Best Macaroni Salad Recipe
We love to grill burgers in the summer. Now our family usually loves homemade baked fries with our burgers, but during the summer, it’s just too hot to bake fries. Instead of fries, I’ll make the best macaroni salad recipe to go alongside those yummy burgers.
This macaroni salad recipe is the one my grandma, aunt, and mom used to make all the time. I’m a little partial and like potato salad a little better than macaroni salad. But my the rest of my family loves macaroni salad. They win out and I end up making this recipe quite often during the summer.
This is not only a great side dish for summer barbecues but it’s a great side dish any time of the year. If you’ve never tried homemade macaroni salad, I think you’ll love this recipe. It’s so much better than the store-bought containers of macaroni salad and easy to make too.
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How to Make the Best Macaroni Salad Recipe
Step 1
Boil the pasta. I usually make my macaroni salad with elbow macaroni or salad macaroni. But you can use any small pasta you like. Cook the pasta according to the directions and drain the water. Be sure to drain the water well so the dressing won’t get diluted. I use my colander and it works well. If you have limited space in your kitchen you might want to pick up a collapsible colander.
Step 2
Chop the veggies. I always include equal parts of dill pickle, onion, and celery to this macaroni salad recipe. But if you have picky eaters who can spot an onion a mile away and won’t eat a dish with them in it. Skip the chopped onions and add in about a teaspoon or two of onion powder. The onion flavor will still be there, just not as strong and no onions for your picky eater to spot.
Step 3
Mix in the chopped vegetables with the cooked pasta.
Step 4
Make the dressing. Mix together mayonnaise, vinegar or dill pickle juice, pepper, salt, parsley, dill weed, dried chives, and mustard in a bowl.
Step 5
Mix the salad dressing with the pasta mixture and mix well to coat the pasta and vegetables. It’s important to really mix the dressing in well to coat the pasta and vegetables. You want to get that yummy dressing all over each bite.
Step 6
Refrigerate until ready to eat. I like ours to sit about 2 hours before we eat it. I keep it in a covered bowl in the refrigerator. The flavors all mix together and the dressing thickens up a bit and gets nice and creamy.
Before serving, give a good stir to mix everything well again. Sometimes the dressing can settle a little. Serve as a side dish to almost any barbecued meat or with our favorite burgers and hot dogs. I always keep this salad in the refrigerator until we are ready to serve it. If it’s hot out I don’t let it sit out for long, since it has mayonnaise it needs to be kept cold.
Here’s the printable version of the recipe for you,
Best Macaroni Salad Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups Macaroni Salad Macaroni or Other Small Pasta
- 1/3 cup Celery chopped
- 1/3 cup Onion chopped or for picky eaters 1-2 teaspoon of onion powder
- 1/3 cup Dill Pickle chopped
- 3/4 cup Mayonnaise or Vegan Mayonnaise
- 1 tablespoon Vinegar or Dill Pickle Juice
- 2 tablespoons Mustard we use yellow
- 1/4 teaspoon Salt or to Taste
- 1/4 teaspoon Pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon Dried Chives
- 1/4 teaspoon Dried Dill Weed
- 1/4 teaspoon Dried Parsley
Instructions
- Cook pasta according to directions, drain and set aside.
- Chop the celery, onion and pickles. Mix with the cooked pasta.
- In a medium bowl, mix together the mayonnaise, mustard, vinegar or dill pickle juice, salt, pepper, chives, parsley, and dill weed.
- Mix the dressing with the pasta and vegetables until well combined.
- Refrigerate until ready to serve.
Nutrition
What’s your favorite summer side dish recipe?
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Yum! This salad looks delicious, Shelly! 🙂
This looks like a tasty salad to serve with something from the grill! Pinning this for later!
Thanks for pinning it, Erin!
I’ve made this 3 times already and can’t get enough of it! My husband could finish an entire recipe in 1 sitting. I cut back a little on the mustard and use Just Mayo (it’s vegan). It’s amazing. Thanks for sharing!
I’m so glad you like it. My husband saw a photo of it on my facebook page and asked when I was making it. He can eat a whole recipe in one sitting too. 🙂
I always have the ingredients on hand, so it’s also a great meal or side when I don’t feel like going to the store. 🙂
I just made this with gluten free elbow macaroni noodles. Delish!!! I was looking for a recipe that I could enjoy without sacrificing my gluten free lifestyle. I even made my noodles in the microwave so there was no stove turned on. I can’t wait to serve this alongside turkey burgers!!!
That’s great Nikki. Do you have a favorite brand of gluten free noodles you can recommend? That way if others need to eat gluten free they can try them too in the recipe. Thanks Shelly
My favorite gluten free elbow macaroni is any quinoa blend with brown rice. I find that gluten free noodles made from corn just have too intense of a corn flavor to blend well with a light pasta salad, however, the texture of the corn noodles tend to be more in step with a picky palatte.
