When I was a kid, my absolute favorite meal, was Tuna Pea Wiggle. Honestly, I thought maybe my mother or grandmother made up the name for this recipe. But no, it turns out ‘wiggle’ is a real term, for ‘cream sauce’. I think that just having the word ‘wiggle’ in the name of this dish, is enough to intrigue any silly kid. Having crackers for dinner, may be another plus. At least, that’s how we make it. There are other variations I’ll mention after, but my kids and our whole family, LOVES Tuna Pea Wiggle, just as much as I do. As Catholics, this is a great meatless meal for the days of abstinence of Lent, and we often have it on those days. But that doesn’t keep us from eating it the rest of the year!
Here’s how to make it:
* Participating Ingredients:
- 2 cups milk
- 1 tsp. butter or margarine, and add to milk above
- 3/4 cups peas (we use frozen)
- 1-2 cans of tuna
- salt & pepper
- 2 Tbsp cornstarch, mixed w/ 1/4 c. milk
- saltine crackers
* We double this recipe, for our family of 6, and we eat it all in one meal. Everyone has seconds. For a doubled recipe, we use 2 cans of tuna. We like it a little saucier.
Add 2 Tbsp. of cornstarch to1/4 cup of milk, and mix to dissolve with fork.
In a medium saucepan, heat the milk and butter/margarine until bubbles form around edge of pan.
DO NOT BOIL!
Stir in the cornstarch and milk mixture. Cook until it thickens.
Add tuna and peas.
Mix it all in.
Add salt and pepper to taste.
Stir and let thicken a bit more. It’s just a visual thing. There is no amount of time, right, or wrong way.
Spread saltine crackers on a plate.
Ladle Tuna Pea Wiggle over the saltine crackers. Salt and pepper a bit more, if desired. I desire.
Enjoy every-single-bite.
Don’t be afraid to have seconds.
Now, here are a few variations:
– My cousin told me she has always had ‘Salmon Pea Wiggle’. She has never had it with tuna. Interesting! The opposite is true for me.
– I’ve heard of people adding cheddar or Velveeta cheese to the sauce. I love cheese, but not with tuna and peas, personally.
– Tuna Pea Wiggle can also be served over toast, biscuits or boiled potatoes. But I have always, always had it over the saltine crackers. Because I’m still that silly kid.
Have you ever had Tune Pea Wiggle? Does your family eat other variations of it? Do you call it something else?
(Update – You’ll enjoy reading the comments on this one, as much as we have! This post has been so popular, from ‘Tuna Pea Wigglers’ all over the world! Lovin’ it)
I had this in school. Mrs. Day made it for our lunch as she was the lunch lady. I loved it. I went to West Side School in West Stewartstown, NH. It was a small school with 3 classrooms in the 80s. I have been looking for this recipe and now I have it. I can’t wait to make.
My sister’s and I traveled up to Quebec Canada to reunite with our many cousins still living there (our Mom’s side of the family.) We spent hours sharing our experiences and childhood memories. Imagine my surprise when my cousin asked if we ever ate Tuna Wiggle!! I’d never met a single soul who had even heard of “Uncle Wiggly” which we called it as little kids! Looking at the stunned amazement on my face, he said “you know, served on crackers.” Yes, Yes!! We ate it all the time!! Sometimes with salmon also..
Who knew! I always thought Mom made up the recipe. So, I looked up wiggle instead of wiggly and voila! I found your recipe! I can’t wait to make it!
Thank you so much!!
Nice! As others have commented, our elementary school in northern NH served this in mid/late 70’s. Haven’t had it in a long time. Gonna try caramelizing a small onion and adding it with the peas and tuna. A little garlic powder and a fair amount of cayenne powder. Might have to wear a hairnet to make this.
Thanks for the recipe!
I was an active Girl Scout in the late 1950’s in West Palm Beach, Florida. Tuna wiggle was our dinner of choice on the first night of our week end camping trips. It was a quickly prepared meal over a cooking fire and met the meatless requirements for us Catholic Girl Scouts. Our recipe was not involved, simply open lots of cans and stir. Perhaps tuna wiggle was a childhood recipe from one of our leaders although the recipe was widely known in Girl Scout circles.
How very interesting, Judith! So any peas, in your Girl Scout Tuna Wiggle? I had no idea the recipe was well known in Girl Scout circles.
Getting comments and stories on this Tuna Pea Wiggle post, has been so much fun. And we are learning new tidbits all of the time.
Thanks so much for sharing your memories and info!
– The House of Joyful Noise blog Family
So fun to come across this! Both my parents are New Englanders and my mom made this on toast but salmon pea wiggle with noodles. Just the name was fun. I made it once for my husband (who’s from Ohio) and he said it was among the worst things I’ve ever made. Oh well.
