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This simple Macaroni Salad recipe is creamy, fresh, and only takes 25 minutes to prep! It has celery, bell pepper, shredded carrots, and bell pepper in a flavorful dressing. It's going to be the highlight at your next BBQ!
Want more yummy side dishes? You have to try Street Corn Pasta Salad, Tuna Pasta Salad, Cold Noodle Salad, or Chicken Caesar Pasta Salad!
My favorite Macaroni Salad
My favorite Macaroni SaladIf there's one side dish I completely drool over at a summer BBQ it's a good Mac salad! I love to use the ditalini noodles, and make it extra saucy, just like my all-time favorite mac salad from Jalapeño Bucks in Mesa, AZ, that inspired this recipe. It's saucy and flavorful and pairs well with any BBQ side dishes or main dishes like Ribs or Grilled Chicken.
How to make Macaroni Salad:
Combine: Cook pasta then rinse, drain and allow to cool. Chop celery, onion, carrot, and bell pepper and toss with pasta. Combine dressing ingredients and pour half of the sauce over pasta and toss to coat. Chill for at least one hour before serving. Just before serving stir in additional sauce before. Add more splashes of milk, if desired, to make is saucier.
Make Ahead, and Freezing Instructions:
To Make Ahead: Keep the bowl of salad ingredients and dressing in separate containers in the fridge for 3-5 days.
To Freeze: Freeze homemade macaroni salad without the dressing in a freezer safe container for up to 3 months. Thaw completely overnight in the fridge before adding the dressing.
Serve With:
- BBQ Chicken Drumsticks
- Steak Kabobs
- Classic Hamburger Recipe
- Slow Cooker Ribs
- Pimento Cheese BLT
- Grilled Chicken
- BBQ Pulled Pork Sandwiches
Macaroni Salad
Ingredients
- 1/2 pound elbow macaroni, , or ditalini
- 1/4 cup red onion , , finely diced
- 1 rib celery, , finely diced
- 1/2 red bell pepper, , finely diced
- ¼ cup carrots, , finely shredded , loosely measured, then squeezed out
Dressing:
- 1/2 cup mayonnaise
- 1/4 cup sour cream, , or plain Greek yogurt
- 2 Tablespoons milk
- 2 Tablespoons cider vinegar
- 1/2 Tablespoon granulated sugar
- 1/2 Tablespoon dijon mustard
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- Cook Noodles: Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook macaroni according to package directions, until al dente. Rinse with cold water and drain. This stops the cooking process and rinses away extra starch so the noodles will not stick together. Cool the noodles completely before adding the dressing.½ pound elbow macaroni
- Combine: In a large mixing bowl, toss together cooked and cooled noodles onion, celery, bell pepper, and carrots.¼ cup red onion , 1 rib celery, ½ red bell pepper, ¼ cup carrots
- Sauce: In a small mixing bowl whisk together mayonnaise, sour cream, milk, cider vinegar, sugar, dijon mustard, salt, and pepper.½ cup mayonnaise, ¼ cup sour cream, 2 Tablespoons milk, 2 Tablespoons cider vinegar, ½ Tablespoon granulated sugar, ½ Tablespoon dijon mustard, ½ teaspoon salt, ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- Combine: Pour half of the sauce over pasta and toss until everything is well coated. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and chill for at least one hour before serving. Stir in additional sauce before serving. Add a splash of milk, for a thinner sauce, if desired.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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I originally shared this recipe June 2020. Updated April 2025.
Made in morning w tuna on very hot day. Supper was ready
I used sour cream for this recipe rather than the Greek yogurt because I knew my family would like it better. Also I only had a bag of multi-colored mini sweet peppers so I used one red, one yellow and one orange. I SO wish I would’ve had dijon mustard but was out! (So I had to substitute with regular mustard). That would have definitely made the macaroni salad recipe more flavorful. I am happy to have found this variation of the classic salad. Thanks so much for coming up with this and posting it!
This has that deli-style salad taste I was craving – yum!
I didn’t have any celery, so I added some green pepper instead. I also added some diced cheddar cheese, otherwise I followed the recipe as written.
I personally loved the crunch of the veggies, which went nicely with the soft cheddar and the noodles, and the creaminess of the sauce.
Definitely allow it to sit for the flavors to develop. I liked how the instructions said to keep half the sauce to add it before serving, because the noodles really soaked it up, even though I had cooked them the day prior.
This was a really good salad, and I will for sure make it again.
We love this salad. It is our go to for green pea macaroni salad. Sometimes we change it a bit but not much. We actually added +1 tsp of the vinegar. It has to have that bite! Thank you for this recipe!!
I did 2 cups of macaroni noodles. No onion or carrot. Added my own amount of ham, cheddar cheese, green onion, celery and red pepper. Followed the sauce recipe except only used 1 tbsp of vinegar. My husband and I love it!
For me there was too much crunch for macarini salad. I would leave out the celery, use 1/4 red pepper diced small, leave out the carrot. The sauce was too thin so I increased the Mayo to 3/4+ cup. This would be similar to the deli near me which has a great salad. Next time I might try Miracle Whip instead of Mayo.
I have tried a few of your other recipies and I love them. Thank you
I made this recipe and it was excellent. I will definitely make this one again.
Turned out great. Thanks for sharing.
Once again, TastesBetterFromScratch saved the day. I made this for our last-minute 4th of July bbq party and it was a hit! It was the first dish to run out. I have since made it two more times. It’s quick, easy, and the whole family loves it!
So excited to make this for the 4th of July! I’m planning to make the Hawaiian version and notice it requires replacing either the mayo or sour cream with milk — should I replace both of those or just one of them? If just one, which one?
Thank you! LOVE your recipes!
Replace the sour cream or Greek yogurt with milk! Thanks for checking my typo!