First published August 1, 2010. Last updated April 11, 2025 for editorial improvements.
Table of Contents
- Highly recommend!
- 🗝️Key takeaways: why this recipe is your new favorite
- 🧾 Gather your ingredients: what you'll need
- 📖 Make it your own: yummy variations
- 🤫 Marye's secret for zhuzhing it up -
- 📖 Recipe
- 🔪 Step-by-step guide: instructions for success
- 🥫 Leftover love: how to store macaroni salad
- 💭 Insider tips: things to know
- 👩🍳 Let's answer those questions: FAQs
- 📚 More Southern comfort: related recipes you'll love
- 🍽️ No waste: creative ways to repurpose leftovers
- ✍🏻 A note from Marye...
- 💬 Comments
Save this recipe by clicking on the ❤️ heart on the right-hand side of the screen or in the recipe card.
🗝️Key takeaways: why this recipe is your new favorite
Nothing fancy here-just the macaroni salad you probably grew up on, the one that showed up at every summer potluck like clockwork. It's creamy, tangy, and packed with flavor-no trendy nonsense, just the good stuff. This is the classic recipe my mom swore by, with her signature tweaks: shredded carrots, extra green olives (because she was an olive fiend), chopped red onion, bell pepper, and celery, all tangled up in overcooked elbow macaroni-yes, overcooked. Be a rebel, break the al dente rules, and trust me, it just works. Serve it chilled, act like you spent all day on it, and watch it disappear.
🧾 Gather your ingredients: what you'll need
📖 Make it your own: yummy variations
- Pickle Relish: Add a few tablespoons of sweet pickle relish for extra tang.
- Cheese Lovers: Mix in shredded cheddar or mozzarella cheese for a cheesy twist.
- Spicy Kick: Add a pinch of cayenne pepper or diced jalapeños for a bit of heat.
- Herb Garden: Toss in fresh herbs like parsley, dill, or chives for added freshness.
- Pasta. Elbows, shells, or some other type of macaroni noodles. Ditalini macaroni is fantastic for this recipe and so are shells.
- Some people use Miracle Whip, but I prefer Hellmann's mayo.
- Carrots. Mom always grated the carrots on the small side of a box grater and that's the way I do it, too. I don't like big chunks of crunchy carrots in it but the grated carrots add sweetness.
🤫 Marye's secret for zhuzhing it up -
For an extra layer of flavor, add a splash of pickle juice to the dressing. It adds a delightful tang that will make your salad stand out!
zhuzh: verb. To make something more interesting or attractive
📖 Recipe
Old Fashioned Macaroni Salad
Print Pin Recipe Rate RecipeIngredients
- 1 pound dried elbow macaroni, uncooked small elbows or shells
- 2 cups mayonnaise
- ¼ cup cider vinegar
- 2 tablespoons mustard, plain yellow prepared
- 2 tablespoons sugar, more or less to taste
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon ground black pepper, more to taste
- 2 cups celery, celery - thinly sliced
- 1 cup red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
- ½ cup onion, peeled and chopped
- ¼ cup carrot, grated
- 1 cup salad olives with pimentos, drained
Instructions
Step one
- Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.
- Pour in elbow macaroni and cook until very tender.
- Drain completely but don't rinse.
- Stir a little mayonnaise into the macaroni to keep it from sticking.
- Cool completely.
Step two
- Combine mayonnaise, mustard, vinegar, salt, pepper, and sugar in a small bowl and mix well. Taste and adjust seasoning and sweetness.
- Put the cooled macaroni, celery, carrot, onion, peppers, and olives in a large bowl.
- Pour mayonnaise mixture over and stir gently to combine.
- Cover with plastic wrap and chill overnight if time permits.
- Add a little more dressing if necessary before serving
- Store in the refrigerator for up to 5 days - keep chilled if you are bringing it to a cookout or picnic.
Notes
- Slightly overcook your pasta. I know the directions say not to overcook it but trust me on this. I once asked Mom why her macaroni salad was better than mine and she said (and I quote) "You have to cook the snot out of it darlin'". So there's that.
- Drain the pasta but don't rinse it. Mix about ¼ cup of plain mayonnaise with the macaroni to coat it and keep it from sticking.
- Let it cool before adding the dressing and vegetables! If you add your vegetables to the hot macaroni they'll lose their crispness.
- This is fantastic for potlucks and cookouts but you MUST keep it cold. The easiest way is to fill a big bowl with ice and keep the bowl of macaroni salad in the bowl of ice.
Nutrition Facts
Nutrition information is estimated as a courtesy. If using for medical purposes, please verify information using your own nutritional calculator. Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
This recipe has been tested several times. If you choose to use other ingredients, or change the technique in some way, the results may not be the same.
🔪 Step-by-step guide: instructions for success
This is an overview of the instructions. Full instructions are in the green recipe card at the bottom of the page. Click on the image to see it full size.
Combine mayonnaise, mustard, vinegar, salt, pepper, and sugar.
Whisk to blend. Taste and adjust seasoning.
Put macaroni, celery, carrot, onion, peppers, and olives in a large bowl.
Pour mayonnaise mixture over and stir gently to combine. Chill.
🥫 Leftover love: how to store macaroni salad
Refrigerate promptly. Since macaroni salad contains mayonnaise throw it away if it's been out for 2 hours or more or if it feels warm to the touch. It's better to "waste" a little food than get sick.