Haha, these comments are great! My Mom made this when I was a kid in Minnesota in the 60’s and our family of seven gobbled it up. Then when I had kids, I started making it sporadically and my kids enjoyed it and named it “Tuna stuff that Dad makes”. Now my kids make it too 🙂 First I heard of the name Tuna Pea Wiggle, funny!
Hi John,
We really enjoy the comments on the Tuna Pea Wiggle post, as well. Including yours!
It’s great to know the recipe is being passed down through your family’s generations – whatever it’s called!
The Richard Family / House of Joyful Noise blog
I’m from Vermont and my dad used to make us Tuna Wiggle all the time! One of my favorite meals! I always tell people about it and they are like what in the world are you talking about? I do think it’s a New England thing. I’ve never tried it with cornstarch so I’m excited I came across this because I always have the issue with the flour clumping up when I’m trying to thicken it. I’m going to try making it with cornstarch tonight!
Liz, your comment made me smile! (What in the world?….LOL). Tuna-Pea-Wigglers-UNITE! It was one of my favorite meals, as well. I hope you found the cornstarch was a great substitute for the flour, for you, as well. I like that you can use a lot less of it for thickening, than the flour that was required, to get the necessary consistency.
Thanks so much for stopping by. Nice to know there are other people in the world, that know what Tuna Pea Wiggle is. 🙂
Laura / House of Joyful Noise blog
My wife is an Indiana girl and she mentioned the name, but I’m sure my mom, made something very similar here in Michigan. I’m not a tuna person, so I like mine with canned chicken. We also make it quicker with canned Mushroom soup as the base to it. We put it over rice, noodles, or chow mein noodle, rice noodle, and the best…toast. Never tried crackers. It’s a good comfort food when winter here or mom and dad are dragging and the kids are old enough to manage the can opener and stove. Thanks for confirming the name. Rick (& Vet).
My mother always made this with canned salmon, and served it over Club Crackers. I ate PB&J those nights in the late 50’s and early 60’s 😝! Still don’t like club crackers either.
Not a fan then, huh, Barbara? Any chance you might like it better made with tuna, over Saltines?
My mother made things I really did not like growing up, as well. The worst I can recall is liver (which I only got down because of the onions and bacon she made to put on top), beets, and turnip. Everything else I didn’t mind. Thanks for sharing.
Laura / House of Joyful Noise blog
I was born and raised in the mid west but my son loves tuna no matter what I put it in so I am always looking for ways to make something new and this has got to be the most interesting thing I have found to try looking forward to making this and seeing how the family likes it. wish me luck
Hi Jennifer! Well we’re excited for your son trying this new dish, then! Maybe he already has? Even the name will probably amuse him. Let us know what he thought of it! Remember it can go over toast, as well.
Laura/ House of Joyful Noise blog
My husband and I are both new Englanders, I had never heard of it, but we did have tuna mac. Anyway he had been asking me to make it forever, finally got around to it, making it now! I hope the picky kids like it!!
That is interesting, Rebecca! Maybe it was a more common recipe among the poorer families of New England? It all seems to be a mystery. lol
I assume it’s Tuna Mac you were making – hope the kids enjoyed it! Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
Laura / House of Joyful Noise blog
I grew up with this dish in New Hampshire. Think it is a poor family meal. Loved it
We always made this with shrimp and occasionally with salmon. Always with saltines when we had the shrimp and mashed potatoes when we had the salmon. I have never tried it with tuna. Always a huge favourite in our house growing up. My mother could never seem to make enough for our family of 5.
I loved Tuna Pea Wiggle as a kid and that was over 50 years ago and that popped into my head the other day and wanted to make some. Was not sure if I would find a recipe considering I wasn’t
sure if I would find the recipe under this name!! Thought it was just some name someone came up with! I will make this for myself when husband isn’t around because he does not like warm tuna 🙁
Hi Sheila! I always wondered about the name, myself. I thought my mother’s mother maybe made it up? It was all a mystery to me. I just thought it would be nice to keep making the dish for my own family now and then, and also thought it would be fun to put the recipe out there for our readers to consider. I had no idea what a connection it would make with so many people! There are actually other Tuna Pea Wigglers out there! And so many other fun names for it have come to light. The feedback on this post has been all kinds of fun!
Anyway, hope you’ve been enjoying it again. Your husband is missing out! 😉
The Richard Family / House of Joyful Noise blog
I was looking for a recipe for this. Pretty sure this is a northern New England thing. I grew up in northern VT and we had it once a week at my elementary school for lunch. Nobody I know outside New England has ever heard of it. It was my favorite. My grandmother and mother would also make it but they used canned red salmon. Man, I loved this stuff as a kid. I’m making some this weekend!
