Pressure Cooker Tuna Noodle Casserole

My Pressure Cooker Tuna Noodle Casserole is pure comfort food. Fresh cream, mushrooms, celery adds layers of flavor and will bring you back childhood memories.

Pressure Cooker Tuna Noodle Casserole

Pressure Cooker Tuna Noodle Casserole

A popular casserole dish that gained attention in the 1950’s.

Busy moms could easily throw together a meal and have dinner on the table in no time.

Using the Instant Pot or Pressure Cooker makes this homey and comforting favorite dish, so ridiculously easy.

With just one pot to dirty, working moms, dads, students and even teens can get dinner on the table in under 15 minutes.

You won’t find cans of condensed cream of soup in my easy to make recipe.

Instead, we will use fresh Cremini mushrooms, onions, celery, butter and cream!

Cast of Ingredients for Pressure Cooker Tuna Noodle Casserole

While I know that it takes very little time to just dump in all the ingredients and push start, I just can’t get myself to write the recipe as a total dump recipe. I refuse to sacrifice incredible taste for only a few minutes more.

I promise, this is simple and the extra 10 minutes it takes to make homemade cream of mushroom and cream of celery soup is so worth it.

Most of that time is pretty hands off and while the shrooms, onions and celery are sweating, you can gather the rest of the ingredients. So if you look at it that way, maybe just two minutes longer for a result that is 100 times better!

Process Mushrooms, Onions and Celery

Warning – Graphic content follows.

Making homemade condensed cream of mushroom and celery soup from scratch, is not a pretty picture.

It is so totally worth it though and I will let YOU be the judge….

Grab your Food Processor and let’s get started.

The Food Processor does a Nice Job

If you have a good food processor, you can reduce your prep time by quite a bit.

Just drop the ingredients into the food processor and give it a whiz.

How long would it have taken you to chop all that?

I use my food processor in so many recipes, like my Pressure Cooker Salisbury Steak w/Onion Mushroom Gravy, Pressure Cooker Greek Meatballs, Pressure Cooker Low Carb Hot Onion Dip, Pressure Cooker Cauliflower Soufflé and so much more.

Sweat Onions, Mushrooms, Onions in Butter

I cut the recipe in half and used my Cute Little Mini Instant Pot.

This recipe is easily doubled in a larger Instant Pot or Pressure Cooker.

As I played around with the ingredients and methods for this particular recipe (my hubs won’t touch anything with hot tuna), I didn’t want to make a large batch cause it’s only me eating.

Some people leave the mushrooms in slices and I did that too, but found I enjoyed this dish by first making a proper condensed mushroom soup, with bits of fresh mushrooms.

It is the way I’ve done it on the stove for years, but I was trying to do a quicker method for people who love quick, but delicious tasting food. So I made first made a batch with sliced mushrooms and homemade condensed cream of celery soup.

Nope, while it was delicious, it just wasn’t up to my standard of deliciousness for this homey recipe. The mushrooms stood out on their own too much because of the texture and while really good, it lacked the homeyness from the good old days.

Sprinkle in Potato Starch

The mixture looks like mush, but, what did you think it a condensed soup looks like?

Potato Starch gives this Pressure Cooker Tuna Noodle Casserole recipe a lighter taste than using all purpose flour. If you can’t find potato starch in the store, click this Potato Starch link and get some. I use it in place of flour so often. It’s lighter, works better in the Pressure Cooker and if you check my Air Fryer recipes you will see that I use it all the time. It’s also super cheap.

Plus, it is Gluten Free!!!! Yay.

How do you Make Condensed Cream of Mushroom Soup?

• Grind up mushrooms and onions.
• Sweat them down over medium heat.
• Add butter, cream and seasonings and reduce until thick.

How do you Make Condensed Cream of Celery Soup?

• Grind up celery and onions.
• Sweat them down over medium heat.
• Add butter, cream and seasonings and reduce until thick.

Way back when, people used either a can of condensed cream of mushroom soup or a can of condensed cream of celery soup.

