Dad’s Tuna Pasta Bake with Lots of Veggies

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Bursting with flavour, nutrients and colour, this delicious, moreish, cheesy, tuna pasta bake is loaded with eight different vegetables. Topped with a layer of molten and slightly crispy cheese, this is comfort food at its best! Serve as it is or with a salad and perhaps some garlic bread on the side.

Whilst the list of ingredients is long and you need to allow around 30 – 45 minutes to prepare the bake, (some of this is hands off time though,) it is a wonderful dish to prepare ahead of time. Then, all you then need to do is pop it in the oven, for around an hour, before you want to eat it.

Vegetarian in the house?

Simply spoon a portion of the bake into a separate baking dish before you add the tuna and cook separately. Very easy to keep everybody happy!

Where is this recipe from?

Based on my Pasta Bake – Core Recipe and using mostly store cupboard ingredients and lots of fresh vegetables, this recipe works well in the summer or winter. Leftovers? This dish also re-heats well the following day.

How to make Dad’s Tuna Pasta Bake with Lots of Veggies

Please see the printable Recipe Card below for the exact, yet condensed, quantities and instructions.

Collect all the ingredients together:

Roast vegetables:

• red pepper, stem and seeds removed and chopped into 1 – 1½cm pieces
• courgette, trimmed and chopped into 1 – 1½cm pieces
• aubergine, trimmed and chopped into 1 – 1½cm pieces
• cherry tomatoes, halved
• red onion, peeled and chopped into 1 – 1½cm pieces
• olive oil
• fine salt
• freshly ground black pepper

Cheese sauce: 

• unsalted butter
• cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed
• plain/all-purpose flour
• milk
• strong cheddar cheese, grated
• mozzarella cheese, grated
• parmesan, finely grated
• fine salt
• freshly ground black pepper

Pasta and other vegetables:

• dried pasta e.g. macaroni/elbow, penne, rigatoni
• tinned tuna, drained
• frozen or tinned sweetcorn
• frozen peas
• fresh baby spinach, roughly chopped

To serve:

• chopped parsley
• crisp green salad with balsamic dressing
• garlic bread

How to make Dad’s favourite Tuna Pasta Bake:

1. Roast the vegetables: prepare the roast vegetables, tip into a deep baking tray and mix with the olive oil and salt and pepper. Cook in the oven for 10 minutes, take out of the oven and stir. Put back in the oven and cook for a further 10 minutes or until soft and slightly charred at the edges.
2. When you take the vegetables out of the oven, turn the temperature down.
3. Sauce: in a medium to large saucepan melt the butter, add the crushed garlic and cook for 1 minute until aromatic. Add the flour and cook for a couple of minutes stirring continuously with a wooden spoon.
4. Add all the milk to the butter, garlic and flour and mix vigorously with a balloon whisk until the milk is evenly incorporated and there are no lumps. Bring to a gentle simmer and cook gently for 3 – 4 minutes, stirring continuously, either with a wooden spoon or the balloon whisk. 
5. Mix the three grated cheeses together and stir ¾ of the cheese into the sauce, mix well and cook gently until it has melted. Add some freshly ground black pepper and taste to see if it needs some extra salt. (Set the remaining cheese aside for the topping.)
6. Roughly chop the spinach and stir into the sauce. Gently cook until the spinach has wilted. This should only take around 1 minute.
7. Pasta: meanwhile, cook the pasta in salted water, according to packet instructions, but for 2 minutes less than the recommended time. Usually around 8 – 12 minutes. When the pasta is al dente, drain well.
8. Finish: add the cooked pasta, peas, sweetcorn and drained tuna to the roasted vegetables. Pour over the cheese and spinach sauce and mix everything thoroughly.
9. Tip the pasta and sauce into a buttered ovenproof dish and cover with foil. The dish I use measures 30cms long, 20cms wide and 7cms deep.
10. Cook: bake in the oven for 30 – 40 minutes or until hot and bubbling. (If you have prepared the Pasta Bake in advance and you are cooking it straight from the fridge, you will need to add 10 – 15 minutes to the cooking time.)
11. Take out of the oven, remove the foil and sprinkle over the remaining cheese. Put back in the oven, uncovered for a final 10 – 15 minutes. It is cooked when the cheese has melted and lightly browned and the bake is piping hot throughout.
12. Take out of the oven and sprinkle with chopped parsley. Serve as is or with a crisp green salad and balsamic dressing, and/or some garlic bread, if desired.

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