I grew up Northern Vermont too and also remember eating this for lunch at school! Been wanting some for ever! It has been about 50 years since I ate
it 🙁
Yes, I think it’s seemed to be a New England dish, Lance! Tuna Pea Wiggle seemed to be the more affordable option to the red salmon version. We hope you’ve been enjoying this throw-back recipe, and it’s brought back warm childhood memories for you. 🙂
The Richard Family / House of Joyful Noise blog
Laura — funny you posted the tuna pea wiggle that we had as a child. This was my least favorite meal dont like peas , it was runny and on top of saltines ! yuk yuk yuk!!! Glad you liked it but I always told mom that I dont like tuna pea wiggle and asked if I could have something else.
Oh sister, mine is even better. For years in the early part f my homemaking, I would call Mom, trying to make Tuna Pea Wiggle, because it wasn’t coming out right. I was always adding more and more flour, and then it coming out lumpy and gross. Her thoughts were that the milk was not the same as it was when we were growing up.
But as seen in my post here, I found the trick! I use no flour, but cornstarch. It’s a much faster thickener, and works like a charm. My sauce is perfectly smooth and creamy.
Also….mom used those mushy canned peas, with the silver label. We only use fresh or frozen peas….the kind with ‘dimples’, as I say. So sweet.
So…..even though I still loved Tuna Pea Wiggle the way Mom made it, I have definitely fine-tuned her recipe. But I suppose even still, we’ll keep this one off the menu, when you come to stay for a spell. <3
We ate this all during my childhood.I assumed my kid’s would not like it but they saw me with it one day,(I made it for myself as a “comfort food” treat), and they asked to taste it and now it is a favorite of my whole family.It was known as Tuna Pea Wiggle, always on saltines and now we call it “Catholic -Girl Food”, too.WE LOVE IT!!!!!!It was a Friday night staple in our home in the 50’s!!!!!
Thanks so much for sharing, Deborah! It was so fun to read your comment, and connect with someone who has also known this meal to be called ‘Tuna Pea Wiggle!’. You made us smile. My husband told me he had learned that this meal was the ‘poor man’s meal’…..a more budget friendly version of the ‘Salmon Pea Wiggle’. I suppose we can afford salmon but, tuna is just fine for us! lol. It is indeed comfort food, isn’t it?? “Catholic-Girl Food”….Ha haha! Love it! It can be thought of as ‘Catholic-Family Food” when Lent rolls around for us every year. We’ll think of you at our next ‘Tuna Pea Wiggling’ meal. 🙂 Thanks again for sharing your memories, with us. Please come by again soon!
Blessings to you.
The Richard Family / House of Joyful Noise blog
I forgot to add that, in our family, it is called simply Tuna Wriggle”.
My Mum served it over saltines just as your Mum did. The recipe is identical to my Mum’s also, even the use of corn starch for the thickener, Most recipes I have seen use flour. I grew up in a small city 30 odd miles north of Boston and spent my life thinking that this was an “old family” recipe. Then along comes the internet and I find out I was wrong. When I tell people the recipe I always add the comment, “You will be surprised at how full of flavor this simple recipe is.”
Hey George! – We loved reading your comment on out Tune Pea Wiggle post. Thanks for sharing!
Your comment made me laugh! I grew up thinking our Tuna Pea Wiggle was an old family recipe too! And same as you….the internet clued me in that it was a well-known dish, by many different names. We’ll add ‘Tuna Wriggle’ to that list!
To tell you the truth, my mother always made it with flour growing up as well. The change came about when I was on my own and married years later, and kept trying to make it like hers. It always came out too thin and runny, no matter how much flour I put in it. And I really did NOT want to be eating so much flour anyway! Especially when that’s what the crackers are made out of too! I’d call my mom every time I was making it, asking why it wasn’t coming out like hers. Her only thought that “either the milk or the flour is just not the same these days.” Her guess was the milk – that maybe the cows were eating something different and changing the consistency or protein in the milk. At any rate, I had seen my father-in-law thicken a gravy very well, with just a little cornstarch, so I tried that one day, and never went back to flour.
Thanks for sharing the joy of your comment. If you’re on Facebook please follow us! We’d love to see you come around again. 🙂
~ Laura (the Richard Family) / House Of Joyful Noise
My mom used to cook tuna P wiggle alot when we were young.. So glad I came across this recipe.. Ill be making some for sure! 🙂
Really? Well I hope you’re able to enjoy the recipe again. It is the biggest hit at our house, every time!
Oh Im a dissenter, My Mother used to make this as it was her favorite
and it was on those occassions I learned to cook for myself. Yuck!!
