Macaroni salad is a summer staple; it’s cool and creamy and perfect for hot summer days! The basic idea here is cooked and cooled pasta is combined with vegetables and ingredients of choice before being tossed in a creamy mayonnaise based dressing. This salad uses macaroni pasta, hard boiled eggs, celery, bell pepper, carrots, pickles, red and green onions, but you can use pretty much any ingredients that you want. The pickles are optional and you can use either use sweet or savoury and you can also use pickle relish. The dressing is a combination of mayo, sour cream, vinegar, mustard and an optional splash of pickle juice. This salad can be made ahead of time and it only gets better after chilling in the fridge overnight! It’s an amazing side for pretty much any summer meal including picnics, barbecues and tailgating !
Macaroni Salad
The classic macaroni salad; cool pasta and veggies tossed in a creamy dressing!
ingredients
- 1 pound pasta (gluten-free for gluten-free)
- 3 hard boiled eggs, peeled and chopped (optional)
- 1 cup celery, diced
- 1 cup red bell pepper, diced
- 1 cup carrot, diced or shredded
- 1/2 cup pickle (sweet or savoury), diced (optional)
- 1/4 cup red onion, diced
- 1/4 cup green onion, sliced
- 1/3 cup mayonnaise
- 1/3 cup sour cream (or greek yogurt)
- 2 tablespoons white vinegar or lemon juice (~1/2 lemon)
- 1 tablespoon pickle juice (optional)
- 1 tablespoon dijon mustard
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
directions
- Cook the pasta as directed on the package, drain and rinse in cold water until the pasta has cooled.
- Mix the pasta, hard boiled eggs, celery, bell pepper, carrot, pickle, red onion, and green onion.
- Mix the mayo, sour cream, vinegar, pickle juice, mustard, salt and pepper.
- Toss the salad in the dressing and enjoy!
Option: Add 1 tablespoon sugar for a hint of sweetness.
Option: Add hot sauce or sriracha to taste for some heat.
Option: Add 1/2 teaspoon paprika to the dressing.
Option: Add 1/2 teaspoon worcestershire sauce to the dressing
Option: Replace the pickles with relish.
Option: Add 1/4 cup cooked and crumbled bacon.
Option: Add 1/2 cup shredded or cubed cheese.
Option: Add 1/2 cup fresh or thawed peas.
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This looks like the perfect macaroni salad…..gotta try it!
This is literally my favorite recipe for the summer. I never failed when I prepared this macaroni salad.
This macaroni salad is great!!! I added a bit of bacon and cheese and used all mayo as I was out of sour cream. Very good!! Thanks!
I prepared this recipe with all mayo (no sour cream), followed the recipe and made certain the celery and red onion were cut into very small dices. I will place this recipe into my personal archives. It is chilling in refrigerator now. Small pieces of bacon and grated cheese would take this recipe to the next level. FYI, thank you — I do approve~!