My Mom’s Macaroni Salad

This classic macaroni salad is creamy, crunchy, and loaded with veggies! It’s the perfect easy side dish for potlucks or summer BBQs.

I grew up living as a kid in Hawaii and had my fair share of Hawaiian style macaroni salad. While it’s delicious, I prefer my macaroni salad with more veggies and more crunch.

My mom’s recipe is the only macaroni salad I like. It’s creamy, but light, full of veggies, and doesn’t taste vinegary.

The best part is, my picky toddler loves this salad, and it’s an easy way for her to eat more vegetables. It’s a staple side dish for our family’s summer gatherings and I hope you will love it too!

Macaroni salad ingredients

Macaroni: I use traditional elbow macaroni. It’s sturdy and holds up well with the mayo-based dressing.

Green peas: I use Green Giant Frozen Sweetlet Green Peas. They are tender, young green peas and are smaller than regular green peas.

Red onions: It adds a crisp texture and sharp flavor.

To tame red onions, you can soak the diced onion in a bowl of ice water for 10 minutes. Drain well before adding them to the salad. This helps them taste milder.

Celery: It adds a good crunch to the salad.

Carrots: This adds a little sweetness to the salad.

Red bell pepper: This adds a little sweetness and crunch to the salad.

Red wine vinegar: This adds just enough tang to help balance the richness of the creamy dressing. You can use apple cider vinegar or distilled white vinegar if you prefer.

Sugar: This helps balance the tangy flavors of the vinegar, mustard, and mayonnaise.

Mayonnaise: This makes the macaroni salad nice and creamy.

Dijon mustard: This adds just enough depth to cut through the richness of the mayonnaise.

Salt and freshly ground black pepper: This helps all the flavors to pop.

How to make macaroni salad

Bring a medium pot of salted water to a boil. Stir in the pasta and cook 1 minute past al dente.

Drain the pasta in a colander and rinse with cool water for 30 seconds to stop the pasta from cooking.

Add the drained and cooled pasta to a large bowl. Add the green peas, red onions, celery, shredded carrots, and chopped bell pepper.

In a medium bowl, add the sugar and red wine vinegar. Stir together to dissolve the sugar. Add the mayonnaise, mustard, salt, and black pepper. Stir to combine.

Add the prepared dressing to the pasta salad and mix until evenly coated. Cover and store in the fridge for at least 1 hour before serving.

Make Ahead and Storage Instructions

This recipe tastes best the day it has been made. Leftovers can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days.

To prevent dryness: The macaroni will continue to absorb the dressing as it chills. Add only half of the dressing initially, then add the remaining dressing (or a couple of tablespoons of extra mayo) before serving.

How long can macaroni sit out? Since this is a chilled, mayo-based salad, it shouldn’t be left out of the fridge for more than 2 hours (or less if the weather is hot).

What to serve with macaroni salad

This macaroni salad is an easy side dish for potlucks, picnics, BBQs, or summer gatherings. It goes well with grilled meats or sandwiches.

Below are some yummy dishes you can serve with macaroni salad:

Grilled meats: BBQ chicken, burgers, hotdogs, grilled salmon, shrimp skewers.

Sandwiches: BLT, club sandwich, tuna salad sandwich, egg salad sandwich, brisket sandwich.

Vegetables: Corn on the cob, green salad, baked beans, grilled veggies.

More summer pasta salad recipes to try:

• Italian Pasta Salad
• Caprese Pasta Salad
• Greek Pasta Salad

Please let me know how you like this macaroni salad recipe in the comments below! Your feedback and review encourages me to keep creating new and yummy recipes. I hope you love this macaroni salad as much as I do.

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