Tuna Mac and Cheese Skillet

A simple 30 minute meal that begins with boxed macaroni and cheese. It's made primarily from pantry staples, so it's a great recipe for a Pantry Challenge. It's frugal, too. The total cost of this recipe is $3.79 or about $0.64 per serving.

Print Recipe

Prep Time 5 mins

Cook Time 20 mins

Course Main Course

Cuisine American

Servings 6

Calories 443 kcal

Ingredients

2 (7.25 ounce) boxes macaroni and cheese ($1.96)
1 (14.5 ounce) can sweet peas drained ($0.50)
1 (7 ounce) can light tuna packed in water drained ($0.79)
½-1 tsp onion powder ($0.12) (use more if you like more onion flavor)
⅔ cup milk ($0.10)
⅓ cup butter or margarine ($0.33)

Instructions

Cook macaroni according to package directions in a large deep skillet, adding drained can of peas for the last two minutes of the pasta's cooking time.
Drain pasta and peas of any remaining cooking water and return to pot.
Add milk, butter, cheese sauce powder (from box), onion powder, and drained tuna to pan with macaroni mixture.
Stir gently until well combined and cheese sauce powder is well incorporated.
Serve.

Notes

I use a full teaspoon of onion powder in this recipe for added flavor, but not everyone likes that much onion flavor, so the recipe says 1/2 to 1 teaspoon. If you aren't a fan of peas, you can substitute an equal sized drained can of any other vegetable that you like in place of the peas in this recipe. You can also substitute canned chicken for the tuna. You can top the finished dish with some shredded cheese and cover it for a few minutes on the stove to allow the cheese to melt. It's easy to turn this into a casserole, simple put the prepared recipe into a casserole dish and top with some shredded cheese and heat in the oven until the cheese is melted.

Keyword butter, canned peas, macaroni and cheese, milk, onion powder, tuna