Crockpot Tuna Noodle Casserole

I am leery about cooking noodles in a crockpot.  I am so afraid they will get mushy.  I have about a 50/50 percent success/failure rate when it comes to noodles in the crockpot.  LOL!  A few weeks ago I tried to make an Asian inspired shredded pork meal and threw in a package of Teriyaki Knorr noodles into the crockpot.  It was a disaster.  The noodles turned to a grainy mush.  Not sure if I over cooked them or if it was just that certain kind of noodle from a pre-packaged noodle mix.  Yuck!  But I have also made a pizza casserole and creamy chicken and noodles and turned out yummy!  So when I came across this recipe I was a bit skeptical but decided to try it and it turned out great.  This picture is the ingredients before it was cooked.

Tuna Noodle Casserole (Serves 4)

8oz pasta (I used rotini)

2 Tbsp butter

1 cup onion, chopped

8 oz sliced mushrooms (optional)

2 Tbsp flour

1 cup of chicken stock or broth

2 cups milk (I used 2%)

6oz cream cheese, softened

¼ cup parmesan cheese, freshly grated

12oz canned tuna, drained

½ bag of frozen peas (optional)

½ tsp garlic pepper

1 tsp lemon pepper

French fried onions

Salt & pepper to taste

The Directions

In a medium sized pot, bring heavily salted water to a boil and boil noodles for 4 minutes.  Drain immeditaly and set aside.
In a sauté pan, melt butter and sauté onions and mushrooms on medium low heat until onions are tender and translucent.  Add flour and constantly whisk for 1 minute.  Turn up the heat to medium high.  Add chicken stock and milk.  Boil and whisk for 2 minutes.  Turn off heat and add cream cheese and parmesan cheese.  Stir to melt.  Add noodles, seasonings, peas, and tuna.  Stir to coat noodles. 

Transfer to a crockpot.  Cook on low for 2 hours or high for 1 ½ hours.  Stir once half way through cooking.  Add French fried onions 30 minutes before serving.

The Verdict
This turned out great, though as you can see from the picture there are no mushrooms or peas this time.  My fiance hates peas & mushrooms...he is missing out!  I didn’t even miss the lack of “cream of …” soup.  And it is a versatile dish.  If your family doesn’t like mushrooms or peas, you can omit those and it won’t compromise the flavor.  You could also substitute the lemon pepper and garlic pepper for dry Italian or Ranch seasoning.  You could also substitute the canned tuna for canned chicken.  If you don’t have French fried onions, you could also use crumbled ritz crackers or potato chips.

I definitely recommend partially cooking the noodles, especially the thicker ones like rotini.  It gives the noodles a head start to soaking up the milk and to finish cooking.  If you only cook the noodles for 3 minutes, I would think that would give you an extra half hour or so in the crockpot if you have to leave the house for errands.  Don’t leave the crock pot on for more than 3 ½  hours or you might end up with mushy noodles.