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This is the best classic Macaroni Salad! It’s loaded with ham, cheese, and veggies in a creamy dressing. Perfect as a side dish, and for BBQs and potlucks.
Featured with this Recipe:
The Best Macaroni Salad Ever
Typically, I’m not a fan of classic Macaroni Salad. However, my mom’s mac salad recipe is the exception. The ingredients are fresh and colorful and it tastes amazing! We would always have this at family picnics or trips to the lake. It is also a perfect side dish for Easter dinner or a BBQ on the 4th of July. In fact, this recipe appears at so many of our family functions, it definitely gets the stamp of family favorite!
Ingredients in Macaroni Salad
- Elbow macaroni
- Mayonnaise
- Mustard
- Sour cream
- Apple cider vinegar
- Sugar
- Kosher salt
- Ground black pepper
- Ham
- Cheddar cheese
- Frozen peas
- Carrots
- Cucumber
- Green onions
What Kind of Pasta is Best For Macaroni Salad?
Obviously, elbow macaroni is the preferred pasta for macaroni salad. However, sometimes it’s fun to switch things up a bit. Any small pasta shape will work. I especially like elbows and shells because they catch little pockets of dressing that are oh-so-yummy! Here are some more pasta ideas for macaroni salad:
- Cavatappi
- Farfalle (Bowtie)
- Rotini
- Ditalini
- Rotelle (Wagon Wheel)
Additional Mix-In Ideas
The great thing about this salad is that you can switch up the macaroni salad ingredients depending on what you have in the fridge and what your family will eat. Usually, we start with ham, cheese, and peas and go from there. Additionally, some other mix-in ideas include:
- Red bell peppers
- Green peppers
- Diced tomatoes
- Grape or cherry tomatoes cut in half
- Baby corn
- Celery
- Red onion
- Dill pickles
- Sweet pickles
- Sweet pickle relish
- Fresh parsley
- Capers
Tips for Making Macaroni Salad
- I like to make this salad a day ahead and let it chill overnight. This gives the flavors a chance to blend.
- When making ahead, store in Ziplock bags until ready to serve, this way you save on dishes too.
- If it seems a little dry when ready to serve, just add a splash of milk before serving and stir for a few minutes.
- If you don’t want to make the full thing ahead of time, just making the macaroni salad dressing can save you time later (mayo, mustard, sour cream, vinegar, sugar, pepper, and salt).
- Depending on your tastes, you can add in or substitute ingredients to the dressing as well. Dijon mustard can be used instead of yellow mustard. Garlic powder, onion powder, lemon juice, and other seasonings can add flavors to your taste.
Frequently Asked Questions
We have had such a great response to this macaroni salad recipe. We love getting comments from our readers! Since a lot of questions have been asked multiple times below, we thought we would answer them all up here!
A. Typically macaroni salad does not freeze well, but it can be refrigerated for several days and still taste great!
A. We have seen people comment using tuna, crab, celery, peppers, onions, banana peppers, chicken, turkey, and boiled egg with great success. Let us know of any other add-ins you have tried! We would love to hear!
A. We usually just run the pot we boiled the noodles with under cold water before adding the pasta back to it after draining (not rinsing the noodles, just cooling down the pot, itself). Additionally you can save a little of the pasta water that you drained off. Add a little back at a time if it is getting too dry while cooling. You can also place the macaroni on a cookie sheet while cooling. If you are in a time crunch, you can also just run cold water over the pasta to cool it quickly while draining. However, this will rinse off some of the starch and salt on the pasta, and it will lose some flavor.
Read Next: Best BBQ Side Dishes
Looking for More Great Pasta Salad Recipes?
If you want to check out more ideas for macaroni salad, check out our Hawaiian Mac Salad. This is an authentic macaroni salad recipe from when I lived in Hawaii and it is perfect for luaus! You can also try our Creamy Bacon Ranch Pasta Salad. You basically can’t go wrong with bacon.
- Southwest Pasta Salad – a pasta salad with a yummy BBQ ranch flavor.
- Authentic Hawaiian Macaroni Salad – perfect with Hawaiian dishes like Kalua pork.
- Creamy Bacon Ranch Pasta Salad – great for BBQ’s.
- Pizza Pasta Salad – a kid favorite! Loaded with pepperoni, tomatoes, olives, mozzarella and parmesan cheese.
