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Macaroni Salad

Sturdy macaroni salad bursting with flavor. Great for picnics and potlucks.
Prep Time 45 minutes
Total Time 45 minutes

Ingredients

Salad

  • 16 oz uncooked ditalini pasta about 4 cups (sometimes difficult to find; if so, use elbow macaroni or something similarily small and sturdy)
  • 1 cup celery diced
  • 1/2 cup red onion diced
  • 1/2 cup yellow sweet onion diced
  • 1 cup medium cheddar cheese about 6 oz. (diced)
  • 1 cup Swiss cheese about 6 oz. (diced)
  • 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese grated
  • 1 cup pickles – dill or sweet you decide (diced)
  • 1 cup salami about 5 oz. (diced)

Dressing

  • 1 cup mayonnaise
  • 1/2 cup sour cream
  • a few small squirts cheap yellow mustard
  • splash hot pepper sauce
  • 2 tsp garlic powder
  • 1 tblsp minced garlic
  • 1/2 tsp celery seed
  • 1 tsp salt to taste
  • 2 tsp horseradish
  • 1/2 tsp white pepper
  • dash cayenne pepper or to taste
  • 1/2 tsp dried mustard

Instructions

Salad

  1. Boil macaroni until al dente, about 9 minutes (don't overcook or you'll have Macaroni Mush).
  2. Rinse macaroni until cool and drain well. *
  3. To pasta, gently fold in rest of salad ingredients (not salad dressing).
  4. Refrigerate uncovered mixture overnight (not critical, but you want the mixture to be dry).

Dressing

  1. Combine dressing ingredients.
  2. Pour dressing over salad ingredients and mix well.
  3. Chill for at least an hour, preferably longer, to allow flavors to mingle. Better if chilled overnight.

Recipe Notes

* I read a tip somewhere to, after draining and cooling the pasta, add some milk to it and let it sit for a bit. The pasta will absorb the milk (I've always just dumped and never measured, and am surprised at how much soaks in). With the pasta somewhat saturated, the dressing is more likely to coat the pasta instead of being absorbed into it as much. It seems to make the salad taste more well-rounded, with no slightly metallic taste that is sometimes present in pasta salad as a result of the acidic ingredients being sucked into the cooked pasta in disproportionate amounts.