This Classic Macaroni Salad is another dish my mom made often growing up. It was one of her go-to salads for pot lucks, and family reunions. It’s a simple salad with simple ingredients, but it pairs perfectly with everything from hamburgers and hot dogs to ribs and pulled pork.
My mom still makes this Classic Macaroni Salad every 4th of July when the whole family is home. If you are a big fan of traditional pasta salad, you will love this recipe.
More Recipes from Mom
- Mom’s Homemade Ranch Dressing
- Classic Meatloaf Recipe
- Mom’s Best Dinner Rolls
- Classic Banana Bread
- Mom’s Sunday Pot Roast
- Mom’s Cherry Pie
My mom goes back and forth between adding little canned shrimp or little chunks of ham. I prefer ham or even no meat at all in mine.
For a large group, my mom always doubles this recipe. It makes a giant Tupperware bowl full when it is doubled. A regular batch makes about 12-15 servings.
HOW TO MAKE CLASSIC MACARONI SALAD
- Cook pasta shells in salted water to al dente and drain. Let pasta cool.
- Pour the cooled pasta noodles into a large mixing bowl.
- Next, add the chopped cucumber, tomato, onion, celery, olives, and ham. Do a quick salt and pepper over all the veggies.
- In a small bowl, use a whisk to mix up the sauce by combining the mayonnaise, milk, garlic salt, seasoning salt, and 1/2 a tsp of sugar. Taste it and then add salt, pepper, and sugar to taste.
- Pour sauce over pasta and veggies and mix until everything is nicely coated with sauce.
- Best if refrigerated for a couple of hours before serving.
- Keep leftovers refrigerated.
- Enjoy!
Tips for making Classic Macaroni Salad
- Don’t forget to add salt to the water when cooking the pasta shells.
- To cool the pasta off quickly, run them under cold water a few times.
- In place of the small pasta shells, you can also use Ditalini pasta, the tiny little pasta tubes, as pictured in the post.
- Use a food processor or food chopper to finely chop the onions and celery.
Classic Macaroni Salad
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
Creamy pasta salad mixed with your favorite veggies and smokey bites of ham.
Author: My Mom
Recipe type: Pasta Salad
Cuisine: Potluck
Serves: 12
Ingredients
- 1 lb, small pasta shells
- 1 cup diced cucumber
- 1 cup diced tomatoes or grape tomatoes, halved
- ½ cup green onions or red onion, finely chopped
- 1 cup celery, finely chopped. (I chop them into tiny little squares.)
- 1 cup of olives, sliced
- 1 cup of ham, cut into small cubes
- 1 cup mayonnaise
- ¼ cup milk
- ½ tsp garlic salt
- ½ tsp seasoning salt
- salt and pepper to taste
- ½-1 tsp sugar (to taste)
Instructions
- Cook pasta shells in salted water to al dente and drain. Let pasta cool.
- Pour the cooled pasta noodles into a large mixing bowl.
- Next, add the chopped cucumber, tomato, onion, celery, olives, and ham. Do a quick salt and pepper over all the veggies.
- In a small bowl, use a whisk to mix up the sauce by combining the mayonnaise, milk, garlic salt, seasoning salt, and ½ a tsp of sugar. Taste it and then add salt, pepper, and sugar to taste.
- Pour sauce over pasta and veggies and mix until everything is nicely coated with sauce.
- Best if refrigerated for a couple of hours before serving.
- Keep leftovers refrigerated.
Cookies Perfect for Potlucks
Very good! Made it exactly as written, except for onions (hubby don’t like them), but added onion powder in place. Put a little extra sugar in it. I think what I love most about it, is not having to balance vinegar and mustard. Also, no egg!! Yay!! Definatly will be making again!
Great! Love hearing this Jessi!
We make this at least once a week in the summertime! Soooo good. I love it with the seasoned salt. #julygiveaway