Tuna Mornay Bake
Macaroni folded through a from-scratch cheese sauce with flaked tuna and a hit of lemon zest, topped with panko and cheddar and baked until golden. Proper old-school comfort food.
Warm the milk before adding it to the roux, cold milk hitting a hot roux is what causes lumps, and warming it first keeps the sauce smooth as it’s incorporated. Flake the tuna in gently too, overworking it breaks the flakes down and it loses its texture in the bake.
Let it rest for the full 10 minutes before serving, the sauce is quite loose straight out of the oven and needs that time to firm up. Keeps in the fridge for 4 days or the freezer for 3 months.
Tuna Mornay Bake
TUNA · DINNER · MEDIUM
A proper from-scratch cheese sauce, no shortcuts
Building the mornay sauce from a real roux instead of a tinned soup base gives you a much richer, silkier result, and it's honestly not much more effort once you've got the technique down.
Lemon zest cuts through the richness of the cheese sauce, so it doesn't sit as heavy as some tuna bakes can. The panko topping adds a proper crunch against the soft pasta underneath.
This freezes and reheats brilliantly thanks to the baked pasta base, so it's a genuinely good one to batch up and stash a portion or two in the freezer.
Tuna Mornay Bake
Ingredients
- 400 g Macaroni Pasta
- 100 g Unsalted Butter Cubed
- 1 Brown (Yellow) Onion Diced
- 2 Garlic Cloves Minced
- 70 g Plain Flour All-Purpose
- 420 g Full Fat Milk Warmed
- 180 ml Thickened Cream
- 425 g Spring Water Tuna Drained
- 1 Lemon Zest
- 100 g Panko Bread Crumbs
- 150 g Matured Cheddar Cheese Grated
- Salt & Pepper
- Flat Leaf Parsley Roughly Chopped
Method
- Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F). Lightly grease a medium-sized baking dish.
- Bring a pot of water to a boil over high heat. Season generously with salt and cook the pasta 3 minutes less than the packet instructions. Remove and drain.
- In a large saucepan over medium-high heat, add the butter and let it melt. Add the onion and garlic and sauté for 2 minutes, mixing regularly, until the onion starts to soften. Add the flour and mix well. Cook for 2 minutes, until thickened and starting to bubble — don't let it brown. Slowly add the warmed milk in batches, mixing between each addition until fully absorbed. Once combined, add the cream and cook for 1 minute. Check the seasoning and remove from the heat.
- Add the drained pasta, flaked tuna, and lemon zest to the sauce and mix really well until combined. Transfer to the greased baking dish and spread evenly. Sprinkle over the panko breadcrumbs and cheese, distributing both evenly, and bake for 30–35 minutes, or until golden on top. Remove and rest for 10 minutes before serving.
- Serve on plates or in bowls, garnished with cracked black pepper and flat leaf parsley, if using. Dig in.
Why warm the milk before adding it to the roux?⌄
Cold milk hitting a hot roux is what causes lumps. Warming it first keeps the sauce smooth as it gets incorporated in batches.
Can I use a different pasta shape?⌄
Yes, penne or fusilli both work well in place of macaroni. Just cook it 3 minutes short of the packet time so it doesn't overcook in the oven.
Can I make this ahead of time and bake later?⌄
Yes, assemble it up to the panko and cheese topping, cover, and refrigerate. Add the topping just before baking and add a few extra minutes to the cook time since it'll be starting cold.
Can I use fresh tuna instead of canned?⌄
You can, sear and flake cooked fresh tuna before folding it through. It'll have a slightly different texture to the canned version, but works well.
#3 “Add the butter to a large saucepan over medium-high heat, add the butter and allow it to melt.” should eliminate the second “add the butter.”
#4 should start with “Add the drained tuna to the sauce and mix well.” You forgot to mention the tuna at all in the instructions.
The recipe was very good,
Oh, dear! Thank you for pointing that out. It’s all fixed now. Thank you
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Hello Katherine. I wish you a happy early birthday on the 18th. Thank you very much for your kind words, and glad you have been enjoying the recipes. Thank you.
This Tuna Mornay Bake recipe looks like the perfect comfort food, The combination of creamy sauce and tender tuna sounds absolutely delightful. I appreciate how you’ve laid out the steps so clearly, making it easy for anyone to follow. Can’t wait to try this dish—thanks for sharing.
It’s such a tasty dish. Always trying to make the recipes as easy as possible for everyone. Thank you