Healthy Tuna Pasta Salad with Lemon and Dill

Tuna salad gets a bad reputation mostly because there is an overuse of mayonnaise, bland tasting and lacking in texture. It is one of the main reasons why I rarely eat tuna salads at parties since it always ends in disappointment.

Then I discovered this recipe.

It was amazing! This tuna salad is light, bursting with flavor from the lemon and dill, loaded with crunchy bell peppers, celery and lettuce. It offers an amazing contrast of flavors. I like to think the lemon, dill and the lettuce are the real stars of this tuna salad as it elevates this tuna salad from all others.

This salad tastes best the day it's made. We had leftovers since I made so much but it was equally delicious the next day. The only thing I would caution against having leftovers is the lettuce was not as crunchy; but it did not wilt as much as I had anticipated when we ate the leftovers.

Now this is a tuna salad that I could eat over and over again.

Ingredients
2 cups uncooked elbow macaroni
2 sprigs green onion, chopped
1 bell pepper (red, orange or yellow, seeded and de-stemmed), chopped
2 cans of tuna, packed in water, drained
3 tbsp olive oil
3 stalks celery, chopped
1 large lemon, freshly squeezed
4 cups iceberg lettuce, chopped into long strips
1/3 cup mayonnaise (or Greek yogurt)
1 tbsp dried dill
Sea salt, to taste
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Directions
1. Boil pasta according to package directions. Cook until the macaroni is tender. Rinse the macaroni under cold water.

2. Combine macaroni, green onions, bell pepper, tuna and celery in a large bowl. Pour in olive oil, lemon juice, mayonnaise, dried dill, sea salt and black pepper. Mix until everything is thoroughly combined.

3. Right before you are ready to serve, stir in the lettuce. Serve immediately or chill for an hour.

Note: If you are making this ahead of time, leave the lettuce out and add the lettuce to the tuna salad at the last minute.

Source: Slightly adapted from Simply Recipes