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
- 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.
- How long can you keep macaroni salad? Up to 5 days in the fridge.
- 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.
- Calories in macaroni salad – 319 kj as a side dish
- 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:
Equal parts mayonnaise and sour cream OR yogurt
Cider vinegar – essential touch of tang!
Dijon Mustard – flavour and thickening
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:
bacon
egg
pickles
roasted red peppers
chicken (try my Chicken Pasta Salad recipe)
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
Pearl Couscous Salad <– personal fave!
Wild Rice Salad <– reader fave!
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!!!!).
Used your macaroni salad idea to accompany our Salmon. I make deviled eggs with crispy bacon crumbles with a Mayo/mustard and touch of garlic powder. Always asked for recipe. I took that idea and made the macaroni with the dressing and bacon, chopped hard boiled eggs, celery and a wee bit of finely chopped dill pickle. Husband raved and says this is a KEEPER.
Made this tonight as a quick dinner win!! Didn’t have any sour cream or ANY of the vegetables but it turned out SO yummy! Threw in a pre-roasted chicken and just added more mayo. Thanks Nagi, you rock!!
Great Macaroni Salad! Love it.
Perfect
I have a different macaroni salad recipe I’ve been using for years, but I don’t really love it, so I figured I’d search RecipeTinEats for a new recipe. I found yours, made it last night, and now have a new favorite! It is sooo creamy and full of flavor, even without any of the extra add-ins. My husband loved it too! I can always count on your recipes to be better than the other ones out there!!
Best pasta salad ever. I added some cheese and corn. No celery. Yummo. Will be my go to pasta salad.
Another great recipe. I used a little angel hair cabbage instead of the celery and added some leftover ham. This will definitely be our macaroni salad recipe from now on.
Fantastic recipe. This will become a regular on our household. I used 1/2 mayo and 1/2 tzakiki dip. Devine!
I’m a huge fan, constantly on the website and also Facebook. Made soooooo many of your recipes and have several favorites, bought both cookbooks. Thanks for doing the hard work for us. Hugs to Dozier.
I just love this macaroni salad. It’s not my intention to be mean, but the quantities listed are a little off. If you want us to use 1 cup of green onions, it’s more than I root. I used an entire bunch. Same with the celery. I used 2 stalks. Then only 1/2 of a bell pepper. Also, I don’t recommend eating it room temperature. If you refrigerate for at least an hour, the flavors have a chance to get enhanced. Excellent recipe though!
It’s 3/4 cup, and the green onions we have here are plenty big enough to fill 3/4 cup. This isn’t a baked recipe where ingredients must be exact. The cup measurements aren’t “off”, common sense would tell you the yield is all dependent on the size of the vegetable. Cheers, P. 🙂
Wonderful side salad for summer grilling meals. I used fresh chives instead of scallions for a milder onion flavor. Extra sharp cheddar added the perfect flavor boost.
So delicious! Definitely make this macaroni salad again. 👍👍👍👍👍
Thank goodness for Pasta salad when you have children to feed, especially a 13 yr old boy! Stretches the meal for those hungry mouths!
I absolutely love your recipes. Your macaroni salad is always so good! I’m making this again
for our pot luck at church. Thanks for sharing!
This is almost exactly the recipe for my own famous pasta salad! Only differences are that I use homemade mayonnaise (olive oil base), quarter or half a red onion finely diced, and the juice of 1 lemon.
It’s always a big hit.
I add tuna…delicious!
A delicious menu more of yours, thank you so much i have a folder full of it i love them all ♥♥
The classic! I add about two tablespoons of pickle juice to the hot pasta for a bit more oomph. And you can add diced cheddar cheese for a denser salad.
This was so delicious I couldn’t stop eating it. Will definitely be making it again.
Simple and amazing, I succumbed and added all the extras and then some.