lemon, and then added the juice of half of that lemon. PS: I used heavy cream which I had in my fridge, watering it down to half cream/half water to give it the consistency of milk. Lastly, I had the end of a bag of thick ripple-cut potato chips, so crushed them up, to top the whole dish. The end result of the casserole was DIVINE! The lemon was the perfect kick!
Rika
Hi Lisa,
Thanks for taking the time to review and share some useful tips for those who don't like peas! I am glad that you liked it. I also love how you added the lemon zest to add a kick to this casserole.
Best,
Rika
Elaine
I made this today and I just realized that I forgot to put in the peas but I did add the mushrooms and the only other thing I did different is I add smoked paprika but it passed the hubby test thanks for the great dish
Rika
Hi Elaine,
Thanks for sharing your feedback and what you did! I am glad that this recipe passed the hubby test and he enjoyed it. I love mushrooms and will try that next time.
Best,
Rika
Susan
I did not have any soup which is included in my go to recipe for tuna casserole. I googled tuna casserole without soup and came upon this gem. I didn’t have any peas so they were excluded. I did a couple things differently. I used fresh garlic, added about a 1/4 mayonnaise and added the cheese to the Béchamel sauce before adding it to the pasta and tuna. The cheese melted nicely and made a wonderful cream sauce.
This recipe is comfort food at its best! I will never use can soup again. This is a first for me; I have never left a review after using a recipe from the internet. Thank you for sharing this delicious recipe.
Rika
Hi Susan,
Thanks for trying and coming back here to review this recipe! I am glad that you enjoyed this tuna casserole recipe. The Béchamel sauce is so versatile, it goes well with any casserole recipe. You'll never need to use canned soup again.
Best,
Rika
cindy ostrom
Recipe turned out really good. The only drawback is I cannot find 10-oz cans of tuna only 5-oz cans. So maybe the recipe should call for two, 5-oz cans of tuna instead of one,10-oz can.
Tx, Cindy
Rika
Hi Cindy,
Thanks for trying and sharing your feedback. I just added the additional info. Yes, you are right, it's 2x 5 oz cans.
Best,
Rika
Susan Schoneboom
This is delicious and easy. Much better than recipes with canned soup. I was impressed, and I’m not easily impressed.
Rika
Hi Susan,
Thanks for trying and sharing your feedback. I am glad that you liked it.
Best,
Rika