Macaroni Salad makes a terrific summertime lunch and is made for taking to gatherings. Simple to prepare and as diverse as you want it to be, this is a great classic pasta salad.
With a pasta salad dressing made with a combination of mayonnaise and yoghurt, it’s still beautifully creamy with all the flavour and less guilt! For a healthier option, try this Macaroni pasta salad with a mayo-free Creamy Lemon Dressing or Ranch Dressing!
Macaroni Salad in a bite
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What is Macaroni Salad made of? Cooked macaroni, shredded carrot, green onions, red peppers/capsicum and celery tossed in a dressing made with mayonnaise, vinegar, mustard, sugar and garlic powder.
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How long can you keep macaroni salad? Up to 5 days in the fridge.
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Do you serve macaroni salad hot or cold? It’s best served at room temperature or ever so slightly chilled. But not cold, straight out of the fridge.
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Calories in macaroni salad – 319 kj as a side dish
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Can you freeze macaroni salad? Yes, because it’s mostly pasta. Thaw naturally (do not microwave thaw) and toss well before serving.
Macaroni Pasta Salad
It’s difficult to imagine a summer with Macaroni Salad. Like Coleslaw, it’s a summertime staple. The pasta salad you keep in your fridge for a quick side for meals and to put in your lunchbox.
While it’s tempting to take the easy route and pick up a tub from the deli, too often they are overly mayo-heavy, too sweet, too sour, or dripping with watery dressing.
So skip store bought and make your own – it’s so simple and tastes so much better!
Lighter, flavour packed Dressing for Pasta Salad
I like to have a lot of dressing because it makes pasta salads moist and juicy. But using just mayo is too oily. So I always lighten up mayo dressings with either sour cream or yoghurt, then add a nice amount of seasoning so no one would even notice that it’s got less fat in it!
Here’s what goes in my creamy pasta salad dressing:
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Equal parts mayonnaise and sour cream OR yogurt
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Cider vinegar – essential touch of tang!
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Dijon Mustard – flavour and thickening
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Seasonings – Sugar, garlic powder, salt and pepper
Regular readers know how much I love my sauces and that extends to salad dressings. No pasta salad recipe of mine will ever be lacking in Dressing!
And that’s why this Macaroni Salad stays nice and moist – because there’s plenty of dressing!
Wondering if Macaroni Salad is good or bad for you?
While you get some nutrition from the vegetables the reality is that Macaroni salad is heavy on carbs from the pasta and fat in the dressing. For a healthier option, try this with a mayo-free Creamy Lemon Dressing or Ranch Dressing!
Macaroni Salad Add-in options
I’ve kept this recipe classic. So as much as I was tempted, I resisted all my favourite add-in possibilities including:
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bacon
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egg
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pickles
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roasted red peppers
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chicken (try my Chicken Pasta Salad recipe)
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olives
Make a great summer meal for your family and friends by serving this pasta salad on the side of BBQ Pulled Pork, BBQ Beef Brisket, some BBQ Pork Ribs or Sticky Country-style Chicken! – Nagi x
MORE SUMMER SALADS to take to gatherings
- Italian Pasta Salad
- Coleslaw
- Potato Salad and Lemon Potato Salad
- Pearl Couscous Salad <– personal fave!
- Wild Rice Salad <– reader fave!
- 12 Minute Sun Dried Tomato Couscous Salad
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Browse all Pasta Salads and Rice Salad
Macaroni Pasta Salad
Watch how to make it
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Macaroni Salad
Ingredients
- 250 g / 1/2 lb macaroni elbow pasta
- 1 1/2 tbsp salt (to cook pasta)
- 1 cup celery , finely sliced (1 stalk)
- 3/4 cup red capsicum / bell peppers , finely diced (1 small)
- 3/4 cup green onions , finely sliced (1 large stem)
- 1 medium carrot , grated (using standard box grater)
Dressing:
- 1/2 cup mayonnaise (Hellmann's, Best Foods, S&W or other whole egg mayonnaise)
- 1/2 cup yoghurt or sour cream , full or low fat
- 1 tbsp cider vinegar
- 2 tsp Dijon mustard
- 2 tsp sugar
- 3/4 tsp garlic powder
- 1 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp pepper
Instructions
- Bring large pot of water to the boil - 4 to 5 litres / quarts. Add salt then add pasta. Cook per packet directions.
- Drain pasta then cool.
- Meanwhile, mix Dressing ingredients in a bowl.
- Place pasta in a bowl. Add remaining Macaroni Salad ingredients. Pour over Dressing.
- Toss. Adjust salt / sugar / sour (vinegar) / mayo to taste.
- Set aside for at least 20 minutes. Then serve at room temperature (not cold). It's great the next day too!
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
Life of Dozer
When I leave Dozer indoors when I’m out all day and it’s been raining (damn that dog door!!!!).
