🍋 Sunday Best Tuna Noodle Casserole

Sunday supper just got dressed to the gills! 🍋🐟 My Sunday Best Tuna Noodle Casserole gives an old-school comfort-food favorite a delicious upgrade: tender egg noodles, canned tuna, sweet peas, and vegetables in a creamy lemon-Parmesan sauce, with melted Monterey Jack and a golden, buttery sourdough topping. Bleep calls it “Fancy Pants Tuna Casserole”—and Mr. Tuna brought the wine. Keeping canned food on hand for emergencies or those “just in case” days? This cozy dinner is a delicious reason to rotate your pantry staples, replace what you use, and stock foods you actually enjoy. Includes an easy stovetop option for supper without an oven. Find the recipe at tretaylor.com. ✨

Creamy lemon-Parmesan noodles with tender vegetables,

melted Monterey Jack, and a golden, buttery sourdough topping.

The Nomad Kitchen • Sunday Supper • The Preparedness Pantry

Some evenings call for something warm, creamy, and wonderfully familiar.

This is my dressed-up take on old-school tuna noodle casserole: wide egg noodles, tender tuna, sweet peas, and buttery vegetables folded into a homemade lemon-Parmesan cream sauce. A little Monterey Jack melts underneath a generous topping of sourdough cubes, tossed with butter and Parmesan and baked until golden.

It’s the kind of Sunday supper you scoop into a bowl, settle in with, and remember why these classics became favorites in the first place.

🎭 Bleep’s verdict: “She called it Sunday Best. I called it Fancy Pants. Either way, the tuna has plans tonight.”

🕰️ Recipe at a Glance

Serves: 4 generously, or 6 with a salad
Prep: About 20 minutes
Bake: About 25–35 minutes
Oven: 375°F
Baking dish: A buttered 2½-quart casserole dish

🛒 Ingredients

For the casserole

• 8 ounces wide egg noodles

• 2 cans water-packed tuna, 5 ounces each, drained and gently flaked; albacore works beautifully

• 3 tablespoons butter, plus a little extra for the baking dish

• 1 small onion, finely diced

• 1 small carrot, finely diced or cut into thin, short slices

• 1 celery stalk, finely diced

• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

• 2 cups whole milk

• ½ cup heavy cream

• ½ cup finely grated Parmesan

• 1 cup frozen peas

• Finely grated zest of 1 small lemon, Meyer lemon if available

• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice, plus more to taste

• 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard, optional

• ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

• Salt to taste

• ½ cup shredded Monterey Jack, for the layer beneath the topping

For the buttery sourdough topping

• 2 cups sourdough bread cut into small, roughly ½-inch cubes, crusts left on

• 3 tablespoons melted butter

• ¼ cup finely grated Parmesan, divided

• A small pinch of salt

• Freshly ground black pepper

👩‍🍳 Let’s Make Sunday Supper

1. Get ready

Heat the oven to 375°F. Lightly butter your casserole dish.

Cook the egg noodles in salted water for about 2 minutes less than the package directions. They’ll finish cooking in the sauce.

Reserve ½ cup of the noodle cooking water, then drain.

2. Soften the vegetables

Melt 3 tablespoons butter in a large saucepan over medium-low heat.

Add the onion, carrot, and celery. Cook for 10–12 minutes, stirring occasionally, until tender. Let them soften gently without browning.

3. Make the cream sauce

Sprinkle the flour over the vegetables. Stir and cook for 1 minute.

Gradually stir in the milk, adding a little at a time to keep the sauce smooth. Stir in the cream.

Bring to a gentle simmer and cook for 3–5 minutes, stirring frequently, until lightly thickened.

4. Add the flavor

Remove the pan from the heat.

Stir in the ½ cup Parmesan, lemon zest, optional Dijon, and black pepper. Gradually stir in 1 tablespoon lemon juice.

Taste before adding salt—the tuna and cheeses bring some of their own. Add a little more lemon juice if you’d like extra brightness.

🍋 Tré’s tip: Start with the zest and a modest squeeze. You want lemon to brighten the creamy sauce without taking over dinner.

5. Fold and fill

Gently fold in the peas, drained tuna, and noodles, leaving some nice flakes of tuna intact.

