When the days get warmer and the calendar fills up with cookouts and backyard dinner parties, it’s peak season for easy macaroni salad. Creamy noodles, colorful chopped veggies, sweet ham and boiled eggs—what could be better? It’s filling and decadent, but it also includes a variety of vegetables. Plus, it’s an easy and affordable pasta salad you can make when cooking for friends. Be sure to add it to your list of recipes to make ahead of time.
Rinsing the cooked noodles in cold water is the trick to making pasta salad. It prevents the noodles from overcooking and rinses away that sticky starch. Allow the noodles to cool completely before stirring up the entire recipe in one big bowl. That’s pretty much it! Play with the ingredients, adding or removing things based on taste or what you have available in the fridge.
Ingredients for Easy Macaroni Salad
- Elbow macaroni: Elbow noodles are perfect for pasta salad recipes; the bite-sized shapes are easy to eat and allow every forkful to contain a mix of noodles and toppings.
- Hard-boiled eggs: This hearty salad contains protein in the form of perfectly cooked hard-boiled eggs. The eggs also add creamy, smooth texture to the salad.
- Cooked ham: This is a great recipe for using up leftover ham. Cut the cooked ham into cubes of about the same size as the other ingredients.
- Frozen peas:Â It doesn’t get much quicker than ripping open a pack of frozen sweet peas and adding them to the salad.
- Fresh veggies: Celery, green pepper and onion add fresh flavor and a satisfying crunch.
- Pimientos: These mild, bite-sized red peppers are sweet and pleasantly tender, adding another interesting texture (and a flash of color) to the salad.
- Mayonnaise: Creamy, tangy mayonnaise is the base of this rich salad. You can use low-fat mayonnaise, if you prefer, or a homemade vegan mayo to keep things lighter.
Directions
Step 1: Cook the pasta
Cook the macaroni according to the package directions. Once the noodles are tender, rinse them in cold water to stop the cooking. Drain and cool the pasta completely.
Editor’s Tip: Ensuring that your pasta is fully cooled before assembling the salad will help the dressing adhere to the pasta and coat it evenly.
Step 2: Toss and chill the salad
Place the pasta in a large bowl. Stir in the remaining ingredients until the salad is blended. Cover and refrigerate the pasta salad for at least three hours to allow the flavors to meld.
Recipe Variations
- Scale it down: This recipe feeds a big crowd, but you can scale it down to make a quick summer dinner. Just halve the ingredients!
- Change up the veggies: Feel free to add what you have on hand. Try steamed broccoli or green beans, chopped fresh red or yellow bell peppers, roasted red peppers, carrots, green onions or cucumbers.
- Add bacon: Don’t have ham? Try crumbled bacon for a savory twist.
- Spice it up: The base recipe is fairly mild, so feel free to add some spices like ground mustard, onion powder, garlic powder, seasoned salt, celery salt, paprika or cayenne.
- Add herbs: Scatter chopped fresh herbs over the salad for bright flavor and color. Dill is a particularly good match, but parsley or chives are tasty too.
- Make it zesty: Creamy noodle salad is comforting, but if you like more of a kick, add a dash of horseradish mustard, deli mustard, pickles or relish.
- Swap the noodles: Even though it’s called macaroni salad, you can make this with most bite-sized noodles. Think bow tie pasta, penne or fusilli. You can also use gluten-free pasta.
How long does macaroni salad last?
Macaroni salad is a great make-ahead recipe. Store leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to four days. If the salad is a bit dry from sitting in the fridge, stir in a dollop of mayonnaise or a dash of olive oil before serving.
Easy Macaroni Salad Recipe Tips
Do you need to rinse macaroni in cold water for macaroni salad?
Rinsing the pasta under cold water helps to speed up the cooling process and prevent the pasta from overcooking and turning to mush. It also washes away excess starch, so the pasta won’t become sticky or soggy from soaking up too much dressing.
How do you fix dry macaroni salad?
Rinse your pasta well and wait until it’s completely cold before tossing the salad, and you should end up with a creamy, delicious macaroni salad. If your macaroni salad does turn out a bit dry, try adding a bit of olive oil, vegetable oil or more mayonnaise.
What can you serve with easy macaroni salad?
Like all pasta salads, macaroni salad is a staple at summer potlucks. This recipe is ideal for a crowd since it makes a very large portion. You can pack macaroni salad in your next picnic basket spread, but be sure to keep it cold so that the mayo and eggs stay safe to eat. Macaroni salad is a great side dish for fried chicken, barbecue chicken, hot dogs, bratwurst, sandwiches, corn on the cob, tomato salad and coleslaw.
If you serve easy macaroni salad as an entree, consider serving it with a fresh green salad, a seasonal vegetable side dish or a simply prepared veggie, like microwaved green beans or roasted broccoli.
