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
Hungry for more? Subscribe to my newsletter and follow along on Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram for all of the latest updates.
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!!!!).
Another fantastic recipe from Nagi! Followed it verbatim & doubled it. OMG🤤 Creamy from the yogurt/mayo mix, tart from the apple cider vinegar, a touch of sweetness from the sugar…a savory, salty delight & a great way to incorporate leftover Christmas ham❤️ Thank you! ❤️
OMG. This salad is perfect!!! Since Xmas looked a little different this year, we had BBQ – we smoked a brisket & this mac salad sounded like the perfect side … it was!! Didn’t matter if it was 10°F in suburban Chicagoland Xmas eve, this salad was SO delicious!!! Hubby cut up some rotisserie chicken & added it to the salad for lunch yesterday. I was looking forward to mac salad leftovers tonight but hubby ate every last bite while watching football today. So, I am literally making another batch tonight because it was that good!!!
Absolutely delicious – been craving those store-bought pasta salads like the one they sell in Coles, and this is exactly like the store-bought ones, and dare I say better!
This is my favourite pasta salad, it’s regularly requested and will be gracing my Christmas table this year. What can I substitute cider vinegar for, and is cider vinegar the same as apple cider vinegar?
I’ve used Chinese rice vinegar when I ran out of cider vinegar – works perfectly. Pretty sure it’s just to get some tartness into the sauce. I’m sure lemon juice will work too.
Love the dressing, salad was very nice. Thankyou
I got this tip years ago on pasta salad and it makes all the difference on flavor. Cook your pasta the night before, place it in a Ziploc bag with some Italian style salad dressing. Massage it through and refrigerate. The next day when you make your salad all that extra flavor will have been absorbed. Give it a try Nagi.
Delicious & so easy! Added a shredded BBQ chicken to make it a meal. Will be a regular at our place!
Amazing pasta salad recipe! Didn’t have cider vinegar and used white instead and still delicious! Will be making again for next family gathering!
Thank you Nagi for a beaut recipe. It sounded just so-so until I got into making it. I used yogurt & mayo as I had no cream. Also small pasta twists. The flavours are just so very more-ish.
Wendy
I’m so happy you gave it a go though Wendy! N x
I made this for an easy Sunday lunch with sausages on the BBQ. It was really great – easily as good and probably better than the one at Coles.
Amazing – best I’ve had and I’ll be making again and again!
Thanks so much for the great feedback Casey! N x
going to try this tonight
Hi, I was wondering what the nutritional information would be if I used the lemon yoghurt dressing instead of the mayo dressing?
Hi Melissa, I’ll need to work this out and get back to you. N x
Would red wine, white wine, or balsamic vinegar work here? They’re the only ones I got. Thank you in advance for your help!:)
Hi Jason, the best sub would be white wine vinegar. N x
Superb! Best pasta salad ever
Hi, I love your recipes and have been craving Mac salad. Unfortunately, I cannot eat dairy. Do you think the taste would be too strong if I used all mayo instead of mixing it with sour cream or yogurt? If so, what should I take out? Thanks!
Hi Traci, I think it will be too much. How about lactose free yogurt? N x
Thanks! I tried it with Greek yogurt (less lactose). I needed to take pills, but it was sooooooo yummy! I love your recipes and have been telling all of my friends. 🙂
You Can use lactose free sour cream maybe?
Thanks. I’ll try it next time.
Another winner! Love it. Best macaroni salad I’ve had! Thank you Nagi!
I made this salad for dinner tonight as a side dish of salmon fish cake. It was very good and my family enjoyed it. I picked bacon and cucumber pickles as additions from ur suggestion.
I’m so glad I found your website! I have been cooking lunch and dinner since the lockdown, and I was getting bored with my usual Japanese meals. Your recipes motivate me to cook and enjoy eating more. Thank you!
Another winner, Nagi! Thank you. I made this, used the correct amount of pasta and made the dressing as written. I used freshly picked produce from my garden. I also followed your advice and used some additions – chopped pickled radish, some bacon, and a sprinkling of shredded cheddar cheese. Delicious.
Took this dish camping with us over memorial day weekend, it is the best macaroni salad ever. Everything on this site is a solid 5 so far.