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The Perfect Macaroni Salad

July 5, 2012 by Mom on the Make Leave a Comment

Perfect Macaroni Salad

Perfect Macaroni Salad

July 4th was looming and I had not found a macaroni salad recipe that I was excited about yet.  I had found a few that I was considering, but nothing that I knew would be a slam dunk.  Then, I ran into a recipe on The Pioneer Woman blog that sounded exactly like what I was looking for to complement our picnic.

I made the salad, with a few changes to the ingredients and measurements, and we ALL loved it.

The best part about this salad is that it is light.  There is not a lot of goopy mayonnaise and grease surrounding the fresh pasta and veggies.  The sauce is just the right amount to lend a great taste with no grease.

 

Steps to the Perfect Macaroni Salad

Macaroni Salad Ingredients

Perfect Macaroni Salad Ingredients

The pieces to the perfect macaroni salad puzzle:  red peppers, olives, spring onions, mayonnaise, relish, elbow macaroni, salt, pepper, pickle juice, distilled white vinegar, and sugar.

Perfect Macaroni Salad Pasta Cooking

Perfect Macaroni Salad Pasta Cooking

Boil the elbow macaroni until it is at a perfect softness.  I go past the al dente stage.  I like it to be softer.  After finished, strain the noodles and run cold water over it, and set aside.

Perfect Macaroni Salad Sauce

Add 1/2 mayonnaise, 1T white vinegar, 3t sugar, 1/4t salt and pepper and stir

To make the sauce pourable, we will add milk next.

Perfect Macaroni Salad

Add 1/4 cup milk or more to make it pourable.

Perfect Macaroni Salad

Add a splash of pickle juice to the sauce for a little kick-YUM!

Now, time to mix the noodles and sauce together…..

Perfect Macaroni Salad

Add the sauce to the noodles and stir well.

Perfect Macaroni Salad Chopped Veggies

Chop two red peppers and 4 green onions

Perfect Macaroni Salad Add Veggies

Add the chopped red pepper and spring onions to the noodle and sauce mix.

My family LOVES olives, so we added an 8 ounce can of sliced black olives as well as relish for a kick.

Perfect Macaroni Salad Add Olives

Add 8 oz can of sliced black olives and stir. We also added in 4 tablespoons of relish.

Perfect Macaroni Salad All ready for the Picnic

The Perfect Macaroni Salad All Ready for our Picnic!

Here’s the recipe with all of my alterations today…..

8 cups elbow macaroni

2 Freshly Chopped Red Peppers

8 oz of sliced black olives

4 Chopped Green Onions

4T Relish

1/2 cup mayonnaise

1T distilled white vinegar

2T pickle juice – adjust to your taste

3t sugar

1/4t salt

Black Pepper – as much as you like

Boil the Macaroni until soft, then strain and run under cold water.  Set aside.

Mix mayonnaise, distilled white vinegar, sugar, salt, pepper, and milk to create sauce.  Pour sauce into noodles and stir well.

Chop the red peppers and spring onions, then add to the noodle and sauce mixture.  Add can of olives and stir well.

At this point, you can do a taste test and decide if you would like to add more relish or pickle juice.

SO, SO YUMMY!!!  Enjoy!

Follow the instructions above and you will be all set with the perfect macaroni salad for ANY occasion.  So light and refreshing. Absolutely Delish!!

 

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Filed Under: Lunch, Recipes Tagged With: macaroni salad, pasta, recipes, salad

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