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This Classic Macaroni Salad Recipe is a summer staple! It’s made with elbow macaroni, celery, red pepper, carrot, and red onion tossed in a creamy and slightly sweet mayo dressing.
Enjoy this easy macaroni salad for lunch or dinner with your favorite protein, OR make it in advance and bring it to picnics, potlucks, BBQs, you name it!
Easy Recipe for Macaroni Salad
I am no stranger to pasta salads. We have so many favorites…BLT pasta salad, Caprese pesto pasta salad, chicken Caesar pasta salad…just to name a few!
I recently realized that while I had a ton of delicious pasta salad recipes, I was missing the beloved deli-style pasta salad we all know. That’s where this Classic Macaroni Salad Recipe was born!
This seriously is the best macaroni salad. It’s so simple, bright, and delicious, packed with fresh, crunchy veggies and dressed in a creamy mayo dressing. It’s perfect for any summertime gathering or paired with your favorite protein to make a complete and delicious meal.
Bonus: it can easily be prepared ahead of time and stored in the fridge!
Ingredients Needed
- Macaroni Pasta – I use gluten-free elbow macaroni pasta, but feel free to use regular elbow macaroni pasta if that’s what you prefer.
- Dressing – Our mayo dressing is made with a simple combination of mayonnaise, apple cider vinegar, honey (optional), dijon mustard, salt, and pepper.
- Veggies – We’re keeping the veggies simple but colorful with a mix of celery, red bell pepper, carrots, and red onion. These veggies add the perfect crunch to the creamy pasta salad.
Make it a meal!
I love to make this side dish into a meal by adding a protein! Here are some favorites:
- Canned Tuna
- Chickpeas
- Grilled or Shredded Chicken
- Hard-Boiled Eggs (check out my stovetop hard-boiled eggs or my instant pot hard-boiled eggs!)
Variations
- Try other mix-ins. Add some more textures and flavors with sliced kalamata or black olives, capers, chopped broccoli florets, diced cucumber, feta cheese, zucchini, diced tomato, you name it.
- Spice it up. Try adding a dash of hot sauce or sprinkle some cayenne pepper into your dressing.
- Use another pasta shape. Although it won’t be called “macaroni salad” anymore, you can switch things up and use pretty much any small pasta shape for this recipe! Try rotini, fusilli, penne, cavatappi, you name it.
How to Make Macaroni Salad
- Cook the pasta: Boil your macaroni according to the package instructions. Once cooked, drain and rinse immediately with cool water.
- Prep the dressing and mix-ins: Mince and shred your veggies, then set them aside. In a large bowl, whisk together mayo, vinegar, honey, mustard, salt, and pepper.
- Combine and serve: In a large bowl, combine the cooked pasta with the veggies. Pour on the dressing, then mix until fully combined. Serve right away or store in the fridge.
Mix-In Tip!
Be sure to chop all your veggies, or any other mix-ins you love, pretty small for a little bit of everything to end up in each bite!
Should You Rinse Macaroni When Making Macaroni Salad?
Yes! Rinsing the pasta after boiling it serves a couple of purposes:
- Cools the pasta down. Cooling the pasta off helps stop the cooking process so the texture is just right.
- Removes excess starch. The starch from the pasta can cause the macaroni (or any other pasta) to get sticky and gummy. Rinsing keeps them separate.
How Do You Keep Macaroni Salad Moist?
As the pasta sits, it will naturally soak up some of the moisture from the dressing. There are a couple of things you can do to curb this:
- Toss the pasta in oil. Oil can act as a barrier between the pasta itself and the dressing.
- Give your leftovers a refresh. Make a little bit of extra dressing, then mix it into your leftovers before re-serving.
Serving Suggestions
This classic macaroni salad makes the perfect light, meatless lunch OR it can be topped with your favorite protein and served as a full meal!
It also makes a great side dish for so many of your favorite summer entrees. Here are a few ideas:
How to Store
Leftover pasta salad will last in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days!
To refresh your leftovers, add a touch of mayo or a drizzle of leftover dressing.
More Potluck Favorites to Try
- Easy Cucumber Salad with Lots of Herbs!
- Israeli Salad
- Sweet & Crunchy Thai Slaw with Chicken
- Gluten Free Biscuits
- Mediterranean Tuna Salad with No Mayo!
Classic Macaroni Salad Recipe
Ingredients
- 12 ounces Gluten Free elbow macaroni
- 1 cup mayonnaise
- ⅓ cup apple cider vinegar
- 1 tablespoons honey optional
- 1 tablespoon dijon mustard
- ½ teaspoon fine sea salt more to taste
- Ground black papper
- 2 celery ribs minced
- 1 red bell pepper seeded and minced
- 1 cup carrots grated (about 2 medium carrots)
- 1/4 red onion minced
Instructions
- Cook pasta according to package instructions. Rinse well under cool water and drain.
- Meanwhile in a large bowl whisk together mayo, apple cider vinegar, honey, dijon mustard and salt and black pepper.
- To the bowl add the cooked pasta, celery, red pepper, carrots and red onion and mix well. Taste and adjust seasoning.
- Serve immediately or refrigerate until ready to use. Pasta salad will keep up to 4 days.
Notes
- Don’t need to be gluten-free? Use whatever pasta you’d like!
- We tested this with a few different types of gluten-free pasta. Brown rice pasta is slightly hard when cold, while other brands that contained white rice flour, corn flour or soy flour stayed soft when cold. We’d recommend if you want to use brown rice pasta not making it ahead of time to keep it the correct consistency.
This was delicious! Made it yesterday and it was so easy! Everyone went back for seconds.
I love making it because its delicious, easy to make and nutritious.
thank you for your great recipes. By the way, I love your book.
🙂
I’m so happy!!
This is delicious! It is too hot to cook in Boston today so I meal prepped this and added a few cans of tuna for protein. It’s so easy and the sauce is so good and creamy. Will definitely make again!
Love the addition of tuna! Glad you enjoyed! Makes me want to whip up a batch now too!
What brand of GF pasta did you use that stayed fresh and soft the next day? I need to make ahead and would like the pasta to stat soft.
Hi Andrea. Bionaturae Organic worked the best for pasta salad for us. It’s readily available in most grocery stores. It does use soy flour though in case you don’t tolerate that.