Macaroni Salad
Cold macaroni salad for the potluck table — BLT, Hawaiian, Amish ranch-loaded, deviled egg, and crab rangoon versions for cookouts and busy summer nights.
★ lunch
lunchBLT Macaroni Salad
Another summertime favorite. Not your typical macaroni salad.
Lyndi CreightonIngredients
- 1 lb Pasta of choice (dry)
- 1 1/2 cup Cherry Tomatoes (halved)
- 2 1/2 cup Romaine Lettuce
- 1 lb Bacon (diced)
- 1 cup Mayonnaise
- 1/2 cup Ranch Dressing
- 1 tsp Garlic Powder
- Salt & Pepper to taste
- as much as you want Cheese Cubes of choice (optional)
Instructions
- 1Cook noodles according to package & drain well.
- 2Combine dressing ingredients (mayo, ranch and seasoning) in a small bowl until mixed.
- 3Toss all ingredients in a large bowl until well mixed. Refrigerate 1 hour before serving.
- 4*Note: add lettuce right before serving if you want a crisper lettuce as it does lose some of its crispness if put in then refrigerated for an hour.
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Open in Pepper →The Bowl Everybody Goes Back To
Macaroni salad is the dish you make the night before and stop worrying about. It sits in the fridge, it gets better by morning, and it stretches a package of noodles into enough for a whole table.
Cooks on Pepper reach for this collection when there's a cookout Saturday, a church potluck, or a hot week when nobody wants the oven on and dinner needs to be cold and already done.
Every recipe here is a real bowl someone brought somewhere: BLT Macaroni Salad with cherry tomatoes and romaine, creamy Hawaiian Macaroni Salad, Amish Ranch-Loaded Macaroni Salad, Deviled Egg Macaroni Salad, Sweet Amish Macaroni Salad with celery and hard-boiled eggs, and a Crab Rangoon Macaroni Salad with cream cheese and green onions.
Quick Tips
- 1
Cook the noodles soft
Go 1 to 2 minutes past al dente — cold pasta firms up in the fridge, and slightly soft elbows soak up the dressing better.
- 2
Rinse under cold water
Drain and rinse 30 seconds in a colander to stop the cooking and wash off starch so the salad doesn't turn gluey.
- 3
Dress it warm
Add about half the mayonnaise dressing while the macaroni is still a little warm so it absorbs, then stir in the rest before serving.
- 4
Chill at least 4 hours
Cover and refrigerate 4 hours or overnight; the flavors need that time, and it will need a splash of milk and a stir before it hits the table.
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