Classic Macaroni Salad

This macaroni salad recipe has been handed down in my family for years and it’s an absolute favorite! It’s an old-fashioned deli style macaroni salad with tender cooked elbows, perfectly sweet & tangy creamy dressing and finely diced, crisp veggies.

This creamy macaroni salad always graces our family summer cookouts and it’s always the first dish to disappear. If you like macaroni salad, you HAVE to try my recipe.

Trust me, the condensed milk takes some of the edge off the mayo & vinegar and mellows out the dressing. You’ll be glad you did!

Prep Time is about ½ an hour then it’s just sitting in the fridge waiting to be gobbled up!

Why This Macaroni Salad Works

Good macaroni salad is all about balance, creamy, sweet, savory and tangy notes balanced in such a way that each bite is packed with flavor but none of the ingredients stand out too much. It’s all in the details:

• Cook the macaroni a tad past al dente, and give it a rinse with cold water so it won’t be chewy when it comes out of the fridge.
• Make sure all of the other ingredients are cut up nice and small so that each bite will be perfectly balanced.
• Make the dressing a tad more intense than you like, because the flavor mellows considerably after mixing with the other ingredients.
• Give it a good couple hours in the fridge to marry before serving.

Skip even one of these tips and you’ll be left with a salad that’s on the dry and/or bland side.

The Ingredients

Everything on the list is a regular pantry or produce item. Here’s what each one does.

Elbow macaroni

You need one 16-ounce box. Elbows are traditional for a reason.

The sauce clings to them, and they’re roughly the same size as the chopped vegetables.

Green pepper

One green pepper, diced small. It adds crunch and a fresh, slightly sharp flavor that keeps the salad from tasting too sweet.

Carrots

10 small carrots, or one large, shredded or finely diced. Carrots add a touch of sweetness and a lot of color.

Onion

½ medium onion, finely diced. I like to soak the onion in cold water before using it because it can taste a bit sharp. See below for details.

Celery

Half a cup of celery, cut up into small pieces adds some crunch to the macaroni salad, as well as a classic and delicious flavor. Try to cut the celery into pieces the same size as the carrot and pepper pieces.

Mayonnaise

Next you will need one cup of mayo and half a cup of white vinegar. The mayo will be the basis of your macaroni salad dressing.

It gives it body, binds it all together and provides that creamy consistency that goes perfectly with the sweetness of the dressing.

White vinegar

The white vinegar balances the creamy mayo by giving the macaroni salad just the amount of zing it needs.

Sugar

One third of a cup of sugar is also added to give your macaroni salad that sweet deli counter taste (though there is an option with less sugar further on if that’s not your favorite flavoring).

Sweetened condensed milk

The half cup of sweetened condensed milk is the key to making this recipe work. It balances out the mayo and the vinegar, and takes the edge off the sugar.

And the sweetness isn’t as harsh as it would be with just sugar alone. Plus, the dressing has a luscious, smooth, creamy consistency that won’t get separated or watery when it’s refrigerated.

How to Make Macaroni Salad

Here is the order I follow. The full amounts and times are in the recipe card at the bottom.

Step 1: Cook the macaroni

Fill a large pot with water and bring to a boil. Add macaroni to generously salted, boiling water. This is your only chance to season the macaroni!

Cook until just past al dente, for another 1-2 min, until macaroni is tender. (Pasta served cold, after sitting in the refrigerator will seem harder, chewier than pasta served hot at al dente perfection. For this reason, you want your macaroni to be just past al dente perfection.)

Step 2: Rinse until cold

Drain and run macaroni under cold water in colander. Once macaroni is completely cool, give colander a really good shake to remove excess water.

(The cold water shock stops the macaroni from overcooking and rinses off the gluey starch that forms on the surface of the hot macaroni, as a starchy macaroni salad will have a gluey thick dressing.)

Step 3: Dice the vegetables

Dice remaining ingredients (the celery, green pepper, carrot, onion) into small, evenly-sized pieces. Now, I’m sure there are people out there that actually enjoy this part…I am not one of those people. However, it is well worth the effort!

*CHEF’S TIP* If you like a more mild onion flavor, dice your onion first and leave in cold water for 10 minutes while you dice the other veggies. Then drain and shake as dry as possible and stir in with the other veggies. I love this tip!

Step 4: Whisk the dressing

Combine the mayonnaise, white vinegar, sugar and sweetened condensed milk in a bowl and whisk until well blended. The dressing should be seasoned more to your liking than you think is necessary as the dressing will lose its flavor after adding it to the salad.

Step 5: Mix it all together

In a large mixing bowl, combine cooled pasta and vegetables. Add prepared dressing to pasta and vegetables, stir until well combined.

Step 6: Chill

Cover bowl, and refrigerate at least 2 hours before serving, I like to prepare mine a night before serving.

Stir and taste the salad right before serving, if needed add a little more mayo or a pinch of salt.

Tips for the Best Macaroni Salad

Let the pasta cool all the way

Be sure the pasta is completely cooled before adding the vegetables and dressing. The warm pasta will soak up the dressing and once refrigerated the salad will be on the drier side.

Cut everything small

Cut the vegetables small so no one takes a large bite of raw green pepper or onion 🙂 This will also keep the salad consistent per spoonful.

Taste twice

Before dressing salad, taste the dressing. After mixing salad, taste it again just before serving (salad will seem to lose some of its zip and tang as it chills).

Chances are all it will need is a tad more vinegar, mayo, sugar and/or salt (many factors come into play because of ingredient brands, kitchen temperatures, humidity etc.).

Give it a refresh if it looks dry

Chances are it spent the night in the refrigerator and pasta soaked up a lot of dressing. Fix is usually just a Tablespoon or 2 more mayo to perk it back up creamy and delicious.

