The Most Delicious Macaroni Salad
My mother-in-law used to make the most delicious macaroni salad. Many, many years ago I asked her for the recipe. She did not have one written down, it was all in her head. After a bit of begging, she wrote down the ingredients for me.
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Over the years, I have made it several times. And I have fine-tuned the ratios and measurements.
We have egg allergies in our house, so I do not make this often. I usually only break it out for Stu’s birthday or big potlucks. Since we moved to Birmingham, I have made it twice. People LOVE it.
Remy has been helping me in the kitchen lately. Whenever I start pulling pots out, he climbs onto the counter and scoots over. It’s adorable. He helped me with some of the pics for this post.
First, I prepared the noodles according to the package. And while those were cooking, I boiled the eggs. We drained the noodles. Next we put them in the big mixing bowl and into the fridge. After the noodles went into the fridge, I gave the eggs an ice bath and peeled them. Then those were pushed off to the side to cool on the counter.
Remy helped with the peppers. I chopped them up while Remy took pics. He helped me scrape them into the bowl. I made the mayo mixture with a vegan mayo – that’s what we had on hand. Regular mayo works, Miracle Whip or Veganaise all work, so whatever you have will be just fine. Mix the mayo and sugar together. You can add more sugar if you think it needs to be a little sweeter.
For this recipe, I highly recommend using prepackaged shredded cheese. In my everyday cooking, I shred cheese fresh… but the prepackaged stuff holds up well in the mac salad. Freshly shredded cheese has too much natural moisture. It will be gross. Trust me on this.
Now that everything is in the big mixing bowl, give everything a nice toss. Mix it all up so the mayo mixture is dispersed evenly. This is when you can decide if you want more mayo mixture… if you like your macaroni salad to be saucier, add more. If you have prepared this ahead of time, give it a good stir before serving. You might need a touch more mayo mixture.
I hope you try it. Let me know what you think.
Click here for a quick TikTok video of me making this salad in under 3 minutes. Ah, the power of video editing.
The BEST Mac Salad
Equipment
- A large mixing bowl, with lid
Ingredients
- 1 box Macaroni (or your fave noodle)
- 3 Eggs
- 1 Green bell pepper
- 1 Red bell pepper
- 1 Yellow onion
- 1½ cup Mayo
- 2 TBS Sugar
- 1 TBS Seasoned salt
- 2 cups Shredded cheddar cheese
Instructions
- Cook the macaroni according to the package. Drain, Put pasta in your large mixing bowl. Cover and put in the fridge to cool for at least 2 hours.
- Boil your eggs, I do a hard boil for 13 minutes. Let cool in cold water, then peel and set aside.
- After 2 hours, pull your noodles out of the fridge. Dice your peppers and onion. Add them to the pasta bowl. Sprinkle the seasoned salt onto the pasta, peppers and onion.
- Chop up the eggs. (I leave them in big chunks) Add them to the mixing bowl.
- In a small bowl, mix the mayo and sugar. Add a tsp or two of water. Mix. If the mixture is too runny, add a TBS of mayo. If it's too thick, add a tiny bit of water.
- Pour the mayo mixture over the noodles. Gently mix together.
- Add 2 cups of shredded cheddar cheese. Use the prepackaged cheese, freshly shredded will be too wet and goopy. The prepackaged stuff lasts longer.
- Mix together. Cover. I like to let mine sit for at least another hour.
Notes
