Macaroni Salad

How I love this macaroni salad recipe! Bright color, bright flavor filled with tender pasta, crunchy veggies, and a creamy mayo dressing. Make your healthy journey easier, oh-so-delicious!

This macaroni salad always gets lots of compliments. It’s an easy recipe to make and has a pleasing taste that everyone seems to love!

With simple ingredients, and a homemade creamy dressing, this Macaroni Salad is truly a lovely recipe. Perfect for summer potlucks and great for making in advance.

Making salad is my new hobby

Lately, as my mid-year 2023’s started, I think I have a new hobby besides cooking, which is making a salad. I’ve been concerned about health and nutrition. Once, I thought eating a salad would be terrific and flavorless plain all the time. Unexpectedly, now, who guesses that I’m loving it now!

Also, making salad it’s just more of an art for me, and such a therapeutic. you know the pretty bowl, pretty color is just so satisfying. you choose every bright color of veggies or fruits and assemble it in a neat place in a bowl. So, Everything is just pretty, perfect and moreover, is healthy!

As today’s recipe, we’re going to make this Macaroni salad which is simple, fulfilling, and perfect for making ahead of time.

This macaroni salad recipe is perfect for cookouts and picnics, and it’s such a tasty side to pair with grilled or slow-cooked meat any day of the year.

This version is actually my go-to favorite! It has a delicious blend of fresh, colorful ingredients, a tempting veggies crunch, and such a refreshing taste! Everything here combined together just creates a harmonious blend of satisfying flavor. Chances are it will become a new favorite for you too!

What Goes in Macaroni Salad

• Macaroni; It’s not macaroni salad without macaroni! of course, you should start with pasta. Choose a smaller pasta like elbow macaroni or ditalini. tubetti or mini farfalle pasta should work fine here too. (I don’t recommend orichette in a macaroni salad because they tend to stick together and don’t mix evenly with the dressing.)
• Boiled Egg; Chopped the boiled egg in small sizes, I’ve always made my macaroni salad with egg
• Red Bell Pepper and Green Bell Pepper; This adds a nice crunch and lightly sweet flavor. All will give the salad a pleasant crunch and a burst of sweetness. Adds a pop of color and flavor
• Red Onion; This adds a light bite and brings a lot of flavor. Yellow onion or even shallot will work.
• Parsley; For extra herb flavor add more of this. Dried parsley will be fine.
• Salt; to enhance the overall taste

Dressing

• Mayonnaise; I suggest using whole egg mayo as it tends to be less sweet and creamier than regular mayo. just use good quality mayo for the best flavor.
• Greek Yogurt; I like to use whole fat to keep it a little richer but low-fat or fat-free works too. Another option would be to use sour cream.
• Lemon Juice; to add freshness this is a great substitution for vinegar
• Salt and White Pepper; for taste
• Olive Oil; adds a fruity, rich flavor to the dressing and helps to create a smooth consistency.
• Honey; This balances out the tang of the lemon juice, don’t worry it won’t oversweet. Granulated sugar works too.

Let’s Make Macaroni Salad

Let’s start with cooking the pasta. First, In a pot, boil water over medium heat. Once boiling, Cook macaroni in salted water, to al dente according to the directions on the package.

Then, drain and rinse the cooked macaroni under cold water to stop the cooking process.

Next, Prepare the dressing. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together mayonnaise, greek yogurt, lemon juice, olive oil, honey, salt, and pepper. Keep stirring until well combined.

Don’t forget to Taste the dressing and adjust the seasoning to your preference.

After that, Combine the Ingredients with add the cooked and cooled macaroni in the bowl with the dressing. In a large bowl add cooked macaroni, boiled egg, red bell pepper, green bell pepper, and red onion.

Then, Pour the dressing over top, add parsley, and mix until all combined. Gently fold all the ingredients together until the macaroni is well coated with the dressing and the vegetables and eggs are evenly distributed.

This is optional, but I suggest you chill the macaroni salad first, Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a lid and refrigerate the macaroni salad for at least 2 hours to allow the flavors to meld and the salad to chill.

Lastly, before serving, garnish with freshly chopped parsley for a burst of color and freshness.

Macaroni salads are ready to serve. Enjoy!

Recipe Notes;

• Don’t overcook the pasta. Mushy pasta is a no-go when it comes to macaroni salad so be sure to cook your noodles al dente or just a tiny bit more.
• Rinsing the pasta after draining stops it from cooking and ensures it isn’t mushy or sticky. Shock the pasta with cold water immediately after cooking! This stops the cooking and washes off the excess starch to ensure the pasta doesn’t stick together as badly. 
• To avoid the flavor of your red onion being too overpowering, soak it in cool water for about 5 minutes. Then drain it and add it to your dressing. This will tone down the sharpness of the onion without changing the flavor. 
• For the best flavor, allow at least 1 hour for the salad to chill before serving. Just cover the bowl and place it in the fridge until it’s time to eat. Stir one last time before serving. This salad is best after it has some time to rest, but as the pasta will continually absorb the dressing, it can be kinda dry once you’re ready to eat. To combat that, I add about half of the dressing, refrigerate, and then add the rest of the dressing when ready to serve so you get all the yummy creaminess. 

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Written by Silni Asfia