The Best Macaroni Salad Ever

By Nilson

Ingredients

• 4 cups Elbow Macaroni
• 3 whole Roasted Red Peppers, Chopped (more To Taste, Can Also Use Pimentos)
• 1/2 cup Black Olives, Chopped Fine
• 6 whole Sweet/spicy Pickle Slices, Diced (about 1/2 Cup Diced)
• 3 whole Green Onions, Sliced (white And Dark Green Parts)
• 1/2 cup Mayonnaise
• 1 Tablespoon Red Wine Or Distilled Vinegar
• 3 teaspoons Sugar, More Or Less To Taste
• 1/4 teaspoon Salt, More To Taste
• Plenty Of Black Pepper
• 1/4 cup Milk (more If Needed)
• Splash Of Pickle Juice (spicy Sweet Pickles)
• Extra Pickle Juice To Taste

Details

Servings 12
Preparation time 10mins
Cooking time 25mins
Adapted from thepioneerwoman.com

Preparation

Step 1

Enter your email address:

Here’s what I do like: Macaroni salad with a confetti of wonderfulness coloring the whole mix with flavor, spice, and texture.

Now that that’s all settled, let’s make Macaroni Salad!

Grab a few slices, then eat one. Then grab another one from the jar to replace it and act like nothing ever happened.

Now set the veggies aside and make the dressing!

Add some vinegar. I used red wine vinegar, but you can use regular distilled/white/clear/plain/unadorned. Just a slight bite is all you’re looking for!

Add in some sugar…

Stir that around, then splash in a little milk—just enough to make the dressing pourable.

Finally, splash in a little of the pickle juice. Adds a little more sweetness, a little more bite, and—if the pickles are nice and spicy—a little kick.

And mix it around. The dressing will seem thin at this point, but as it chills later, it’ll thicken up a bit! You can add the rest of the dressing later, after you toss in the other ingredients, if you think it needs it. (Amount of dressing is a personal preference!)

Now add the olives, red peppers, pickles, and green onions…

And toss it all together. Add more of the olives, peppers, pickles, and onions if you think the salad needs more stuff! The point here is not to have any macaroni that isn’t decorated with at least one of the ingredients. If you see even one macaroni noodle without something on it, the entire macaroni salad will be totally ruined!

At the end, taste the whole thing and add more of what it needs, which will probably include another good splash of pickle juice! This is where you can add the rest of the dressing if you think it needs it.

Cook the macaroni in lightly salted water according to package directions. Drain and rinse under cold water to cool. Set aside.

Mix together mayo, vinegar, sugar, salt, and pepper. Splash in enough milk to make it pourable. Splash in pickle juice for extra flavor. Taste and adjust seasonings as needed. Set aside.

Place cooled macaroni in a large bowl and pour 3/4 of the dressing. Toss and add more dressing if you'd like. (Dressing will seem a little thin, but it will thicken up as salad chills.)

Stir in olives, roasted red peppers (or pimentos), pickles, and green onions. Add more of any ingredient if you'd like more stuff going on! At the end, splash in a little more pickle juice and stir.

Mmmm! I love macaroni salad with olives in it. I usually use green olives, but this sounds really good, with the black olvies and sweet/spicy pickles. Gotta make this real soon!

Why would one make a batch of dressing then only use 3/4 of it? *curious, noit snarky*

I’m guessing it is just a preference thing – the recipe says at the end “This is where you can add the rest of the dressing if you think it needs it.”

Wondering the sme thing…I thought perhaps the remaining 1/4 would be stirred in RIGHt before serving? But she never addresses it…or you start w 3/4 and put however much you think it needs?

Perhaps it’s to have some extra on hand, just in case you feel it needs more sauce at the end. Ree’s instruction — “Add more of any ingredient if you’d like more stuff going on!”

You save it for later in case you need to add more after the salad sits. It will dry up some.

LOL! I think that line was added later cuz I really looked for it.

I make him pasta salads like this:

but now I’m thinking I should make him some old school macaroni salad like yours. He’d be a happy boy.

lost me with the olives. otherwise it looks great. pickle juice adds that something special to mac salad and also potato salad. it’s just a vinegary splash. try it.

PW I love you I really do but this just doesn’t sound good at all…i will just skip over this one and enjoy the thousand other recipes you make that are wonderful

I love this, and I love how you take picnic food and make it look so fancy

For the person who asked about only using 3/4 of the dressing- I’m guess the rest is to add before serving if needed to moisten?

It looks good, but I am thinking of adding some salad shrimps to it.

I’m adding ham!

That’s okay….she can come to my island where there is never enough sugar to make tea taste good.

This dressing would also make a wonderful cole slaw!

Thanks Ree – it’s only 10 am here and I’m starving now…Guess I’m going to have to go home and make macaroni salad for dinner!

Always, always use pickle juice in potato salad. The dorm cafeteria at OSU back in the ’70′s served a macaroni salad that had small chunks of cheddar cheese mixed in. I have never found a recipe that included cheese but I loved it! And I think the recipe I have adapted for cole slaw dressing that includes dijon mustard and sour cream with the mayonnaise would also work with this salad…has the same sweet, sour, spicy thing going on.

I’m from Wisconsin, and we put cheese in everything. My personal variation on macaroni salad is here:

Ree … for seafood excitement add some fresh, cooked chunk lobster or crab meat (that has been drenched in warm garlic butter) to that salad … to die for … LOL … us girls just have to have fun !

I am a mac salad NUT. and I am PICKY PICkY but I will be willing to give this one a go. IT is diffrent from mine but sometimes diffrent is good. I will now go forth and make this to go with my bobby flay 16spice fried chicken (that is soaking in buttermilk at this piont) that was in this months good housekeeping. what can I say Ree and Bobby flay food….oh HAPPY DAY!!

