Spicy tuna pasta

Spicy tuna pasta

Kids will love this easy summer pasta dish - a fishy version of spaghetti with meatballs

Difficulty and servings

Easy

Serves 4

Preparation and cooking times

Preparation time

Prep 10 mins

Cook time

Cook 15 mins

Method

  1. Squeeze excess water from the tuna, place in a bowl with the spring onions and egg, then stir together. Use your hands to shape into small walnut-size balls - you should get about 12.
  2. Heat the oil in a large non-stick frying pan, tip the tuna balls in, then cook for 5-10 mins until golden all over. Pour over the tomato & chilli sauce, then cook for 5 mins more, adding a little boiling water if the sauce looks dry.
  3. Meanwhile, boil the pasta, then drain. Stir through the sauce and most of the rocket. Serve in bowls with the tuna balls and a little extra rocket on top.
Try

Use up the rocket

In a food processor, whizz together the leftover rocket with 2 chopped anchovies, 1 crushed garlic clove, 1 tsp red wine vinegar and 2 tbsp olive oil. Delicious served alongside grilled lamb chops.

Homemade sauce

Soften 1 chopped onion and 1 chopped red chilli in a little oil. Stir in 400ml passata with 3 tbsp tomato puree or ketchup, and bubble for a few mins.

PER SERVING

552 kcalories, protein 33g, carbohydrate 81g, fat 13 g, saturated fat 2g, fibre 4g, sugar 9g, salt 1.16 g

Recipe from Good Food magazine, July 2009.

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Latest comments and suggestions

  • 22 June 2009

    Kathryn commented on this recipe

    This was fantastic- so tasty and a great summer dish!

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  • 30 June 2009

    Mike commented on this recipe

    Great dish, very tasty

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  • 07 September 2009

    ncsh rated and commented on this recipe

    3 stars

    didnt get on with this very well. meatballs were very wet, and wouldnt stay in the ball shape. they fell apart a lot. i will try again making the meatballs in advance and put into the fridge to firm up before cooking. tastes nice though.

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  • 09 September 2009

    Susan commented on this recipe

    Pardon my American ignorance, is passata tomato paste?

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  • 10 September 2009

    philipparoz rated and commented on this recipe

    3 stars

    Tasted good although it was difficult to get the tuna balls to remain balls. The mixture is far too wet to stay and even after a last resort I rolled them in flour they would not stay together. I think out of the batch I made 3 remained intact. I also added one red chilli to mine to make it spicey, I'm not sure a tomato chilli sauce has quite enough quick to call this a spicey dish. I will make it again with some variations to make the mixture firmer.

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  • 14 September 2009

    josstick commented on this recipe

    Tuna balls were too wet and wouldnt stick so added some flour. Was very tasty though, and the kids loved it. Will definitely make again.

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  • 17 September 2009

    Catherama commented on this recipe

    I was a bit disappointed in this recipe - as a couple of people said balls would not stay as balls so it just ended up being can of tuna with pasta sauce poured on it.....not very exciting.

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  • 18 September 2009

    Marola commented on this recipe

    Susan, Passata normal comes in a bottle. It is tomatoes that have been sieved. It's thicker than tomato juice and has a good concentrated taste. Sometimes it's flavoured with other things like peppers or chilli. If you can not get it, use canned tomatoes, they are just as good.

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  • 21 September 2009

    Susan commented on this recipe

    Thanks, Marola. I could probably just substitute a flavored jarred spaghetti sauce. However, based on the other reviews, I may pass on this altogether.

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  • 07 January 2010

    Hunter rated this recipe

    5 stars

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  • 26 April 2010

    Lorna C commented on this recipe

    Really enjoyed this recipe. did not add all the egg, so they stuck together alot more. I also roll the balls in flour, and added a green chilli to the sauce, for a bit of a kick! Excellent! Cant wait till next time!

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  • 26 April 2010

    Lorna C rated this recipe

    4 stars

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  • 14 August 2011

    Lucy rated this recipe

    4 stars

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  • 07 April 2013

    Katie B rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    Lovely! didnt try to make balls though, just mixed tuna with tomato sauce, yummy!

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  • 04 May 2013

    chocolat_cookie rated and commented on this recipe

    4 stars

    Tastes yummm! Used crab meat instead of tuna and added a lil bit of seasoning and 1 tsp of thai red chilli paste to the fish balls mixture. While making the fish balls made sure i squeeze all the water out completely and the rolled them in a lil cornflour as suggested by others earlier before frying them. They held together very well and added a great twist to a regular arrabiata pasta!

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  • 16 May 2013

    Rachiebabie rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    Absolutely gorgeous! After reading other comments I started to make the tuna balls without the egg as others found mixture to wet, however this was impossible without the egg as it was too dry to mold. After adding an egg it was perfect. I was really surprised at how tasty the tuna balls were I am now going to use the recipe for making tuna burgers!

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Difficulty and servings

Easy

Serves 4

Preparation and cooking times

Preparation time

Prep 10 mins

Cook time

Cook 15 mins

Ingredients

  • 2 x 185g cans tuna in spring water, drained
  • 2 spring onions , chopped
  • 1 egg , beaten
  • 1 tbsp vegetable oil
  • 350g jar tomato and chilli sauce (we used Loyd Grossman), or make your own (see below)
  • ½ a 70g pack rocket , roughly chopped
  • 400g spaghetti
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PER SERVING

552 kcalories, protein 33g, carbohydrate 81g, fat 13 g, saturated fat 2g, fibre 4g, sugar 9g, salt 1.16 g

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