Tuna, Broccoli and Kale Caesar Pasta Salad

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This tuna, broccoli and kale caesar pasta salad is filled with a great deal of veggies and protein. It comes collectively in underneath half-hour and is certain to develop into a brand new household favourite particularly on these busy weeknights!

Generally as a mother or father it may be so tense to get dinner on the desk, particularly when you may have choosy kiddos or a child who’s simply beginning to eat solids. That is the place the brand new Feeding Littles & Past cookbook is available in, which my buddy Ali Maffucci co-wrote. It’s all about meals that the entire household (ages 6 months-99 years) can eat so that you solely should make one meal for dinner!

With so many superior recipes within the cookbook it was difficult to select only one to share, however I used to be tremendous enthusiastic about this tuna broccoli and kale caesar pasta salad. Tuna is such an superior protein however and you’ll by no means go incorrect with a pasta salad recipe, am I proper?!

I additionally love that this recipe comes collectively in about 20 minutes, which is ideal for these busy weeknights. It’s simply develop into a brand new household favourite in our family. Olivia wolfed it up once I made it for dinner!

Why You’ll Love This Recipe

It’s a dish the entire household will love!
It’s filled with protein and loaded with inexperienced veggies!
Excellent for meal prep.
Comes collectively in underneath half-hour so is ideal for these busy weeknights.

Three plates of tuna, broccoli and kale caesar pasta salad.

Feeding Littles & Past Cookbook

A bit extra Feeding Littles & Past… it’s a collaborative cookbook between New York Occasions bestselling creator Ali Maffucci of Inspiralized and Megan McNamee and Judy Delaware, founders of Feeding Littles.

The cookbook is full of over 100 scrumptious recipes that had been created with the entire household in thoughts. Every recipe is baby-led weaning pleasant, so it may be served to your child and so they can feed it to themselves. Along with the recipes the cookbook contains methods for baby-led weaning/feeding, meal prep ideas, ideas for coping with choosy consuming and eating out, recipe modifications for allergic reactions and a lot extra!

When you’re on the lookout for baby-led weaning recipes to make for the entire household, I extremely suggest testing this cookbook!

Ingredients measured out to make Tuna, Broccoli and Kale Caesar Pasta Salad: caesar dressing, albacore tuna, broccoli, lacinato kale, rotini pasta, parmesan, olive oil, salt and pepper.

Components Wanted

rotini pasta – the proper pasta for this recipe to seize the Caesar dressing, however be happy to make use of your most popular pasta of alternative right here. Penne or bowtie would additionally work nice. I used Banza chickpea pasta for added protein!
broccoli florets – provides a crunch issue to this salad and a few additional vitamins! When selecting broccoli, search for tightly closed, darkish inexperienced florets with agency stalks.
lacinato kale – additionally known as Tuscan or dinosaur kale, however you may as well use curly kale. Kale is likely one of the healthiest and most nutritious leafy greens on the market. It’s low in energy, loaded with antioxidants and excessive in nutritional vitamins and minerals like nutritional vitamins A, C and Ok, calcium and potassium.
canned tuna – the protein on this salad! Canned tuna permits for a fast and straightforward protein addition with out the necessity for cooking. I usually purchase Albacore tuna since you get greater chunks of meat that aren’t mushy and it has a milder taste in comparison with different canned tuna. I actually just like the Wild Planet model!
caesar dressing – the caesar dressing actually brings this pasta salad collectively. You should use store-bought or simply make your individual at residence with my wholesome caesar dressing, which is made with Greek yogurt as an alternative of mayonnaise or my avocado caesar dressing, which is made with avocado as an alternative of eggs.
parmesan cheese – provides a terrific savory taste and a few saltiness to this dish. I like to recommend utilizing recent parmesan cheese versus utilizing pre-shredded or pre-shaved cheese. Since I’m consuming dairy-free I used the Violife similar to parmesan wedge.
extra-virgin olive oil – for sautéing the broccoli.
salt and pepper – to season the broccoli.

Close up of tuna, pasta, kale and caesar dressing tossed together in a bowl.

Substitutions & Notes

Need to swap out the veggies? Go for it! There are many greens that might work effectively on this pasta salad! Some good choices to sub the broccoli for can be zucchini, corn, inexperienced beans, asparagus, cauliflower, mushrooms, bell peppers and purple onions. If you wish to swap out the kale, any leafy inexperienced or lettuce would work like spinach, arugula or romaine.
Need to skip sautéing the broccoli? You possibly can all the time use uncooked broccoli or one other uncooked veggie like cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, purple peppers or carrots as an alternative.
Must make this dish gluten-free? When you’ve got a gluten allergy or are merely avoiding gluten, you possibly can swap out the pasta with a gluten-free possibility. My favourite model is Banza!
Must make this dish dairy-free? Skip the parmesan or use a dairy-free possibility. You might additionally make my vegan parmesan, which is made with hemp seeds. On the subject of the dressing you possibly can all the time use a dairy-free possibility like Primal Kitchen Dairy-Free Caesar Dressing.
Need to make this dish vegan? Use a dairy-free cheese and dressing and swap the tuna for a vegan various like tempeh bacon or roasted chickpeas!
Need to swap the protein? As a substitute of tuna you possibly can all the time swap it out for canned salmon, shredded rooster or bacon/turkey bacon. My sluggish cooker shredded rooster is my favourite option to prepare dinner rooster!
Don’t love the style of kale? When you’re not an enormous kale individual I like to recommend massaging your kale with somewhat olive oil or avocado oil, salt and pepper earlier than mixing it with the opposite substances to assist break down a number of the powerful fibers and make it extra palatable.
Need to add croutons? I really like croutons in my salads, particularly caesar salads so be happy to toss some in for added crunch. My sourdough croutons are scrumptious and tremendous straightforward to make within the oven!

Collage of four photos showing the process to make Tuna, Broccoli and Kale Caesar Pasta Salad: cooking broccoli in a skillet, and then tossing together pasta, tuna, caesar dressing and kale in a bowl.

Methods to Make

Cook dinner pasta: Begin with cooking your pasta in a big pot till al dente, or in accordance with the package deal directions. When the pasta is prepared, drain right into a colander and let cool for a couple of minutes.

Saute broccoli: Whereas the pasta is cooking, prepare dinner the broccoli in a big skillet over medium-high warmth with oil. Season with salt and pepper and prepare dinner for 10 minutes or till the broccoli is tender. Put aside for later use.

Mix: In a big bowl toss collectively the kale, tuna, cooked pasta and caesar dressing. Divide the combination onto 4 plates and prime with the broccoli and grated parmesan!

Methods to Serve

This tuna, broccoli and kale caesar pasta salad is filling sufficient by itself, however that doesn’t imply you possibly can’t take pleasure in it with a facet dish or serve it as a facet. Listed here are some concepts:

Methods to Retailer

This pasta salad shops effectively within the fridge so it’s nice for meal prep! When you’re storing the total salad leftovers will keep recent for about 2 days if saved in an hermetic container. When you’re on the lookout for this salad to final you all week I like to recommend storing it with out the tuna and including the tuna proper earlier than serving.

Extra Child-Pleasant Recipes

Extra Tuna Recipes

You should definitely take a look at the entire tuna recipes in addition to the total assortment of dinner recipes right here on EBF!