No-Boil Tuna Noodle Casserole, Timed Fridge to Sink

Creator Alex

Review MED Zineb A.

Safety HACCP Nouhayla A.

Updated: Oct 3, 2026

This tuna noodle casserole needs no pot, no colander and no knife. Uncooked egg noodles, canned tuna, soup, broth and milk go straight into one 9×13 dish. It bakes 45 minutes at 375°F, covered for the first 35. We timed it at 82 minutes from fridge to sink, with 17 minutes of real work. The noodles were tender at 35 minutes, and the center read 165°F.

Fridge-to-Sink: 82 min · 17 min hands-on · 5 things to wash · Jump to recipe

No pot. No colander. One dish in the sink. Classic cards boil the noodles, drain them and stir the filling in a big bowl. We skipped all three and ran the clock. Fridge to sink means the timer starts with a hand on the fridge. It stops when the last dish is away. This recipe joins our dump-and-bake dinners for weeknights, all timed alike.

Can You Bake Tuna Noodle Casserole With Uncooked Noodles?

Uncooked egg noodles cook in a tuna noodle casserole when liquid covers them and foil holds the steam in. Three conditions make it work. First, pick wide egg noodles: flat, curly dried noodles made with egg, sold in 12- and 16-oz bags. They are thin, so they cook in 6 to 8 minutes in boiling water.

Second, the liquid must cover every noodle before the dish goes in. Third, the foil must be crimped tight so the steam stays inside. That is the idea behind a dump-and-bake. Every ingredient goes into one baking dish, raw or straight from the can, and the oven cooks it. In our 9×13 glass dish, 8 oz of dry noodles turned tender in 35 minutes under foil at 375°F. No pot, no draining and no mixing bowl came out.

Published versions usually add a piece. The Chicken of the Sea classic boils the noodles 7 to 9 minutes, then drains them. Campbell’s calls it the original dump-and-bake dinner. Its ingredient list calls for cooked egg noodles. Birds Eye heats its sauce in a microwave bowl first.

No-Boil Tuna Noodle Casserole

Alex Editorial Team

Uncooked egg noodles bake right in the sauce, so there is no pot to boil and no colander to wash. Canned tuna, cream of mushroom soup, broth and milk go into one 9×13 dish. Foil keeps the steam in for 35 minutes. Peas, cheddar and crushed chips go on for the last 10.

Print Recipe

Prep Time 10 minutes mins

Cook Time 45 minutes mins

5 minutes mins

Total Time 1 hour hr

Course Main Course

Cuisine American

Servings 6

Calories 395 kcal

Equipment Needed

• 9×13-inch baking dish (3 qt) · aluminum foil · measuring cup · fork · can opener · instant-read thermometer.

Ingredients

  

• 1 can 10.5 oz condensed cream of mushroom soup
• 2 cups 480 ml low-sodium chicken broth, from the pantry (room temperature)
• 1 cup 240 ml whole milk
• ½ tsp garlic powder
• ½ tsp onion powder
• ¼ tsp ground black pepper
• 8 oz 227 g, about 4 cups uncooked wide egg noodles
• 2 cans 5 oz each tuna in water, drained
• 1 cup 140 g frozen peas, kept in the freezer until step 8
• 1 cup 113 g shredded sharp cheddar
• 2 oz 57 g, about 1½ cups plain kettle-cooked potato chips
• No added salt: the soup broth, cheese and chips already provide it.

Instructions

 

• Heat the oven to 375°F. Let it preheat fully before the dish goes in.
• Open the soup. Spoon it straight into a 9×13 baking dish.
  1 can
• Pour in the broth and milk. Add the garlic powder, onion powder and pepper. Whisk with a fork until smooth.
  2 cups 480 ml low-sodium chicken broth, from the pantry (room temperature), 1 cup 240 ml whole milk, ½ tsp garlic powder, ¼ tsp ground black pepper
• Open the tuna. Hold the lid against the tuna and tip the can to pour off the water.
  2 cans
• Add the uncooked noodles and the tuna to the dish. Stir with the fork until every noodle is wet.
  8 oz 227 g, about 4 cups uncooked wide egg noodles
• Press the noodles down with the back of the fork until liquid covers every one, corners included. Cover the dish tightly with foil and crimp the edges. (Corrected wording from the session.)
• Bake for 35 minutes.
• Remove the foil. Bite a noodle from the center: it should have no hard white core. Stir in the frozen peas.
  1 cup 140 g frozen peas, kept in the freezer until step 8
• Scatter the cheddar over the top. Crush the chips in their closed bag with your hands, then sprinkle them on.
  1 cup 113 g shredded sharp cheddar
• Bake uncovered for 10 more minutes. The center should read 165°F.
• Let the casserole rest for 5 minutes before serving.

Alex’s Tips

Center noodle still firm at step 8? Cover tightly again and bake 5 more minutes, then bite again.
Glass dish? Glass heats more slowly than metal. Do not put a glass dish under the broiler; the chips crisp in the oven.
Leftovers: refrigerate within 2 hours and eat within 3 to 4 days (USDA). Add a splash of milk when you reheat, since the noodles keep absorbing liquid. For a meatless Friday dinner, use vegetable broth.

Keyword dump and bake, no boil, one dish dinner, tuna noodle casserole, uncooked egg noodles

How Long Do Uncooked Egg Noodles Take to Soften in the Oven?

Uncooked wide egg noodles turn tender after 35 minutes under tight foil at 375°F. We checked with a bite test in a 9×13 tuna noodle casserole. One noodle came from the center and one from a corner, at 25, 30 and 35 minutes. Each check meant lifting a foil corner for 15 seconds or less, then crimping it back. At 25 minutes, the center noodle still had a hard white core.