Rather than skimping on flavor, I always opt to make both at the same time; it’s just as easy.

This is one of the beauties of Homemade Condensed Cream of Anything Soup. You can make as much or as little as you like and no non-pronounceable ingredients and no half cans to get old and nasty.

Homemade Condensed Cream of Mushroom Celery Soup

If you have been following my ThisOldGal.com blog, you know I always take flavors to soaring levels.

You know that I frequently saute mushrooms and onions with Dry Sherry or Chinese Shaoxing Wine.

Remember my incredible Pressure Cooker Beef Stroganoff recipe? I’ve received record number of emails about that recipe.

I didn’t stop with this old fashioned recipe.

What Ingredients are in Tuna Noodle Casserole?

• Wide Egg Noodles
• Tuna Fish (I prefer in albacore and in water, but use whatever you like)
• Butter
• Mushrooms – Onions – Celery
• Dry Sherry or Shaoxing Wine (both are equally delicious)
• Worcestershire Sauce
• Mayonnaise
• Secret Ingredient
• Chicken Broth
• Heavy Cream
• Frozen Peas

I’m joking about that secret ingredient, as I haven’t made this recipe in a very long while. Ed won’t even give Tuna Noodle Casserole a try, so it’s been years since I made the recipe.

And I forgot to add it when I was cooking it for the blog.

Mix in Dijon Mustard and Mayo

When I made this recipe the other day, I totally forget to add the Mayo AND the Dijon mustard and then, to throw flame to the fire, I added cheese instead.

I mean, it tasted good, but not like I had remembered.

The next day, I gave it another taste and added mayo and it was better, but still not perfect.

I again slept on it, or started to sleep on it, when I was reminded that I still had my old Turbo Cooker, which I used to cook with a lot. I was in the hospital for a few days and the Turbo Cooker was on all the time. I bought it. I used it. I LOVED it. So much in fact, the company phoned me and asked me to do an infomercial for their next product, the Turbo Grill. I agreed and they sent me the Grill. I wasn’t in love with it, but I had already committed to the commercial. Well, you know me, I cannot lie and I did state the good points, as there are some, but was I in love with the product, no. This was in 2002 and I was a member of the Turbo Cooking group on Yahoo. I actually think it still exists as every once in awhile, I get an email with updates about the group.

There is a very basic recipe that came with the cooker, sooooo, I got out of bed, found the cards and, bingo, it all came back to me. Their basic recipe did not include cheese, so I knew, the addition of cheese was the issue. My yummy recipe ingredients came back to me.

Anyway, I digress, that is what was giving the recipe an unusual taste. What the heck was I thinking? I have no idea why the heck I grabbed a brick of cheese, as while many of you think that everything is better with cheese, a tuna noodle casserole, really isn’t. I mean, I get it, my husband thinks you can never have too much cheese.

Taste and Adjust Seasoning

At this point, you will want to taste and add more salt and freshly ground black pepper if needed. You’ll want the sauce to be slight more seasoned than perfect for your taste, as the egg noodles still need to be added.

Use my Homemade Chicken Broth, if you have some available (add 1/4 cup extra water if you do), or mix up a little Better than Bouillon with water. Or just use plain water.

Adding peas prior to cooking, saves a tad bit of time.

I tried it both ways to see which I felt was better for my personal tastes and preference.

While this dish was excellent with the peas pressure cooked, I prefer the harder snap of the pea. Some people prefer a softer pea.

Sink the Egg Noodles Down a Bit

Check the package of Egg Noodles. I noticed that some noodles had a cook time of 10-12 minutes and others had a cook time of 8-10 minutes. For pressure cooking and for this recipe, that is a substantial difference.

I chose the longer cooking noodle, even though they noodles were smaller than the larger size noodles.

You might say, well then, just reduce the cook time. In other recipes, that would work, but not here as to reduce by 2 minutes, would be to not cook at all.

I’m not a casserole type of person, but I have always loved my own recipe. Many, many years ago, my friend Adrienne Bingham was over my house and made a Tuna Noodle Casserole. When I lived in Tarzana, we cooked together a lot on weekends. It was so good and I have been making her version of the recipe, ever since.

