Instant Pot Tuna Casserole is comfort food that fills you up and tastes so creamy and delicious! We love this pressure cooker tuna noodle casserole recipe. It’s so much easier and faster to make tuna casserole in the Instant Pot!
Instant Pot Tuna Casserole
I don’t know very many people who didn’t have a tuna noodle casserole in their family’s meal rotation while growing up. We sure did, and it was always one of my favorite meals! Still is.
For this tuna noodle casserole recipe, I have adapted my recipe that I have made for years, and raised my kids on. They all love it. What I found it that it is much better made in the Instant Pot®!
What makes Instant Pot Tuna Casserole better than oven baked?
- I didn’t expect it to be better, but to my surprise it is!
- It cooks much faster than in the oven. Minutes vs an hour!
- No pot of boiling water to deal with. Noodles cook with the sauce.
- One pot! I love a one-pot meal!
- The tuna casserole comes out more saucy and creamy.
- The flavors seems more pronounced.
Here’s why I think it’s better:
Can I add a crunchy topping?
Yes you can. See the notes section of the recipe card. But in a nutshell, you can transfer the casserole to a baking dish and add a panko/butter/parmesan topping and broil it.
Or just add crushed potato chips to your serving. Now that’s old school!
How Can I avoid the Burn message?
That’s always a bummer. The best way to avoid getting the burn message is to follow the recipe carefully.
- Weigh your pasta!
- If you put too much pasta in it will soak up more of the liquid. Then there isn’t enough to create the steam needed to build pressure.
- Weighing the pasta is the most accurate way to measure it.
This is the biggest reason people get the burn message when cooking pasta.
Layer the Ingredients.
By not stirring in the thick cream of mushroom soup, you are keeping the thin liquid on the bottom where it can boil and create the steam needed to build the pressure.
I have only had a tiny bit of scorching with this Instant Pot Tuna Casserole recipe, but not enough to give me a burn warning or affect the taste of the tuna casserole at all.
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If you make this pressure cooker tuna casserole recipe, please leave a comment below with a star rating. I’d love to know how you liked it!
Instant Pot Tuna Casserole is comfort food that fills you up and tastes so creamy and delicious! We love this pressure cooker tuna noodle casserole recipe. It's so much easier and faster to make tuna casserole in the Instant Pot!
- 1 Tbsp Olive Oil
- 3 Tbsp Unsalted Butter
- 1 sm Sweet Onion, diced
- 3 cups Chicken Broth, low sodium
- 1/2 tsp Kosher Salt
- 1/2 tsp Pepper
- 1 tsp Garlic Powder
- 1/2 tsp Onion Powder
- 1/2 tsp Dill Weed, dried
- 2 (6 oz) cans Chunk Light Tuna, in water, mostly drained
- 12 oz Wide Egg Noodles, uncooked
- 2 (10.5 oz) cans Condensed Cream of Mushroom Soup (or 1 mushroom and 1 celery)
- 1 cup Half and Half
- 2 cups Frozen Peas
- 2 cups Sharp Cheddar Cheese, shredded
- 2 Tbsp Fresh Parsley, chopped
Turn on the Sauté setting. When hot, add the oil, butter and onion. Cook, stirring occasionally, until onion starts to turn translucent.
Add the broth, salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, and dill. stir.
Add the half and half. Turn off the Sauté setting.
Add the egg noodles. Do not stir.
Add the tuna, spreading evenly over the noodles. Do not stir.
Add the mushroom soup and spread to cover the noodles.
Close the lid and set the steam release knob to the Sealing position.
Press the Pressure Cook/Manual button or dial, then the +/- button or dial to select 3 minutes for soft noodles (2 minutes for firmer noodles). High Pressure. The pot will take several minutes to come to pressure.
When the cook cycle has finished, turn the steam release knob to the Venting position to Quick Release the steam/pressure. If any soup starts to come out of the steam vent, close it and release the pressure in bursts until the pressure has gone down enough to open it fully.