At 30, the core was firm but no longer chalky. At 35, both noodles were tender all the way through. The corner noodle always ran ahead, because the edges of a glass dish heat first. For scale, classic cards print 30 to 35 minutes of baking for noodles already boiled. Dry noodles need that long just to soften, plus 10 uncovered minutes for the topping.

Prefer the stovetop? Pasta that cooks in one pot simmers in its sauce and never sees the oven.

How Much Liquid Do Uncooked Noodles Need in a 9×13 Dish?

Uncooked egg noodles need 3 cups of thin liquid per 8 oz in a 9×13 dish. One can of condensed soup goes in on top of that. Condensed soup is thick canned soup you do not dilute first. Our thin liquid was 2 cups of low-sodium chicken broth and 1 cup of whole milk.

The soup was a 10.5-oz can of cream of mushroom. That makes about 4¼ cups, or roughly ½ inch of liquid across the dish. The 9×13 shape matters. Its floor covers 117 square inches, against 64 for an 8×8 dish. The same liquid spreads 1.8 times wider, so it runs thinner and loses more steam. Birds Eye bakes 8 oz of noodles with 1 cup of water and 8 oz of cream cheese. Its dish is an 8×8 at 400°F.

Cooking with Carlee uses 4 cups of water and cream for 12 oz, at 425°F. Our broth came from the pantry at room temperature, and the peas stayed frozen until the foil came off. Dry rice follows its own ratio: the chicken and rice version has those numbers.

How Do You Know the Casserole Is Done?

A tuna noodle casserole is done when a center noodle has no white core and the middle reads 165°F. The noodle tells you about texture. The thermometer tells you about heat. We ran both checks at the end of the 45-minute bake, and both passed on the first try.

An instant-read thermometer is a pocket probe that shows a reading in 2 to 5 seconds. Push its tip into the middle of the dish, away from the glass. The canned tuna is already cooked, so the target is not about the fish. USDA FSIS sets that number for every casserole and combination dish. FoodSafety.gov lists the same figure. Read the center, since the corners of a glass dish run hotter. Short of the mark? Bake 5 more minutes and read again.

How to know it’s done: Bite a noodle from the center: no hard white core. Then check the center of the dish with an instant-read thermometer. Casseroles should read 165°F.

How Long Does It Really Take, Fridge to Sink?

This no-boil tuna noodle casserole took 82 minutes from fridge to sink, with 17 minutes of hands-on work. Two Traceable timers ran side by side: one for the clock, one for work. Time at the table did not count, but clearing it did. The oven went on at minute 0, yet it still needed 7 more minutes after assembly. The 45-minute bake and the 5-minute rest were pure waiting.

The Chicken of the Sea card prints 60 minutes: 15 of prep and 45 of cooking. It also adds a pot, a colander and a large bowl. Its 60 minutes leave out the preheat wait, the rest and the washing. Our count includes all three and lands at 1.37 times the printed number. Before the oven, our hands worked 9 minutes.

What Goes in the Sink?

The dish, the measuring cup, the fork, the can opener and the thermometer. For a faster scrub, see which 9×13 dish scrubbed clean fastest. Clock stops when the last dish is away. Here are the rules behind every timed dinner.

What Didn’t Go as Planned?

The top noodles in our tuna noodle casserole stayed dry because they sat above the liquid. Wide egg noodles are curly, and they spring back after a quick pat with a fork. At the 25-minute check, about a dozen curled edges poked out of the sauce. They looked pale and stiff. The noodles under the liquid cooked on schedule, and the center one was tender at 35 minutes.

The ones on top still had leathery edges when the foil came off. Steam softened them only partway, since it carries less water than sauce. We pushed those strands under the sauce and folded them in with the peas. The fix now lives in step 6 of the card. Press with the back of the fork until liquid covers every noodle, corners included.

Why Are the Noodles Still Hard in My Casserole?

Hard noodles usually trace back to three causes. Some sat above the liquid. The foil left a gap, so steam escaped. Or the oven had not finished preheating. Cover tightly, bake 5 more minutes, then bite a center noodle again.

What to remember

• The noodles go in dry and fully under the liquid. Tight foil does the boiling for you.
• Bite a noodle from the center at 35 minutes. No white core means done.
• Peas, cheddar and chips go on when the foil comes off.
• The clock runs 82 minutes. Only 17 of them are work.

See how 11 more dump-and-bakes timed out, fridge to sink. The free Dump-and-Bake Timing Card is there too. Browse more no-knife dinners. Cook with your brain, not against it.

Sources and method. One cook, one timed session, one 3-quart Pyrex Easy Grab glass dish. We read every outside recipe card live on Sept. 26, 2026.

1. USDA FSIS, Doneness Versus Safety, updated July 10, 2024.
2. FoodSafety.gov, minimum internal temperature chart, accessed Sept. 26, 2026.
3. USDA FSIS, Leftovers and Food Safety, accessed Sept. 26, 2026.
4. Chicken of the Sea, Classic Tuna Noodle Casserole, accessed Sept. 26, 2026.
5. Cooking with Carlee, No Boil Tuna Noodle Casserole, published March 21, 2025.
6. Birds Eye, Simple Tuna Noodle Casserole, published Dec. 22, 2014.
7. Campbell’s, Tuna Noodle Casserole, published May 30, 2002.
8. Pyrex, glassware usage instructions, accessed Sept. 26, 2026.