Gluten-Free Dairy-Free Tuna Noodle Casserole

It’s hard enough to be gluten-free but throw in dairy-free too and it can be hard to convert recipes or find substitutes. I’ve been looking for a good gluten-free noodle to use for casseroles but had not found one until I came across Mrs Glee’s Crazy Noodles. The first thing I pictured was a tuna noodle casserole. By the way, they call them “crazy” because they are made with beans!

Now I wasn’t brought up on tuna casserole but I did make a version with sautéed mushrooms and sherry that I always enjoyed. I knew I could recreate the sauce gluten-free but needed the right noodle.

Thank you to Mrs Glee’s for sending me samples of two of their noodles and their flour mix to use for recipe testing.

Here are the ingredients:

3-4 cups gluten-free mushroom sauce/soup (see below)

2 cans tuna, drained

1 cup peas, slightly thawed

4 cups dry gluten-free wide noodles

1/4 cup gluten-free breadcrumbs seasoned with salt and pepper

2 teaspoon olive oil or butter substitute, melted

Let’s start with the sauce. In my cookbook, The Warm Kitchen, I detail how to make a delicious sautéed mushroom sauce.

That’s definitely a necessary element. The sauce should reduce for awhile so as to maximize flavor. If you don’t have the book, use this gluten-free mushroom sauce.

Next, add a plain, unsweetened milk like almond or coconut (I used about 1 cup or so along with the broth in the sauce). Thicken with a slurry. The sauce should not be too thick or else the casserole will be dry. When you are done, you will have about 3-4 cups of sauce.

Cool the sauce a bit and then get ready to assemble. I cooked 4 cups of Mrs. Glee’s noodles. Meanwhile I measured a cup of frozen peas. I also drained 2 cans of tuna. I prefer tuna packed in olive oil so if there’s a little oil left, that’s fine. Preheat the oven to 350F.

Once the noodles are cooked (a bit underdone is best), drained and rinsed, place everything in a bowl or even the pot in which you cooked the noodles. Mix the noodles, sauce, peas, and tuna. Give it a taste and adjust with more salt and pepper if necessary. Add more plain milk substitute if the mixture seems thick.

Place this mixture in a greased casserole or baking dish. Top with either gluten-free breadcrumbs or almond meal, seasoned with salt and pepper. Make sure to drizzle a bit of olive oil or melted butter substitute on top, too. Cover and bake 20 minutes. Remove cover and finish baking until casserole is bubbling and top is browned. Let rest a few minutes before serving. Enjoy!