The Comfort Food Oprah Winfrey Would Eat As Her Last Meal

Media mogul Oprah Winfrey has been telling us her favorite things for decades. Back in 2019, the OWN creator opened up about her then-current relationship with food and what she ate. In that People interview, she revealed what type of meal she would choose for her last, if she could have anything in the world. While some might expect the billionaire to pick a gastronomic delicacy cooked by a Michelin-starred chef, Oprah shared a favorite that was a homey classic: pasta. More specifically, tuna noodle casserole.

"I love a thing all thrown together in a skillet," the longtime host told the outlet. "It's part of the life that I grew up with. When I grew up, tuna casserole was one of my favorite things in the world because you get all the stuff mixed together. And I'm one of those people who loves to mix all of my food together."

As with many other casseroles, Oprah's last meal pick is low-fuss and versatile. A tuna casserole recipe can be by the book or remixed with inventive flavor profiles, so you'll never be bored with it.

Tuna casserole is a baked pasta dish with a mixture of ingredients that are pantry staples. The beloved ribbon-cut pasta featured in the classic dish is egg noodles. They have a soft chew and are excellent for picking up thicker sauces. Another reason to use egg noodles instead of plain old pasta is their more prominent flavor, which is satisfying and subtly savory.

The other main ingredient of the dish is, of course, the tuna. While the traditional meal uses canned, a modern, 21st-century tuna casserole recipe might rely on fresh albacore. However, if you want to keep your meal on the cheaper side with more traditional ingredients, a little creativity and culinary finesse can result in a great upscale tuna casserole.

One way to customize your recipe is by making your own sauce instead of using canned cream of mushroom soup for the base. Another way would be remixing the dish's crispy topping so you'll know it'll get the tasty crunch it deserves. Kettle sour cream and onion or jalapeño chips could be flavorful alternatives to using standard, salted potato chips. Whatever your preference, you can make your tuna casserole personalized to your palate.

Oprah has been candid through the years about what she eats and how her diet changes, but the media maven's love of pasta has been consistent. In 2017, Oprah collaborated with The Kraft Heinz Company on her O, That's Good! Frozen Skillet Meals. Some of the pastas she released via the line included Southwest Style Chicken & Penne, Italian Sausage & Rigatoni, and Three Cheese Tortellini. But the famous foodie and fan of barramundi, cod, Chilean sea bass, and salmon has also been adamant about her love of seafood.

Combining seafood and pasta is a great way to get the best of Oprah's food favorites in one dish. The multi-hyphenate likes cacio e pepe pasta with sauteed shrimp, but there are many other seafood pasta recipes to consider if that's not your jam. Crab fra diavolo, linguine con vongole, and walnut pesto pasta with shrimp are all unique dishes you may want to try.