Ithink my mac salad is the BEST!!!! Cook macand at same time boil eggs(4-6) drain mac and chop up eggs.add sweet pickle relish (drain some),add chopped onion and celery.salt and pepper ,johnnys seasoning.we like canned shrimp if you dont you can use tuna or whatever .some cut up small peices of cheddar cheese .prefer salad dressing over mayo—-
Joyce, this is not your blog.
Just sayin’.
Shelly this sounds perfect as an accomplishment to any summer meal as there is no meat in it and would go good with at BBQ.
I’ll try it out on my company when we make ribs this weekend! Thanks!
I hope you enjoyed the macaroni salad recipe, Patty.
Hi Shelly,
Just want to say thanks so much for sharing this recipe. It is now my go to macaroni salad. Yummy!
Stacy, thanks for taking the time to let me know. I’m so glad you are enjoying the recipe! ~Shelly
Many recipes for a pasta “salad”, but this one satisfies everything you want when looking for a true, good ‘ole spunky pasta salad! Our new favorite – thank you!!!
I’m so glad you liked the recipe, Mia.
Is the one 1 1/2 cups of macaroni dry before it’s cooked? If I use a 16oz box of macaroni do I need to double the other ingredients?
Sandy, the macaroni is dry before it’s cooked. I’m not sure how many cups of macaroni are in a 16-ounce box. I think it’s close to 4 and a half cups. I would measure to be sure.
My mom found this recipe and made it for us. Everyone fought over the leftovers! I made it myself, using vegenaise, and doubled the recipe but followed it exactly just making a double batch. This is so dang good!!! I will make this over and over. This would be a great salad to take to a potluck too. It’s so easy! Thanks for a great recipe! 💕
Beth, I’m so happy to hear you love it so much. You just made my day! 🙂
This salad is delicious! It tastes just like my old favorite non-vegan macaroni salad, yum!
So glad you liked the recipe, Colleen.
I just made this for a bbq party and everyone loved it!! My super picky friend even asked me for the recipe and took some home with her! It was so yummy! Thanks for sharing!
I’m so glad it was loved by your friend. We love this recipe so much too. Thanks for letting me know.
How many people does this recipe serve?
It’s 4-6 servings as a side dish, 4 big portions or 6 smaller ones. I hope that helps.
Excellent. I added about 2T chopped green red and yellow pepper and same amount chopped carrots just cause they were in the fridge. I used 1 1/2 T mustard and half the salt. I needed to double the pasta to 3 generous cups using bow ties to utilize all of the dressing.
I wish well intentioned people would please make the recipe before commenting.
Gayle, I’m so glad you liked it. I like your additions too. Thanks for taking the time to share.
This is our go to recipe….it’s the best recipe EVER for Mac Salad. Thank you so much for sharing it. We make two different ways…one with regular mayonnaise and one with grapeseed oil mayonnaise (vegan)…it turns out amazing either version. So, so happy to have this recipe…good crowd pleaser too.
So glad you like the recipe. I agree it is so good!
I really loved this recipe! I had made a couple other macaroni salad recipes that were not great…but this one was perfect. Great flavors!! Only thing I did differently was I added a few boiled eggs, chopped.
Shawnna, I’m so glad you loved the recipe. Thanks for letting me know, you made my day!
Made it. Was good but found it way too salty. Next time I will make it without salt and 1/2 the mustard. Otherwise it’s pretty good. Didn’t have elbow macaroni so I used fusilli instead. Next time will make 2 cups of fusilli as lots of dressing left over.
Fantastic recipe, Shelly! I had to force myself to chill what I didn’t eat warm 😋 I love the subtle tanginess. The only mustard I had on hand was grainy Grey Poupon and I used Lawry’s seasoned salt instead of plain… turned out great. Thanks for providing me with the perfect, classic macaroni salad recipe to bring to any picnic 😁
Mary, I’m so glad you liked it.
I add chopped celery and hard boiled eggs to my salad. Your recipe is the one I have used for years with my added ingredients.
Those are great additions, Karen. Glad you like the recipe.
Delicious! Must like dill pickles!
The flavor is unique compared to most mayonnaise based pasta salads. After making this my family decided they would love it with burgers. I haven’t tried this but the dressing with the dill pickles would make a great secret sauce for any burger!
Glad you liked the recipe!
I just wanted to say thank you so much. I’ve been making this macaroni salad for the past three summers, and I have to say it is literally the best I’ve ever had. My dad who is pretty much a gourmet chef, always request this from me. It is become a huge family hit and I just wanted to say thank you so much❤️
Alanna, you’re welcome, I’m glad your family loves it.
I’ve been making this for years now too and my whole family loves it! Goes great with pulled pork, brisket and smoked ribs…pretty much any BBQ!
Tina, so glad you like the recipe. I made a batch this week to go with our BBQ chicken, it’s our go to side dish for BBQ.
One of my favorite recipes! I found it on Pinterest years ago and have made it more times than I can count. Perfect macaroni salad for pickle lovers!!
Amanda, I’m so glad you liked the recipe, it is our favorite too. Thanks for coming back to comment, you made my day.
Good recipe. I altered the recipe by using bread & butter pickles.
Harry, oh bread and butter pickles would be delicious too. Thanks for sharing your tip.