I always enjoy a good pasta salad as a side dish for meals or by itself for lunch. Although I don’t have it very often, I like macaroni salad just as much as I like potato salad which is my favorite cold salad to eat.
Some people can eat warm pasta salad but I don’t care for warm salad. The colder the better I say.
The wonderful thing about preparing a pasta salad is the ingredients are endless. You can put whatever vegetables or meat in the salad and pack it for your work lunch. Here is a simple cold macaroni pasta salad I would like to share with you.
Macaroni Salad
- 1 package elbow macaroni (or small pasta you like)
- 1 cup grape/cherry tomatoes
- 1 can artichoke hearts
- 2 stalks celery
- 1 small onion
- 1 can black olives
- ¼ cup sweet relish
- ¼ cup white vinegar
- 1 cup miracle whip (mayo works too)
- 1 tbsp paprika
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Grab a pot and add 6 cups of water and salt the water because this is what gives your pasta flavor.
- You want to cook your macaroni according to package directions or until the macaroni is al dente which means firm.
- After cooking the pasta for about 10 minutes, drain the pasta and rinse under cold water.
- I rinse the pasta for cold salads but for hot pasta recipes it's not necessary to rinse the pasta.
- Place the pasta in a large bowl.
- Chop your onions and celery and add to the macaroni.
- Add the grape tomatoes whole or you can slice in half.
- Drain the liquid from the canned olives and add them in.
- Drain the liquid from the canned artichoke and add to bowl as well.
- Salt and pepper the mixture to taste. I like to add the salt and pepper in before I put the salad dressing in. You won't have to use much salt since the water you boiled the macaroni in is already salted.
- Add in the miracle whip and add a ½ cup more if needed.
- Then add the vinegar and relish and mix well.
- Depending on how sweet you want the salad, you may want to add more relish as well to your discretion.
- Sprinkle the top of the salad with paprika, cover, and chill in the refrigerator.
- The next day the salad is yummier since the ingredients marinade overnight.
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