- Light Greek Pasta Salad – a savory salad with greek dressing.
- Layered Pasta Salad – a colorful side dish with layers of ham, eggs, salami, veggies, and cheese.
- Chicken Caesar Pasta Salad – a traditional salad and turned into a hearty and delicious meal.
- Shrimp Pasta Salad – fresh shrimp and tender pasta in a vibrant lemon dill sauce.
How to Make Mom’s Macaroni Salad
Mom’s Macaroni Salad
Video
Ingredients
- 1 pound elbow macaroni or any other small pasta shape
- 1 cup mayonnaise
- 2 tablespoons mustard
- 1/4 cup sour cream
- 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1/2 tablespoon kosher salt or to taste
- ground black pepper to taste
- 1 cup ham diced
- 1 cup cheddar cheese diced
- 2/3 cup frozen peas thawed
- 3 carrots shredded
- cucumber peeled and diced
- 3 green onions sliced thin
Instructions
- Prepare macaroni to al dente according to package directions. After macaroni is cooked, drain well and cool to room temperature.
- In a medium-sized mixing bowl, combine mayonnaise, mustard, sour cream, apple cider vinegar, sugar, salt, and pepper.
- In a large bowl, toss macaroni with ham, cheese, peas, carrots, and other mix-ins.
- Fold in mayonnaise mixture until pasta is well coated. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 3 hours or overnight. If the salad seems a little dry after setting up overnight, add some milk a little a bit at a time until salad becomes nice and creamy again.
Notes
- I like to make this salad a day ahead and let it chill overnight. This gives the flavors a chance to blend.
- When making ahead, store in Ziplock bags until ready to serve, this way you save on dishes too.
- If it seems a little dry when ready to serve, just add a splash of milk before serving and stir for a few minutes.
- If you don’t want to make the full thing ahead, just making the macaroni salad dressing can save you time later (mayo, mustard, sour cream, vinegar, sugar, pepper, and salt).
- Depending on your tastes, you can add in or substitute ingredients to the dressing as well. Dijon mustard can be used instead of yellow mustard. Garlic powder, onion powder, lemon juice, and other seasonings can add flavors to your taste.
Nutrition Information
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I make the basic salad (pasta, ham and sauce) the day before and chill it in one bowl (I love the bag idea). I prep the veggies and cheese and put them in sandwich bags to add a little while before serving. I think it gives it a ‘fresher’ flavour and the cheese doesn’t get soggy. It only takes a minute to mix them in. I put some whole cherry tomatoes on top for those who want them.
what does it mean by 11/2 mayo?
One and a half cups of mayo!
One and a half cups
I can’t figure out why so many people muck-up a perfectly delicious cold salad with mustard. I like mustard, but not in salads, since (IMO) it tends to overpower the flavor of all the added goodies, even if you use yellow mustard. I think it’s a southern & midwestern thing. It’s a lovely salad w/o the mustard.
My mid-western dad has always said: just enough mustard to make them wonder why it’s so delicious 🤤
I forgot to get a cube of cheese but I have a bag of shredded. Would that be okay as a substitute?
Yes, shredded should work just fine 🙂
I added sliced black olives.
Yum! I would add olives but my kids won’t eat them. I love them though!
Made this for a big family bbq. It was absolutely delicious. It’s simple to make and so yummy.
I’m so glad you liked it! Thank you for letting us know it was a successful recipe for you. We love it too! 🙂
Do you use yellow or dojo mustard?
yellow. 🙂
I always add green onions and radishes cut in small pieces. I skip all the other bad things like sour cream, vinegar,salt, sugar. These are totally unescessary unless you want a totally unhealthy salad.
Jeff
I dont think it’s ment to be a healthy salad. I am pretty sure everyone knows pasta salad is a splurge comfort food. So maybe you should check out a veggie salad recipe if you’re concerned.
Really want to try this! Do you think it would still be good if i added a package of hidden valley ranch seasoning to it?
Yes, it would make it similar to our Bacon Ranch Pasta Salad! : /creamy-bacon-ranch-pasta-salad.html
This salad is very expensive in a grocery store… $10.00 a pint you can make a gallon of your own for that and it taste better. only thing i want to know is can it be frozen ? Or do i have to make smaller amounts ?