The mixture should look generously creamy. If it seems too thick, stir in a splash of the reserved noodle water.

Spoon everything into the buttered dish. Scatter the Monterey Jack evenly over the top.

6. Give it that golden crown

Toss the sourdough cubes with the melted butter, 3 tablespoons of the topping Parmesan, a small pinch of salt, and black pepper.

Spread over the casserole, then sprinkle with the remaining 1 tablespoon Parmesan.

Leave the crusts on the bread. Those little edges are part of the charm.

7. Bake until bubbling

Bake uncovered for about 25–35 minutes, until the bread is golden, the sauce is bubbling, and the center reaches 165°F.

Start checking around 25 minutes; dish depth and the temperature of your ingredients affect the timing. If the bread browns before the center is hot, loosely tent with foil.

Let the casserole rest for 5–10 minutes before serving so the sauce can settle around the noodles.

✨ A Few Delicious Options

Feeling extra fancy?
Melt 2 ounces of softened cream cheese into the thickened sauce before adding the Parmesan. Add a splash more milk if needed to keep it loose and creamy.

Love a little briny bite?
Add 1–2 teaspoons rinsed, chopped capers with the tuna.

Prefer chicken?
Substitute the same drained weight of canned chicken. Lemon works beautifully here, too. For more vegetables, add another cup of cooked broccoli or sautéed mushrooms; loosen the sauce with extra milk as needed.

Keeping it economical?
Replace the cream with an equal amount of milk. Use the canned tuna you enjoy and already have.

🍳 No Oven? Make It on the Stovetop

Cook the noodles fully instead of leaving them slightly underdone.

Toast the sourdough cubes in their butter in a skillet over medium-low heat, tossing until golden. Remove from the heat and toss with the topping Parmesan.

Prepare the vegetable cream sauce as directed, reserving the lemon juice until the end. Fold in the tuna, peas, and noodles. Heat gently, stirring, until the peas are cooked and the mixture reaches 165°F. Stir in the Monterey Jack until melted, then remove from the heat and add lemon juice to taste.

Spoon into bowls and scatter the toasted sourdough over each serving.

Smaller supper? Halve all the ingredients for about 2–3 servings.

🥗 What to Serve Alongside

A fresh autumn salad makes a lovely companion to all that creamy comfort.

Try mixed greens, thinly sliced apple or pear, and a simple lemon-Dijon vinaigrette. Keep the dressing bright and light, and let the casserole bring the richness.

For wine, I’d choose a crisp Sauvignon Blanc to echo the lemon or an unoaked Chardonnay for a softer pairing. Sparkling water with lemon is lovely, too.

With noodles underneath and sourdough on top, dinner already has its bread covered.

🥫 From the Preparedness Pantry

A well-stocked pantry works best when it holds foods you enjoy—and recipes that make you look forward to using them.

This casserole is a delicious way to rotate canned tuna into an ordinary dinner. It uses pantry staples alongside fresh and refrigerated ingredients, so it’s a pantry-rotation recipe rather than a fully shelf-stable emergency meal.

Keep a simple pantry log: item, quantity, date acquired, and the label’s best-by date. Move older cans forward, cook with them regularly, and replace what you use.

Understand the dates: A best-by date generally refers to quality, not an automatic safety deadline. Food-bank cans aren’t automatically about to spoil; consider the label, storage history, condition, and any guidance provided.

Check the cans: Store them somewhere cool and dry. Discard cans that are bulging, leaking, badly rusted, or deeply dented—especially at seams. Never taste questionable food to check its safety.

Buy what you like. Cook what you have. Keep the pantry moving.

🧊 Saving Leftovers

Refrigerate leftovers in shallow, covered containers within 2 hours, or 1 hour if the temperature is above 90°F.

Keep refrigerated at 40°F or below, enjoy within 3–4 days, and reheat to 165°F. A splash of milk helps loosen the sauce; reheating in the oven helps revive the topping.

Food-safety references: USDA Shelf-Stable Food Safety and USDA Leftovers and Food Safety.

With love, music, food, art, and fun,

Tré Taylor & Bleep the Tattoo
✨ tretaylor.com