When the pin in the lid drops back down, open the lid.
Carefully take the pot out of the pressure cooker housing and set on a heat safe surface (this keeps it from cooking more).
Add the peas and give a gentle stir.
Add the cheese and stir. The casserole will thicken as it cools.
When the cheese has melted, serve with a sprinkle of parsley as a garnish.
What if I want a crunchy topping?
You can transfer the casserole to a baking dish and add a 1/2 cup Panko / 1 Tbsp melted butter / 1/2 cup parmesan topping (mix those together and sprinkle on top). Then just broil it for a few minutes.
You can also just add crushed potato chips to your serving.
RESOURCES TO MAKE this recipe and more
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I can’t believe how easy this was to make! We loved it. This will be a regular recipe at our house!
I’m happy to know this worked for you!
This tuna casserole recipe is the bomb! It is super tasty and super easy. No-meat Fridays just got easier. Thank you.
Thank you, Julie! Tuna casserole is a classic. I love not having to use the oven!
This recipe did turn out O.K. and we enjoyed it; however, it started BURN. I think I followed the recipe exactly. It just burned the bottom of the instant pot.
This will happen when there is too much pasta (weighing it is best), or the ingredients are not layered (or you stirred it).
So amazing!! I loved it.hubby and boys loved it-absolutely make again as it is going into my monthly menu.I would like to make it with chickpea or another lentil pasta. Thoughts on liquid and cooking time?
I’m so glad you liked it! As a general rule of thumb, cooking the pasta for half of the time that the package directions say for boiling usually works with most kinds of pastas. The liquid I’m not 100% sure about. Maybe try it as written, then adjust up or down for next time?
Stir frozen peas in at the end? Is that enough to warm and cook them? Or should I cook them first before stirring them in?
Yes, just stir them in and the residual heat from the casserole will cook them.
How do you half a pasta recipe for a mini instant pot? do you cut the liquid in half too?
Yes, halve the ingredients but keep the cook time the same.
Can I substitute chicken for the tuna?
Yes! Canned chicken or a chopped up rotisserie bird would be really good!
Would this recipe work with gluten free pasta?
Yes, I have heard that GF pasta works well in the IP.
I found this on 9/30/19 and made it the same day. It is wonderful and I will be making this several times over. I was wondering if you had one for turkey or chicken pot pie filling.
Fabulous!! Made it with gluten free pasta and soup. My husband was craving tuna noodle casserole -comfort food following a knee replacement. Oh my goodness! This was so easy and so good! Enough for Meals for days!! Thank you!
That’s great! Thank you. My sister also just had a knee replacement. Happy healing to your hubby!
This was great! My husband loved it too! After reading some of the comments this morning, I was very happy that I weighed the pasta! It was perfect and had wonderful flavor!
I halved this recipe and cooked it in the mini. Delicious!
How to get the top crusted with flavored bread crumbs?
Add the casserole to a baking dish, sprinkle on the bread crumbs, and broil for a few minutes.
I used mini shell pasta and added the frozen petite peas before cooking. I also only had 1 cup of shredded cheese so I added 3 tablespoons of cream cheese. At 65 years old, I’ve learned what to substitute for a great taste.
Thank you Sandy for giving me recipes for the instant pot for some of the recipes that I used to use with the old school pressure cooker with the pressure valve on the center of the pot lid that made “shooh, shooh. shoosh” noises as it cooked.
And if the pressure got too high the valve could blow off and there would be dinner on the walls, ceiling and floors. It almost made my mother almost swear..
The Instant Pot is sooooo much easier!!
Oh yes, I remember those old school pressure cookers! I’m so glad this recipe worked for you!
My husband and children loved this dish! so creamy ,noodles weren’t mushy at all .5 stars we will be making this again.
Just made this tonight and it was absolutely delicious! In only had 1 c of cheddar so used Monterey Jack as well. Very tasty and my kids loved it. Will make this again for sure! Thank you!!