Tuna Mayo Pasta Salad
This tuna mayo pasta salad recipe was created as a desperate solution to make something EASY for dinner with ingredients I already had. But this concoction turned out so good that it is now on a regular rotation in our household.
Yeah OK…it definitely is not the prettiest pasta salad in the world. But if you know and love the Japanese tuna mayo onigiri, you will love this quick, easy and delicious side dish!
Related article: What? You’d rather have a prettier pasta salad? Check out our Japanese Pasta Salad recipe!
Tuna Mayo Onigiri
Japanese Onigiri, if you are not familiar with it, is the triangular rice ball wrapped in seaweed. There are many variations of onigiri, distinguished mainly by the filling that the onigiri has inside. Typical fillings include salmon, pickled plum, cod roe, to name a few.
Tuna mayo onigiri, as in its name, is made with tuna and Japanese mayonnaise. It is one of the most popular onigiri flavors recently in Japan.
So, I thought; If the tuna mayo goes well with rice, why not with pasta? And I was right! It’s fantastic!
Another related article: Really? You’d rather have the tuna mayo onigiri instead? Go find your tuna mayo onigiri recipe.
Key Ingredient for Tuna Mayo Pasta Salad
Tuna and mayonnaise with pasta may seem overly simple. But to get the great flavor for the tuna mayo onigiri filling and in this recipe, the key ingredient, in my opinion, is mentsuyu. Mentsuyu is the concentrated soup base that’s used in many Japanese soup and food recipes. It just gives the depth of flavor like nothing else.
You could substitute mentsuyu with soy sauce if you must. But instead of using 2 tablespoons of soy sauce (which I think gets too salty), use 1.5 tablespoons of soy sauce total and adjust the taste from there to your liking. If you love Japanese food, though, mentsuyu is one of the main Japanese ingredients you should have on hand anyway!
Tuna Mayo Pasta Recipe
I hope you enjoy it as much as we do!
Tuna Mayo Pasta Salad
Ingredients
- 1 lb elbow macaroni pasta, dry
- 2 cans (5 oz) tuna or one 9 1/4 oz or 12 oz can
- 1/2 medium white onion, thinly sliced
- 1 tablespoon sesame oil
- 2 green onions, thinly chopped optional
- salt
Dressing
- 5 tablespoons mayonnaise Japanese or regular
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce low sodium
- 1 tablespoon Mentsuyu
Instructions
- In a small bowl, mix all the dressing ingredients together. Set it aside.
- Slice the onion thinly and sprinkle with a generous pinch of salt. Massage the salted onions and let it sit for about 10 minutes. Rinse with water then squeeze the washed onions to get as much moisture out.
- Cook pasta according to package instructions. Drain and add a tablespoon of sesame oil to the cooked pasta and toss to coat.
- Add tuna (drained), onions (rinsed) and dressing mixture. Mix well.
- Refrigerate before serving.
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Ai Willis | 26th Dec 19
Tuna mayo is so good on everything! Looks absolutely delish!
admin | 12th Jan 20
Thanks Ai! Yes, I might experiment more with tuna mayo in other dishes!