Store any leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. Stir in a little extra mayonnaise if the salad becomes too dry.
💭 Insider tips: things to know
- Don't skip the chilling time; it's crucial for the flavors to develop.
- Use salted water to cook the pasta- about 2 tablespoons salt to 1 gallon of water.
- Be sure to use regular mayo and not low-fat or fat-free.
- Always go by taste with the dressing. I use a lot more sugar than is called for in the recipe - I probably use ⅓ of a cup because we like things on the sweet side. Adjust to your own tastes.
- Full disclosure - Just to be honest - I double the salad olives because I love them.
- Let the flavors blend at least two hours in the refrigerator before serving. It's better the next day.
- You may need to add a little more dressing just before serving if the macaroni soaks up all of the moisture. Just be prepared to make more and stir it in.
- If the dressing seems too thick after it's mellowed in the fridge you can add a little cream or milk to balance it out.
👩🍳 Let's answer those questions: FAQs
Have other questions? Ask me in the comments!
Nope. The veggies will get slimy and the dressing will end up being a weird texture.
Be sure to let the macaroni cool completely before making your salad. That way it won't soak up so much dressing. It's also a good idea to keep some extra dressing on hand just in case.
It's got mayonnaise so you'll want to throw it away at the 2-hour mark if it hasn't been put away.
Yes, shells or other small pasta work best.
Yep! It tastes best if it is made the day before anyway. You can make it up to 24 hours ahead of time.
📚 More Southern comfort: related recipes you'll love
🍽️ No waste: creative ways to repurpose leftovers
This may sound a little crazy but I like to make lettuce wraps with the leftovers. Spoon a little macaroni salad in romaine lettuce leaves and wrap. It sounds weird but it's so good.
✍🏻 A note from Marye...
I grew up on this dish for dinner. It's my absolute favorite hot weather recipe.
In the summer my mom just didn't cook a lot because of the heat so this was often the main course.
If it was the weekend dad would grill but during the week? We were likely to eat a cold pasta salad. We were not big eaters.
Meals were often just what happened to be in the fridge and could consist of cantaloupe with ice cream, or sandwiches, or strawberry shortcake, or the best macaroni salad ever.
Seriously. Mom made the best.
I think her secret was making macaroni salad with green olives! Lots and lots (and lots) of olives - plus the way she made the creamy pasta salad dressing with mayo.
If you were still hungry afterward? Ah... the sound of my mom's voice echoes through the decades...Grab a carrot.
The answer to world hunger as far as my mom was concerned was raw carrots. Snack food? Carrots. Craving something? Grab a carrot.
And you know what my kids hear when they are wanting a snack? Yep... Grab a carrot.
Anyway, to me macaroni salad was summertime. I was a bit of a picky eater but I could put this stuff away. My kids can, too.
Classic Summer Salad!
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Tracy Arrington says
Amazing traditional macaroni (not pasta) salad. I've made this time and again, thank you so much for the recipe. It's now a go-to.
Norma says
This is the best macaroni salad recipe I have found. I use Trader Joe’s garlic stuffed green olive…..
KC says
Thank You for sharing this. What great memories. I have made this before. Was on a pasta box years ago. My Mom always made this salad for the family picnic. She added small precooked shrimp to it. She would put the frozen shrimp into boiling water to which she added old bay seasoning. It was just to refresh them. Then drained and chilled them making sure to Pat them dry, and added them just before serving. She always had extra dressing on hand for that point. Again, Thank You So Much.
Debbie says
I just made this and followed it (almost) to the letter. I added a little more carrots is all… it still has to chill, but I am so pleased with the results thus far! Will try to add tuna next time I make it..
Christina says
This is essentially the same as what Mueller’s put on their box, and my Mother-in-law turned into a family favorite decades ago, but she always added 2 cans of tuna to a double batch. When she died, I got the recipe, and, despite being a very good home cook, this was the only recipe I was always asked to make, and I always added 3 cans of tuna. I did note that while the more official recipe specifies CIDER vinegar, some of the earlier verbiage does not specify cider vinegar. It is an essential flavor element to the recipe. Making the mayo based dressing on it’s own, before adding the ingredients to the pasta is CRUCIAL to making this recipe work (My sister-in-law.made it once, and added the ingredients to the pasta without mixing it all together first, and it was disgusting) I use a mix of green, red, orange and yellow bell peppers to add color and varying flavors to the salad. While I tend to make the elbow noodles (or whatever pasta I use) a little more softer than al dente, go with what you like. Do NOT make this pasta salad at the last minute. It needs to rest for a minimum of a couple of hours to blend the flavors. I have always made it a day ahead of time. I also ALWAYS make a double batch, because I, and my family enjoy it so much.
Christin says
S on the Mueller’s box 50+ years ago, minus the olives. The crucial element is getting the cider vinegar amount just right - too much, it’s sour, too little? Lacking in flavor. When my Mother-in-Law died, I took over the recipe because the family loved it so much. Others in the family have mad it, but they neglect to put the dressing ingredients together FIRST. If you don’t do so, it just tastes like a masts mess of mayo! Done right, it is absolutely delicious. Worth every minute of prep, instead of buying nasty store bought macaroni salad. I have made it for pot-lucks - YES ALWAYS ADDING CANNED TUNA - 3 cans for each recipe - and I make a triple recipe, and it is ALWAYS GONE at the end of the party!!!!