For some reason I’m obsessed with the photo you took of the sugar being poured into the dressing. It’s so beautiful and delicious at the same time!

Love, love, love macaroni salad (pretty much any kind). Love muffaletta sandwiches. Decided to make a muffaletta pasta salad. To the boiled macaroni, I add halved black olives, jar of marinated artichoke hearts (halved), cubed monterrey jack cheese (3/8″ cubes), cubed hard salami and/or good ham (3/8″ cubes) and a can of drained and rinsed garbanzo beans. Mix everything together. Then I mix a packet of Good Seasons Italian Dressing and pour over the salad and mix. You could also add a little mayo to the dressing before mixing into the salad if you like a creamier salad. Absolutely delicious. Ends up being almost a meal this way.

Macaroni salad was a summer staple when I was growing up. Mother would make a big bowl on Saturday for a Sunday BBQ. Then we would all get a fork take a bite. Then another bite. And another little bite. Mother had to guard that bowl like Fort Knox, because we could go through macaroni salad and a drawer of forks before she turned around.

This looks GREAT! Its absolutely perfect for the 4th of July parties, but it looks so good I think I’m going to make it tonight too! I love that I have most of these ingredients already too. Thank you so much for sharing!

Heather A.

No mustard? No mustard?? It still sounds heavenly…I may need to make this very, very soon!

I feel the same way about macaroni salad..it has to be just the right blend!!

I bet those pickles are the same as Wickles pickles, Wickles are wicked good, sweet but spicy, I just stocked up on them!! I will make this salad this weekend!!

My sister taught me to make my favorite macaroni salad. We use just a touch of italian dressing and mustard instead of the vinegar, diced green peppers, red onions (no olives!), hard boiled eggs and here’s the kicker….take some diced ham, throw it in a pan with a little olive oil until it pops then add to salad. Sooo good!

Just stirred up a batch, but cut mac in half. Out on the ranch, so didn’t have any roasted peppers, but chopped a little tomato for color. Now on the chill, looks yummy

This looks really good! My wife has a chicken she’s cooking up today to make your Chicken Pot Pie. She is on track to make all 60 recipes in The Pioneer Woman Cooks in 60 days. Lord help me

Instead of pickles, I use pepperoncini peppers and pickled jalapeno peppers, but not as much. I do pour in some of the juices.

Michelle, try “Wickles Wicked Pickles”. Great blend of sweet and heat.

This is close to my Mac Salad. I use Wickles Pickles which are a blend of dill, garlic, sweetness and spice. Similar to your Trader Dave’s. I like to make different kinds of macaroni salad. My family is very easy to cook for and will try almost anything. Makes my life a lot easier. I enjoy your show on the Food Network. Always looking for new recipes to try.

Just saying…and that being said i would still make it sans the olives and onions!!

Looks great! Add a little diced celery and tiny cubes of cheddar cheese and you have my grandmother’s macaroni salad.

I am so there with you when it comes to Macaroni Salad (or most salads for that matter)…this one looks so good. I’ve got a few that are my favs & I agree with you….it can’t be gloopy or too dry, and it needs something besides macaroni….other wise, why bother! I make alot of salads during this summer, so looking forward to trying this one!

I add chopped celery and hard boiled eggs, but otherwise we’re pretty much twins. Except my hair’s now white, not red. boo.

Yes, chopped celery is always a good addition, and I like the hard-boiled eggs in there, too.

Am going to make this for our 4th of July barbeque, thanks for this recipe Ree.

I love how this sounds — I think I’ll add some barely, barely blanched broccoli florets for a little chew element. You could also add little cubes of cheese.

I did not like ice tea until i tried the sweet leaf brand, peach flavor….oh my goodness, i’m addicted to that stuff.

Ree, thanks so much for finally posting a mac salad recipie…i’ve been wanting to make one forever now, and was just not sure which receipie to use, but this one looks good!

This is delicious…..this is similiar to how I make mine, except I’ve never used roasted peppers, but will try it the next time I make macaroni salad,,,,,

Looks good until I read the recipe! Hate mayonnaise (and sweet tea!) — a Miracle Whip girl! And macaroni salad needs a bit of protein — baby shrimp, tuna, salmon usually fit the bill. I also add chopped celery for crunch and hard cooked eggs chopped small. Also, I like to use different pasta shapes — why just elbow macaroni? I use small shells, fusilli, rotelli, what ever is in the cupboard. Am a Northerner but what is a picnic or bbq without mararoni salad?

Mine, adds peas, cheese and eggs…yummy

I like the Barilla elbows….they have a cute design on them! Makes the salad pretty!

With this basic recipe you can add cubed chicken, tuna fish, salmon, etc to make other wonderful salads. I like the red wine vinegar idea. I will have to try that out.

Mmmmm…looks devine, Ree. Can’t wait to make it. Thanks for sharing the recipe with us.

This sounds so good, I hate the old stand-by that’s made with sweet pickle relish. Ewww! I do have to ask though, you hate tea?? Have you ever had good southern Sweet Tea? I used to hate tea as well, but now I am an addict.

I know. Broke my heart to read that. Dr. Pepper is just gross. Diet or otherwise. Tea is a thing of beauty. I drink it unsweetened from the time my feet hit the floor in the morning until I fall asleep at night. I even take my glass with me in the car every where I go. Hubby makes fun of me for it.

Almost perfect ~~~ cut up some small cubes of cheese and add and your in heaven!

I love it, love it, love it! Yes, that is it. I love your dressing mixture!. This is a salad that I could live with during the summer!

Inspired by a trip to ABQ, these ridiculously easy enchiladas will make your skirt fly up in a major way.

Giveaway: My Favorite Ice Cream Maker (Winners Ann...