4-22-2016 ~The list of ingredients told me this was going to be good, but it exceeded my expectations. I held off with my review until Hubs weighed in and he agreed, this is no ordinary tuna pasta salad! It’s light but flavorful, colorful, interesting, and satisfying. I loved everything about this salad except for one, major thing – adding chopped lettuce to this, unless it is eaten immediately, did not appeal to me. If you want the lettuce, it would be best to leave it out of the salad itself and serve the salad on top of a bed of lettuce. Other than that I would not omit anything; each ingredient is vital. If I were to add anything, it might just be a little red or green onion. BUT – the success of this salad will only be as good as the quality of the ingredients you use - good, olive oil packed tuna for instance. Stay away from commercial “Italian-style” salad dressing if possible, and make your own. I made a light, fresh lemon vinaigrette which was simply perfect here. My 5-star rating assumes the lettuce is omitted and that a homemade dressing rather than a bottled commercial dressing is used.
I halved the recipe since it's just me and my husband, and I had to swap garbanzo beans for great northern beans and use plain old canned tuna since that's what was in my pantry, but this still turned out incredibly well. Just delicious. I followed the advice of another commenter and kept my leafy greens separate from the rest, using them as a bed when serving - very good advice. I didn't have Italian dressing on hand, so I just liberally dressed the whole thing with Italian seasoning, garlic powder, salt, pepper, olive oil, and white wine vinegar in that order. After serving, we sprinkled some French fried onions on top for crunch, as well as a little parm and red pepper flakes. I will definitely be making this again! So, so tasty.
A very refreshing salad that tastes good just made or even the day after. A meal in one for us. Thank you for the recipe.
I make it without the artichoke hearts (don't really like them) and low fat dressing - all of this together is only 2 points with WW. I make and take for lunch. So easy and delicious!!
I added snap peas, carrots, grated Parmesan, and some salmon. Yummy!