Mistakes to Avoid

• Forgetting to Salt the Pasta Water: Salad seems bland? Most likely culprit is under seasoned pasta. Be sure to adequately salt cooking water.
• Not Rinsing the Pasta: Salad seems pasty? Make sure to rinse well with cold water, both to halt cooking process (the residual heat will continue to cook the pasta) and remove excess starch.
• Adding the Dressing Too Soon: Salad is very dry? Pasta was probably still too warm when dressed so it soaked up all of the dressing. Once cooled, well….dry!
• Chopping Things Up Improperly: If you’re adding a vegetable like onion or pepper to your macaroni salad, dice or chop them into small, evenly-sized pieces. Large chunks can make it difficult to enjoy other components in the salad, since each bite will be one-note.
• Not Letting the Salad Marinate: Chilling a macaroni salad gives the ingredients a chance to meld, and two hours is a bare minimum.
• Forgetting to Taste Before Serving: Cold dishes are almost always in need of a little tweaking when it comes to seasoning, so always give your macaroni salad a taste before you take it out of the fridge and onto the table.

Tools That Help

You don’t need anything fancy for this salad, but a few tools can help you get through the chopping much faster and easier.

• Sharp Paring Knife: You want a sharp paring knife that can slice through an onion, a stalk of celery and a green pepper with very little effort. If your knife is tearing rather than slicing through these vegetables, it’s time to have it sharpened.
• Pull String Vegetable Chopper: With this handy gadget you can dice vegetables into perfectly even and very small pieces in a matter of seconds. No more watering eyes!
• Large Salad Bowl with a Lid: Save yourself some washing up and mix and store the salad in the same bowl.

What to Serve With Macaroni Salad

Macaroni salad is a great cookout side dish since it can go with just about anything that’s grilled. I find it pairs best with meats that have a nice char on them.

The sweet, creamy dressing helps balance out flavors of something smoked or spicy. Some examples of great dishes to pair with macaroni salad include:

• Burgers
• Brats
• Pulled pork
• Ribs
• Grilled chicken thighs

Ways to Change It Up

Over the years we’ve made this recipe in many different ways and here are some suggestions if you want to try this salad your own way.

• Add a couple chopped up hard boiled eggs – We like this salad with hard boiled eggs mixed in to make it heartier, and reminds us of the ones at the deli counter.
• Red pepper – A red or orange pepper has a sweeter more mild flavor than a green pepper.
• Yellow Mustard – A Tablespoon of yellow mustard adds a little color and flavor, but isn’t over powering.
• Apple Cider Vinegar – If you don’t care for white vinegar apple cider vinegar is a great substitution with a fruitier less sharp flavor and is just as good.
• Pickles – A couple tablespoons of finely diced sweet pickle relish or finely diced dill pickles adds zip and balances out the sweetness of this salad.
• Extra Sweet and Colorful Carrots – If you like this salad on the sweeter side try doubling the amount of carrots. It’s pretty in color also!

Want Less Sweet – Reduce the sugar to 2 tablespoons and the sweetened condensed milk to 1/4 cup.

Make it a Meal – Turn this salad into a filling lunch by stirring in a can of tuna (drained well), 1 cup of diced ham, or some cubed up cheddar!

Making It Ahead and Storing It

Macaroni salad keeps 3 to 5 days in the fridge in a covered container. If after a couple of days it does look a little dry just stir in an extra tablespoon or two of mayo and it will be fine.

It will also benefit from being made a day ahead of serving as its flavor is better the next day. So make macaroni salad in advance if planning to bring it to a party.

If making further ahead (more than 24 hrs) hold back some of the dressing and add it a couple of hours before serving. This will avoid it looking too dry.

Macaroni salad doesn’t freeze well at all. The texture of the pasta doesn’t freeze well and the dressing will separate so only make as much as will get eaten within about 5 days.

Taking It to a Cookout

Macaroni Salad is best served cold. Straight out of the refrigerator.

This salad contains mayonnaise so should never be left out for more than 2 hours. When serving outdoors the length of time it can be left out decreases to 1 hour when the temperatures are over 90°F.

I like to set my serving bowl in a larger bowl of ice when serving outdoors or just serve smaller amounts and replenish it with more of the salad straight out of the refrigerator.

TIP: Save yourself a dish to wash by making your Macaroni Salad recipe in whatever container you will transport it in.

TIP: Especially during the summer don’t leave your food in a hot trunk. Fifteen minutes in the back of your car and any good deed of leaving your food in the refrigerator for two hours is ruined.

This recipe makes 8 servings. In May when we hosted a graduation open house I tripled this recipe.

Macaroni Salad FAQ

Why rinse the pasta?

The starch on the outside of pasta helps sauces to stick to it in hot dishes. But, for a cold salad you rinse off the starch (otherwise the dressing will be a bit gluey), and stop the cooking process.

Can I use other pastas besides macaroni?

You could use another small shape such as rotini, ditalini or small shells. I wouldn’t recommend a larger pasta (the noodles would over power the other ingredients) or something long such as linguine or spaghetti.

What gives macaroni salad its distinctive flavor?

The sugar and mayo. The sweetened condensed milk makes the dressing creamier and gives it a silkier texture. It also helps keep the dressing from turning out too thin or watery after refrigerating.

This macaroni salad is supposed to be sweet but if you prefer less sweet you can always cut back on the sugar for a more savory salad.

Can I make macaroni salad ahead of time?

Macaroni salad (like most pasta or potato salads) needs time to chill so the flavors meld together. Give it at least 2 hours (overnight is even better).

Chilling macaroni salad can sometimes take the edge off the flavor since the noodles absorb some of the dressing as they sit. Be sure to give it a taste before serving and if necessary stir in another spoonful of mayo and/or a pinch of salt.