Chubby's Best Macaroni Salad

Looking for my Chubby's Best Potato Salad instead? Click here.

A classic American side for picnics and barbecues. This is the best and simplest recipe I've found for a basic macaroni salad. Made with just a few ingredients, it's creamy and flavorful with just a bit of crunch from the veggies. Best of all, it can be made the night before and just pulled out of the fridge when the burgers come off the grill.

Ingredients

-For the dressing-

18 oz Duke's Mayonnaise

3 Tbsp Sugar

1 tsp celery seed

½ tsp garlic salt

2 tsp apple cider vinegar

2 Tbps dill pickle relish

2 Tbsp yellow mustard

Salt and pepper to taste

-For the Salad-

1 lb elbow macaroni (or ditalini)

3 hard boiled eggs (peeled and chopped)

¾ c diced red onion

¾ c diced red bell pepper

¾ c celery

Directions

In a small mixing bowl, combine dressing ingredients and mix until sugar is dissolved and celery seed and relish bits are dispersed throughout the dressing. Set bowl in refrigerator while assembling the rest of the salad.

Boil macaroni about 7 minutes until just soft. This is going to absorb some moisture from the salad dressing, so you don't want it too mushy. Drain pasta and rinse in cold water to stop cooking process. Throwing a few ice cubes into the colander too will help bring the temperature down quickly.

While macaroni is cooling, peel and chop eggs. Chop celery, onion, and pepper.

In a large mixing bowl combine the drained, cold pasta with the chopped eggs, veggies, and dressing. Stir gently until pasta is coated.

Store covered in refrigerator at least one hour but preferably overnight. Keep cold and use within 4 days.

Tips/Add-Ins

I hate using the word "basic" for this recipe, because it's already so good. But this IS a basic recipe for a classic macaroni salad. You can definitely make it Deluxe with a few substitutions or additions.

Replace the salt and pepper with your favorite seasoning blend. Slap Ya Mama, Tony Cachere's Creole seasoning, Montreal Steak seasoning, or Lawry's season salt would all yield delicious results.

Replace the egg, mustard, and relish with 3oz chopped cooked chicken, ¼ lb (precooked weight) of cooked crumbled bacon, and a packet of Hidden Valley Ranch seasoning for Chicken Bacon Ranch macaroni salad.

Replace the egg, mustard, and relish with shredded cheese, chopped salami, olives, and wishbone Italian dressing mix for Italian Pasta Salad.

Replace the egg, mustard, and relish with chopped cooked chicken and Frank's Red Hot sauce for Buffalo Chicken pasta salad.

You could absolutely use sweet relish instead of dill or Miracle Whip instead of mayo, but I don't recommend it, because Duke's mayonnaise is delicious and the dill relish gives a nice tangy bite. Seriously, Duke's is the best Mayonnaise I've ever had. They aren't paying me to say this, but if they made a sponsorship offer, I'd definitely be interested...