MACARONI SALAD
Our favorite Mac Salad recipe is has a creamy, saucy dressing with tender noodles, celery, bell pepper, and shredded carrots.
Servings: 6
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Equipment (affiliate links)
- 1 Large pot for cooking noodles
- 1 large mixing bowl for combining ingredients
- 1 small mixing bowl for the sauce
Ingredients
- 1/2 pound elbow macaroni or ditalini
- 1/4 cup red onion finely diced
- 1 rib celery finely diced
- 1/2 red bell pepper finely diced
- 1/4 cup carrots finely shredded, loosely measured, then squeezed out
- 1/2 cup mayonnaise
- 1/4 cup sour cream or plain Greek yogurt
- 2 Tablespoons milk
- 2 Tablespoons cider vinegar
- 1/2 Tablespoon granulated sugar
- 1/2 Tablespoon dijon mustard
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- Cook Noodles: Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook macaroni according to package directions, until al dente. Rinse with cold water and drain. This stops the cooking process and rinses away extra starch so the noodles will not stick together. Cool the noodles completely before adding the dressing.
- Combine: In a large mixing bowl, toss together cooked and cooled noodles onion, celery, bell pepper, and carrots.
- Sauce: In a small mixing bowl whisk together mayonnaise, sour cream, milk, cider vinegar, sugar, dijon mustard, salt, and pepper.
- Combine: Pour half of the sauce over pasta and toss until everything is well coated. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and chill for at least one hour before serving. Stir in additional sauce before serving. Add a splash of milk, for a thinner sauce, if desired.
Notes
Pasta: The classic choice is the popular elbow macaroni, but you can use any bite-size pasta, including farfalle, rotini, or ditalini.
Extra Add-Ins: Feel free to toss in chicken, bacon, diced cheese, hard boiled eggs, peas, diced ham, pickles, and tuna.
Mayo: To make macaroni salad without mayo, use an olive-oil based dressing, like this Italian dressing Style Macaroni Salad: Add pineapple, raisins, cheese, and chicken.
Hawaiian Macaroni Salad: Instead of sour cream or Greek yogurt, use milk. Add green onion and skip the bell pepper. Add chopped pineapple and ham if desired.
Storage Instructions: Keep leftover macaroni salad in the fridge for 3-5 days.
Make Ahead Instructions: Keep the bowl of salad ingredients and dressing in separate containers in the fridge for 3-5 days.
Freezing Instructions: Freeze homemade macaroni salad without the dressing in a freezer safe container for up to 3 months. Thaw completely overnight in the fridge before adding the dressing.
Extra Add-Ins: Feel free to toss in chicken, bacon, diced cheese, hard boiled eggs, peas, diced ham, pickles, and tuna.
Mayo: To make macaroni salad without mayo, use an olive-oil based dressing, like this Italian dressing Style Macaroni Salad: Add pineapple, raisins, cheese, and chicken.
Hawaiian Macaroni Salad: Instead of sour cream or Greek yogurt, use milk. Add green onion and skip the bell pepper. Add chopped pineapple and ham if desired.
Storage Instructions: Keep leftover macaroni salad in the fridge for 3-5 days.
Make Ahead Instructions: Keep the bowl of salad ingredients and dressing in separate containers in the fridge for 3-5 days.
Freezing Instructions: Freeze homemade macaroni salad without the dressing in a freezer safe container for up to 3 months. Thaw completely overnight in the fridge before adding the dressing.
Nutrition
Calories: 289kcal | Carbohydrates: 32g | Protein: 6g | Fat: 15g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 9g | Monounsaturated Fat: 3g | Trans Fat: 0.03g | Cholesterol: 9mg | Sodium: 343mg | Potassium: 179mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 4g | Vitamin A: 1253IU | Vitamin C: 14mg | Calcium: 33mg | Iron: 1mg