Macaroni Salad Recipe (2024)

This is the perfect macaroni salad. I would only add: maybe more veggies? Don't be shy! Also I would add a recommendation from Cook's Country, just in terms of technique: cook the pasta to just shy of al dente. When you add the dressing, add, only 3/4 of the dressing. Refrigerate until cold. Add the rest of the dressing just before serving; the lukewarm pasta will have absorbed the first round, but the second round will coat the pasta and make it creamier on the table.

It made me smile just to read such a classic rendition of what was, for those of us over a certain age, the first pasta salad we ever encountered. As comforting a dish in summer as mac 'n cheese is in winter. Not given in recipe text (but included in photo), a shower of paprika is mandatory.

IMHO Duke’s mayo has the right tang for this.

How did I manage to be the only one to insist on celery seed? The macaroni salad I remember from my Long Island childhood in the Kennedy Administration always had celery seed. Ditto the ones I later bought for years at Wawa's in Pennsylvania, before I fled to Europe to escape Trump and his slavering minions.

This dressing is similar to my 'go-to' dressing for potato salad as well as macaroni salad. The main difference is that I use about equal parts (roughly 1/2 c each) of mayonnaise (Hellman's) and Greek yoghurt, and thin it with a bit of homemade French dressing (maybe 1 Tbs). I add dill leaves (fresh or Penzey's), and some capers. Delicious!

Always add a few drops of dill pickle juice.

Nothing ruins macaroni and potato salad more than chopped egg.

A handful of frozen petite peas added to the macaroni the last 2 or 3 minutes was my mother’s version. Nice pop of green color and tasty too.

I always add a chopped hard boiled egg and sometimes sliced pimento stuffed green olives or black olives.

We toss the hot pasta in a little vinegar to give it a little more depth of flavor and add shredded carrots and diced celery.

All good, but the sugar is so unnecessary. You have carrots, I normally add sliced cherry or grape tomatoes which add some natural sugar. Agree with the paprika. Did I see some hard boiled eggs too?

This is the mac salad mom made, back in the 60's. I somewhat recently discovered that using kewpie mayo with its rich umami-ish flavor and vinegar blend, makes mom's mac salad even better.

Also toss in, say, ¼ cup minced parsley.

To be precise cook macaroni 5 minutes more than box directions. After draining and rinsing in cold water I added the 1/4 cup vinegar to macaroni and let sit. Then continued with step 2. Do not add more vinegar to the dressing. Also next time I will add a handful of defrosted peas. I also used tricolor spirals to change it up a bit.

This is the "old school" macaroni salad you remember from your childhood (before mayo-based salads were banished). This was fun to make for a low-key backyard BBQ. Good balance and not too much dressing. It makes enough for an army.

This is a really great mac salad, but nothing beats the Hawaiian Macaroni Salad from Cook's Country. No self respecting local would serve a plate lunch without it!

This is truly the perfect classic macaroni salad. For my family’s taste, half the dressing is plenty.

This was very creamy, thanks to the tip about holding back part of the dressing to be added after chilling. It is a recipe that should offend nobody, as it is on the bland side. If you are used to more flavors in your mac salad, you'll need to start improvising.

Just wanted to highlight this tip from reviewer Kirsten:"When you add the dressing, add, only 3/4 of the dressing. Refrigerate until cold."This really helped make the salad very creamy. I was surprised how much of the dressing the noodles absorbed while chilling in the fridge.

i’ve found myself a few times standing at the counter, dissociating, eating spoonful after spoonful of this, straight out of the container that i just pulled from the fridge. A .

I don't think I've seen this suggestion in other readers' notes, so let me be the first: add one small can (drained) of no salt corn kernels. Gives a satisfying and slightly sweet crunch.

Add Celery Seed, top with paprika

A huge hit for a big crowd! I doubled the recipe plus added an extra pepper and an extra stick of celery. I received several compliments that it was delicious.

One could concoct a dressing recipe that could entice an unscrupulous eater to devour the entire salad in a single unplanned event but that is not what we have here. This is a delicious salad. Piquant. A wonderful side dish. For that seems is what was expertly planned and recorded by the chef. Congrats!

I love this recipe.! It’s one of those seemingly simple dishes I never got quite right before.

This is delicious. We only used 1 tsp of sugar to begin, and it was definitely sweet enough for us that way. I agree with earlier comments that you could pile in the veggies at will.

Add celery seed/celery saltCook noodles very al dente

Made for 4th of July, half batch. Good but needed more moisture, added pickle./pepperocini juice and cheese cubes next day which helped.

This is close to Hawaiian macaroni salad, so I approve. The difference would be the use of mustard (no in Hawaii) and the sour cream or yogurt would be whole milk.

Is excellent; I'll actually followed recipe as to ratio of pasta/and wet ingredients. After in was in fridge all day under cling wrap, the pasta had soaked up all the wet stuff. I had to "rejuice" and mixed up another cup or so of the mayo/sour cream, (I used kefir,) vinegar. So good!