The classic macaroni salad; cool pasta and veggies tossed in a creamy dressing!
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
Prep Time:10 minutes Cook Time:10 minutes Cool Time:10 minutes Total Time:30 minutes Servings: 12
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, green onion.
- Mix the mayo, sour cream, vinegar, pickle juice, mustard, salt and pepper.
- Toss the salad in the dressing and enjoy!
Option: Use all mayonnaise instead of sour cream.
Option: Add 1 tablespoon sugar for a hint of sweetness.
Option: Add hot sauce or sriracha to taste for some heat.
Option: Add paprika to the dressing.
Option: Add worcestershire sauce to the dressing
Option: Replace the pickles with relish.
Option: Add bacon.
Option: Add cheese.
Option: Add peas.