I don’t think I would freeze it. You can keep it refrigerated for several days though! Hope this helps!
i found a recipe for camping that dont call for beer !!! yea !!! once i see beer in a recipe its gone i dont eat beer. ill try this one now , thanks for a no beer recipe
Tried it and loved it! I always add tomato, chedder cheese chunks,celery,bell peppers and Hellman’s. Never thought to add ham and peas! Would not change a thing!
Thank you so much! Glad you liked it!
Best macaroni salad ever ever!!!! but trying to get on to this website is
really too hard, so I will copy the recipe and not bother….really too bad,
looks like lots of good stuff!
my family is very fond of pasta salad. Just for something different I added a small can of tuna in oil (drain). All of us really like this, so most of the time that’s what I do now. try it and enjoy.
Thank you for the tip! I love tuna, so this sounds great to me.
tried the salad….a little too much mayonnaise for us. Added some garlic and onion powder after tasting, also some Tony Chachere spice blend. Turned out well.
Great ideas! I’m glad you adjusted it to your tastes to make it a success!
When I originally commented I clicked the Notify me when new comments are added checkbox and now every time a comment is added I get 4 emails using the same comment. Is there any way you may take away me from that service? Thanks! daefdededeee
I’m so sorry! I will make sure we fix that!
This recipe is my absolute favorite macaroni salad yet! I am so excited to share it tomorrow with my favorite Summer projects and recipes at http://www.makingitinthemountains.com! Wishing you SUCH a lovely long weekend!
We have always loved this salad – so glad you like it too!
This is amazing! Thank you and your mom for a wonderful recipe!
I thought My Mom was the only one who made this salad.. I love it.. always have and I use the shells but Mom always used macaroni. I also use what ever fresh veggies I have. Thanks for the reminder!
My kids new favorite!
I love this salad to eat in the summer
I just made this for dinner tonight so it won’t be sitting overnight. I did however take a tiny bite after mixing everything and WOW. This stuff is amazing. Thanks for sharing.
I should’ve said made this to serve with dinner tonight. Although I do think it would be a great lunch!
Made this yesterday in anticipation of our first hot summer weekend in Tucson so I wouldn’t need to cook sides over the weekend. My picky family and I love it! Unlike you, I do not like regular Mayo and did use Miracle Whip and it’s VERY tasty!! I actually did not include cheese or meat and added cucumber and tomatoes for a nice crisp taste. GREAT find and I definitely put it on my Tried It and WIN Pinterest board!
Thanks!!!
How many does it serve?
It would feed a small crowd as a side dish. About 8 to 10.
This salad is so good! I did use a couple tips from another pasta salad recipe I love. I boiled the pasta in heavily salted water (2 tablespoons salt). I also cut the carrots into coins and added them to the boiling pasta the last minute of cooking time. This cooks them just enough to eat in the pasta, but they’re still firm. The last difference was I didn’t rinse the pasta (I never rinse pasta). I spread it on a cookie sheet to cool. It doesn’t matter if it clumps at all, the dressing breaks it up. I didn’t change any ingredients though. The flavor was spot on. My husband and I gobbled it up! Thanks for the great recipe!
Thank you for the tip on cooking the pasta! I always boil in heavily salted water (salty like the sea) but I always have a problem with the conchiglie, especially, ‘marrying’ each other! It drives me mad! The idea to move it to a sheet pan to cool allows one to ‘divorce’ the married shells. i do think, however, that rinsing the starch away would further aid in the pasta sticking together, but I’m going to try your way first. Love the idea of adding carrots during the final moments of cooking too (but I will brunoise them). Thanks again, and thanks to favfamilyrecipes for the inspiration for a great mac salad!
You said “You never rinse the pasta” is STARCH good for us?
What kind of mayonnaise did you use?
Best Foods.. always Best Foods. I am picky when it comes to mayo!
We don’t have best foods in Nova Scotia would you suggest Hellman’s or Miracle Whip?
Yes! Hellmann’s IS Best Foods. It is the exact same thing. I don’t know why but it is labeled differently depending on where you live. Definitely go with the Hellmann’s!
Thank you can’t wait to try this!
I assume when you say “allow to sit overnight” that you mean in the refrigerator????
Yes! Definitely in the fridge!