Fizza says
When you put the salad in fridge it doesn’t remain very moist.
Bridget says
If your macaroni salad seems too dry after refrigeration, try adding some water to it, bit by bit, until it is the consistency you like. Don’t add more mayo because it will make your salad gloopy and change the taste.
Tammy says
I tried it and it worked!!!
It didn’t change the taste either!!
Thank you so much.
Tammy Hibbert says
Thank you, I will try this!!!
Susan C says
Made this for my family and they went wild over it!!!! Not a piece of elbow macaroni left.
Nagi says
That’s the best compliment isn’t it Susan!! N x
Karen K says
We loved this recipe, I made it as a quick accompaniment to some BBQ ribs and it was perfect (I did add extra scallion and a little dash more of cider vinegar, as our family loves things on the sour side). I cut the recipe in half since there are just two of us and we devoured it, I wish I’d made the full recipe!
I also made Nagi’s corn salad with avocado, they were perfect sides with a BBQ dinner.
Holly says
Pasta salad of any sort is something I can’t resist. I have made many many recipes but I typically like to work with what I have on hand (for the most part). I didn’t have sour cream or yogurt handy so I popped half a cup of low fat cottage cheese and the remaining dressing ingredients in my food processor and the result was amazing. I added peas to the last few minutes of the pasta cooking time, all of the vegetables as listed + dill pickles and fresh parsley from my garden.
Super delicious.
Thanks Nagi!! x
Kerry says
Can the elbow macaroni be replaced with bowtie, penne or small shell pasta?
lesley wee says
Will make this w bbq this Sunday.
In Hawaii they add potato. What do you think Nagi?
Nagi says
You could definitely add potato if you like – you may need to increase the dressing though. N x
Ange says
Love this salad so much! It’s Mother’s Day today and my husband asked what I wanted for dinner and I said this with roast chicken. It’s cooking now a d I can’t wait! Cheers Nagi xx
Cathy says
I have made this two times in the last 3 days… Fabulous! And a real crowd pleaser!
Thankyou Nagi x
Chelsea says
The best tasting, easiest recipe! Whipped this up in 20 mins and couldn’t believe the results. Used greek yogurt since I was out of sour cream- yum! Thank you so much!!
Christina says
After reading all the comments, I just had to try. And this recipe did not disappoint.
I used GF pasta and used apple cider vinegar instead. Thanks for this recipe, most definitely will be making it again.
Nagi says
That’s great to hear Christina!! N x
Bobbi Power says
When you say “cider vinegar” do you mean apple cider vinegar?
Desiree says
Made this today to go with some barbecued lamb ribs. Love the sharpness balanced with the creaminess. Much more depth than the supermarket one and dead easy to make.
Kerrie says
Amazing, made salad for family bbq dinner huge hit!!
Jerri Cheesecake says
I used spiralli pasta that was the only ‘twist’ i made on this salad (sorry lol), it was SO good.
Amber says
Nagi this pasta salad was divine! I cannot get enough of it. I will never buy premade pasta salad again. Thankyou for this!
CatCrewser says
Another fantastic recipe from Nagi! Followed it verbatim & doubled it. OMG🤤 Creamy from the yogurt/mayo mix, tart from the apple cider vinegar, a touch of sweetness from the sugar…a savory, salty delight & a great way to incorporate leftover Christmas ham❤️ Thank you! ❤️
Betsy G. says
OMG. This salad is perfect!!! Since Xmas looked a little different this year, we had BBQ – we smoked a brisket & this mac salad sounded like the perfect side … it was!! Didn’t matter if it was 10°F in suburban Chicagoland Xmas eve, this salad was SO delicious!!! Hubby cut up some rotisserie chicken & added it to the salad for lunch yesterday. I was looking forward to mac salad leftovers tonight but hubby ate every last bite while watching football today. So, I am literally making another batch tonight because it was that good!!!
Bethany says
Absolutely delicious – been craving those store-bought pasta salads like the one they sell in Coles, and this is exactly like the store-bought ones, and dare I say better!
Lynda says
This is my favourite pasta salad, it’s regularly requested and will be gracing my Christmas table this year. What can I substitute cider vinegar for, and is cider vinegar the same as apple cider vinegar?
Bethany says
I’ve used Chinese rice vinegar when I ran out of cider vinegar – works perfectly. Pretty sure it’s just to get some tartness into the sauce. I’m sure lemon juice will work too.
Bev Sloan says
Love the dressing, salad was very nice. Thankyou
Debbie says
I got this tip years ago on pasta salad and it makes all the difference on flavor. Cook your pasta the night before, place it in a Ziploc bag with some Italian style salad dressing. Massage it through and refrigerate. The next day when you make your salad all that extra flavor will have been absorbed. Give it a try Nagi.
Anna says
Delicious & so easy! Added a shredded BBQ chicken to make it a meal. Will be a regular at our place!