Instant Pot Tuna Noodle Casserole

As you can see, I added more peas after the fact, as I like the snap of the peas. It only takes a few seconds for them to defrost and warm.

There you have it. Probably more than you ever wanted to know about this darn recipe.

Tuna Noodle Casserole is not pretty, no matter how it is served, so I used lots of floral stuff to try to make the food pretty. Hehehe.

So, back in the 50’s and 60’s when casseroles were very popular as they were basically throw in a bunch of ingredients and pop it in the oven, they were not generally served at dinner parties. I’m wondering if it had to do with canned soup too.

My Pressure Cooker Tuna Noodle Casserole doesn’t use canned soups, so, invite some friends over and serve it at your next dinner party. Come on, try it….well, at least invite the neighborhood kids over and enjoy a nice family dinner with their friends.

Kitchen Equipment and Essentials

• Instant Pot DUO Plus 60 Pressure Cooker for a double recipe
• Instant Pot DUO Mini Plus 3 Quart Pressure Cooker
• J.A. Henckels Classic 8 inch Chef’s Knife
• Amco Advanced Performance 18/10 Stainless Steel Measuring Spoons
• Culina Stackable (Dry) Stainless Steel Measuring Cups
• Anchor Hocking Glass (Liquid) Measuring Cups
• Rösle Stainless Steel Flat Whisk– a MUST have, probably my most used utensil
• di Oro Living Silicone Spatulas Set
• LamsonSharp Chef’s Slotted Turner– I totally love this spatula!
• Alton Brown Salt Box
• Eukein Electric Pepper Mill
• Sonder LA Acacia Wood Cutting Board with Groove
• KitchenAid 11 Cup Food Processor

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Here is your handy printable recipe:

Pressure Cooker Tuna Noodle Casserole

Pressure Cooker Tuna Noodle Casserole

5 from 6 votes

Print Pin Rate

Course: Dinner, Lunch, Main Course, Picnic

Cuisine: American, Americana

Keyword: Tuna Noodle Casserole

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 2 minutes

Pressure Release: 5 minutes

Total Time: 17 minutes

Servings: 4 servings

Author: Jill

Ingredients

• 2 Tablespoons Butter
• 1/2 cup Yellow/Brown Onion
• 1/2 cup Fresh Celery
• 4 ounces Cremini Mushrooms
• 1.5 teaspoon Kosher Salt
• 1/2 teaspoon Freshly Ground Black Pepper
• 1 Tablespoon Potato Starch
• 2 Tablespoons Shaoxing Wine Dry Sherry or Chicken Broth
• 1 cup Heavy Cream
• 1/3 cup Mayonnaise
• 1.5 Tablespoons Dijon Mustard
• 2 cups Chicken Broth
• 1 can/5-6 oz Tuna Fish drained
• 8 ounces Wide Egg Noodles (package should not be less than 10-12 minute cook time)
• 1 cup Frozen Peas
• 1 Tablespoon Worcestershire Sauce

Instructions

• Select Sauté/Browning on your Pressure Cooker cooking pot and allow to fully heat
• Add celery, onions and mushrooms to food processor and process until small pieces (like minced).
• Add butter, the minced celery, onions and mushrooms to cooking pot and let sweat/sauté for 5 minutes.
  
• Add potato starch, salt and pepper and mix through veggies for about 30 seconds, or until starch is fully incorporated.  Add sherry and deglaze pot.
  
• Pour in cream and simmer about 5 minutes, or until thick.
  
• Whisk in mayonnaise, Dijon mustard, Worcestershire sauce and chicken broth.  Taste and adjust salt and pepper, if needed.  It should be a bit slightly over seasoned.
  
• Mix in tuna and peas (now or later) and dump in noodles.
  
• Lock on lid and close pressure valve. Cook at high pressure for 1 minute. When beep sounds, wait 2 minutes, then carefully release the rest of the pressure. 
  
• Remove lid and mix in frozen peas (if they were not added earlier).
  

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