I hate peas to this day!! But my Mom she would say her Pea Wiggle was
Deeeeeeeelicious.
I haven’t had tuna pea wiggle in yrs… Made it for supper tonight..The family loved it!! I always wanted to make it for my family ,but didn’t have a recipe..My mom would just make it off the top of her head..she would never follow a recipe..It always came out good..The only thing she did different was she added boiled eggs to it..This recipe was very Delicious and easy to follow…Just the way I remember it…Thank you for sharing! I <3 your blog!! Great pictures 🙂
Hi Ann!! Welcome to our blog! I can’t tell you, how popular this Tuna Pea Wiggle recipe has been on our blog! I’m so glad you found it, to be able to make it for your family, as you remember it as a kid. Your Tuna Pea Wiggle story sounds so much like mine! Trying to get the recipe from my mom over the phone years ago, over and over…well, it was obvious she was winging it too, and probably always did. But the amount of white flour involved was crazy! So glad I discovered the cornstarch trick! It takes a whole lot less, to make the sauce thick, and it’s a smooth, tasty sauce. My kids love this dish so much too. We have a lot this time of year, being Catholics, with lots of ‘no meat’ days during Lent.
Hope to see you around here some more! Happy eating! ; )
Ann I learned to make this with sliced hard boiled eggs too in elementary school. Except I would serve it over slices of bread pushed into cupcake or muffin tin cups and toasted it the oven.
Tuna Pea Wiggle was made from scratch and served every wednesday for lunch in my middle school. That version was served over wiggley egg noodles, hence the term “wiggle”…not a term used to describe the cream sauce?
Hi Lee! Welcome to our blog. : ) Well, there’s another possible explanation, for the term ‘wiggle’ in the name. You used a question mark….so are you implying that the wiggly noodles, was the reason you always assumed this dish was named as such? Are you guessing, or where you told this? I’m still trying to find the factual history of the name. I recently read that the dish’s name was possibly invented at one time for a children’s cookbook, to help it appeal to them as fun food. All I do know for sure as of today, is that no matter what it is called, I get a loud round of cheers from my kids, when it’s my answer to “What are we having for dinner?”
Laura,
My Mother & Grandmother made it with the Wide Egg Noodles in the with everything else., and this is where my mother told me the wiggle came from. Either way it is a great dish, and even with the noodles we served it over toast. My mother could never seem to make enough for my 2 sisters & I. We even liked it cold…
A HA, Shawn!! Hmmm, perhaps that is where the WIGGLE part came from! I assumed it was in reference to the tuna and pea concoction. Wide egg noodles definitely wiggle, though. As I said, we put it on bed of crackers, and I need to make a BIG batch for my kids who love it as well. Do you and your sisters make it too now, now that you are grown? I’m not sure I could eat it cold but….o.k. 😉
Thanks so much for offering another possible answer to this recipe puzzle, and for your visit to our blog.
Laura / House Of Joyful Noise blog
Wow, I don’t know that I have ever had this! I will definitely have to try this one when Michael is traveling, the smell and taste of peas is the one thing he can’t/won’t eat. I LOVE the name and can just hear Myah say “wriggle”…xoxo
Kim – Well maybe you’ll have to pick up that specialty, if you ever want some again. lol. What kind of meals do you have on the Fridays of Lent? Sometimes, we have a breakfast-dinner, but our other Lent favorite is the Veggie Pockets.
Rene – Let me know how you like the tuna version, after you have it! I’ve never had the salmon. Does that come in a can? Extra pepper for me too, and a little more salt on top too. Can’t imagine another vegetable IN it (and then would we change the name?)—but you can go ahead and try one if you’d like. lol. ; )
I’m making it with tuna instead of salmon this weekend! It’s such a simple recipe, but soooo yummy! And yes, always always over saltines. Extra pepper desired here. I wonder how it might be with other veggies like broc, or corn? xo good stuff, thanks for sharing!
Laura,
Yes Greg loves it over saltines. Of course I named it that…….I’m the funny joker of the clan. lol My mom used to eat the salmon version but we’ve converted her to the tuna piggle. Haven’t had it in awhile since it’s Greg’s specialty to make and he doesn’t cook much. :(0
Paula – Today is a good day to do that! It’s Friday! We’re having it for the second Friday in a row. : )
Kim – Yes, the legacy lives on. Does it live on in your house? Do you guys make it too? I can’t recall if Bum liked it too, when we were little. I was too busy stuffing my face. lol. “Tuna Piggle”….Did you make that name up? lol.
Ah………….good ole’ tuna piggle (as we’ve called it over the years). And the legacy lives on……………. xo
Another recipe for us to try…