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!!!!).
Aphroditie says
Amazing pasta salad recipe! Didn’t have cider vinegar and used white instead and still delicious! Will be making again for next family gathering!
Wendy Miles says
Thank you Nagi for a beaut recipe. It sounded just so-so until I got into making it. I used yogurt & mayo as I had no cream. Also small pasta twists. The flavours are just so very more-ish.
Wendy
Nagi says
I’m so happy you gave it a go though Wendy! N x
Louise says
I made this for an easy Sunday lunch with sausages on the BBQ. It was really great – easily as good and probably better than the one at Coles.
Casey Klinger says
Amazing – best I’ve had and I’ll be making again and again!
Nagi says
Thanks so much for the great feedback Casey! N x
Diane Howe says
going to try this tonight
Melissa says
Hi, I was wondering what the nutritional information would be if I used the lemon yoghurt dressing instead of the mayo dressing?
Nagi says
Hi Melissa, I’ll need to work this out and get back to you. N x
Jason says
Would red wine, white wine, or balsamic vinegar work here? They’re the only ones I got. Thank you in advance for your help!:)
Nagi says
Hi Jason, the best sub would be white wine vinegar. N x
Hayley says
Superb! Best pasta salad ever
Traci says
Hi, I love your recipes and have been craving Mac salad. Unfortunately, I cannot eat dairy. Do you think the taste would be too strong if I used all mayo instead of mixing it with sour cream or yogurt? If so, what should I take out? Thanks!
Nagi says
Hi Traci, I think it will be too much. How about lactose free yogurt? N x
Traci says
Thanks! I tried it with Greek yogurt (less lactose). I needed to take pills, but it was sooooooo yummy! I love your recipes and have been telling all of my friends. 🙂
Melissa says
You Can use lactose free sour cream maybe?
Traci says
Thanks. I’ll try it next time.
Leslie Kerr says
Another winner! Love it. Best macaroni salad I’ve had! Thank you Nagi!
MAKIKO says
I made this salad for dinner tonight as a side dish of salmon fish cake. It was very good and my family enjoyed it. I picked bacon and cucumber pickles as additions from ur suggestion.
I’m so glad I found your website! I have been cooking lunch and dinner since the lockdown, and I was getting bored with my usual Japanese meals. Your recipes motivate me to cook and enjoy eating more. Thank you!
Ellie says
Another winner, Nagi! Thank you. I made this, used the correct amount of pasta and made the dressing as written. I used freshly picked produce from my garden. I also followed your advice and used some additions – chopped pickled radish, some bacon, and a sprinkling of shredded cheddar cheese. Delicious.
Brenda Castellano says
Took this dish camping with us over memorial day weekend, it is the best macaroni salad ever. Everything on this site is a solid 5 so far.
Barbara says
I scaled this down to a quarter recipe as best I could, I assumed Australian 20 ml tablespoons so I used 1 tsp as a quarter of that. Otherwise I made it per the recipe except I used a green pepper instead of red. I needed to add a little more salt and pepper, and it may need a little more sugar, but that may be due to the scaling. I tend to err on the side of less of these items and adjust up to taste. But all in all I found this to be a tasty macaroni salad and I will be making it again. I really like that there is almost as much veg as mac. Yum. Nice and crunchy along with being tasty.
Janet Gritter says
This turned out great! I followed the recipe to the letter and it was the best macaroni salad recipe I have found, and I have tried many mac salad recipes. It’s a keeper! Thank you!
Joseph says
NAGI. Nagi. ya never cease to Amaze me ,this is a great one ,,my only twist was my favorite pepper. PABLANO its great to see all the Wonderful comments by those foodies , Go Girl
Nagi says
Sounds fab Joseph!! N x
Merl says
Nagi!!!! Have I told you how simple and lovely your recipes are? I added Tuna to this, and it tastes wonderful. Thank you.
Nagi says
Thanks so much Merl – love this idea! N x
Tina says
This was perfect! I made it for Fathers Day and my dad had 3 helpings and still asked me to pack the leftovers for the next day! Thank your for an easy side and delicious recipe
Nagi says
Thanks so much Tina!! N x
Tina says
I hit 5 stars but it glitched to 4 when I hit submit, not sure how to fix it… but this recipe deserves 5 stars!
Rebecca Konze says
This pasta salad is absolutely delicious!! Will definitely be making this again. The shredded carrots give it the perfect crunch. Thank you for another amazing recipe.
Rika says
I’ve made this and love it! Thanks so much for the recipe! I’m not a salad person so this one is perfect 😁👍