We love an easy macaroni salad for a side dish or for a family picnic. Use Hellmann’s real mayonnaise and cooked eggs to make a delicious salad your family will love. Tastes just like Grandmas macaroni salad.
This macaroni salad has an old-fashioned taste that is fresh and delicious. Store-bought macaroni can be a little heavy tasting and made with a lower cost mayonnaise or sandwich spread.
Easy Basic Macaroni Salad
This easy basic macaroni salad recipe should be one of the first salads everyone learns to prepare because it’s one of the most loved salads on every picnic table.
Cooked macaroni with a mayonnaise-based dressing is a classic recipe that your grandmother would of made for every picnic or large summer gathering. Cheap ingredients of boiled macaroni, celery and hard boiled eggs made this a great recipe to double or triple for larger crowds.
You can add a little bit of chopped sweet pickles to this macaroni salad recipe if you like, or even divide the salad into two bowls and add some pickles to half. If you’re new to macaroni salad, try both versions and see which one suits your family the best.
Take this Delicious Macaroni Salad to your Next Picnic and Everyone will love it.
- 3/4 lb. box elbow macaroni, uncooked
- 1-1/4 cup celery, washed and diced
- 4 medium hard boiled eggs, chopped
- salt & pepper
- 1-1/2 cups mayonnaise
- 1-1/2 tablespoons yellow mustard
- 1-1/2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
- 1-1/2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
- salt & pepper
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Cook macaroni according to package directions. Drain and rinse with cold water.
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In a medium bowl, mix together the dressing ingredients.
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Add pasta, chopped eggs and celery to a large serving bowl.
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Stir in dressing mixture. Stir through salt and pepper.
Add the chopped hard boiled egg, chopped celery and cook noodles to a large bowl. Lightly salt and pepper.
How to Make Macaroni Salad –
- Cook noodles for 10 minutes, drain and rinse with cold water.
- Add chopped eggs and diced celery to the drained noodles.
- Lightly salt and pepper.
- Mix dressing ingredients and mix through.
Add the delicious mayonnaise-based dressing to the salad. Mix well to combine. Make sure to salt & pepper to your taste. Add more dressing if necessary and salt & pepper.
Making a Good Macaroni Salad a Great Macaroni Salad –
- Lightly salt and pepper as you go. You want to lightly salt everything that goes in this salad. Chop the eggs and celery and give them a few shakes of salt. Lightly salt the pasta after being drained.
- Use fresh celery if possible. You want a nice green and crispy bunch of celery.
- If you love onion and pickles, try a little grated onion or chopped pickles.
- Add about a 1/2 cup of shredded cheddar cheese.
- Leave in the refrigerator for a few hours before serving.
- Sprinkle the top of the salad with paprika.
What Picnic Foods to Serve with Macaroni Salad?
We love to serve any type of fried chicken with our salad. Try this yummy Oven Fried Chicken Legs recipe or a delicious Pittsburgh style “ham bbq” sandwich or a basic sloppy joe.
What Mayonnaise to Use for Macaroni Salad
We love Hellmann’s Mayonnaise and would definitely recommend this brand for a salad. If you want to try your hand at a homemade mayonnaise, we have a great recipe you can try! How to Make homemade mayonnaise. Did you know you can make awesome hard boiled eggs right in your Instant Pot? Instant Pot Hard Boiled Eggs.
What to Do with Leftover Macaroni Salad?
This creamy salad is one of those dishes that gets better with age. Store in an airtight container in your refrigerator for about 4-5 days. Eat leftovers for lunch or a snack. You can also serve leftovers as a side-side for dinner.
A few of our picnic dishes –
Picnic Baked Beans
How to Cook Corn on the Cob for a Crowd
Deviled Egg Pasta Salad
Picnic Creamy Coleslaw
Deviled Eggs with Ham
