Nothing beats a classic macaroni salad! Celery, peppers and green onions are tossed with cooked macaroni and a creamy homemade dressing. This salad is perfect for a backyard barbecue or picnic!

This weekend is always bittersweet. Warm weather, picnics, barbecues and friendly weekend cookouts with adult beverages are soon coming to an end here in Michigan. And I’m a little sad about it.

With that said we plan to spend Labor Day maxin’ and relaxin’, grilling, fishing, napping and squeezing out as much of summer vacation as possible before school starts on Tuesday. What I really don’t like is how Monday will feel like Sunday. Tuesday will feel like a Monday. And I will be in this weird perpetual confusion until the weekend is here again and I can get back to my somewhat normal and stay up until 3am reading.

I wonder how many times we’ll miss the bus this week because I forget to set my alarm. I say once… at least.

Sooooo tomorrow {Monday not Monday-that-feels-like-Sunday} my one and only real goal besides relaxing {and napping} is to maybe clean out a pantry cupboard or two? That and make a stellar meal for dinner that will put us into a food coma until our alarms go off for school. If they even go off that is.

 

Today I decided to get ahead of the game and do a little dinner prep by making one of the side dishes. Then I realized {uh-helloooo} I haven’t shared my recipe for macaroni salad. Well that’s just silly! How can I not have shared this yet? Pasta, veggies and homemade dressing tossed together for one helluva macaroni salad… it’s a blog staple. A recipe everyone needs to have in their repertoire. Right?

If you can’t tell, I love this salad and it’s CRAZY easy to make. You could make this the morning-of or the evening before, because it’s the kind of salad that only gets better and better as it sits in the fridge. You know, so all those flavors permeates the pasta. This macaroni salad is a no frills, no fuss, 100% homemade salad and just what your Labor Day needs… or any day really.

Crack one large egg into a bowl along with one egg yolk. Discard the extra egg white or keep and use for another purpose.

Add the egg yolks and white to a mini processor or blender.

Pour in the two tablespoons plus two teaspoons white vinegar.

Measure and add in one heaping tablespoon of Dijon mustard…

Season with a teaspoon of kosher salt, 1/4 teaspoon of coarsely ground black pepper…

…and 3/4 teaspoon of sugar.

Secure the processors lid, turn it on and sloooooooooooooowly pour in 3/4 cup of grapeseed oil. (extra light olive oil would work just as well!)

Process until smooth.

Pour the dressing into a bowl, snap on the lid…

And pop it into the fridge to chill until you’re ready to use. This recipe makes about 1-3/4 cup.

Fill a medium pot with water, bring to a boil and cook 1 pound of pasta until al dente. Follow your packages directions for perfect pasta.

While the pasta is cooking, finely dice up half a large orange bell pepper…

Do the same to half a red bell pepper…

Slice two stalks of celery in half and then into three strips and then finely dice those as well.

Finally, slice up 4 green onions.

Throw all of those beautiful veggies right on into a large bowl.

Once the pasta is cooked perfectly; drain and rinse with cold water and then toss it around to get any extra water out of the noodles.

Add the cooled noodles right on into the bowl with the veggies.

Stir…

… add in 3/4 of the dressing. Save the remaining dressing in the fridge for later on.

Toss…

Taste…

And season the Classic Macaroni Salad with more salt and pepper as desired. I now cover this gigantic bowl of carb-goodness for 4 hours or overnight. Then I toss the remaining dressing into the salad right before serving.

That’s it! You will love this delicious classic macaroni salad. I told you it was easy!

I hope you all have nice, relaxing, labor-free Labor Day!

 

Enjoy! And if you give this Classic Macaroni Salad recipe a try, let me know! Snap a photo and tag me on twitter or instagram!

My cookbook Simply Scratch : 120 Wholesome Homemade Recipes Made Easy is now available! CLICK HERE for details and THANK YOU in advance!

Print

Yield: 8-10 servings

Classic Macaroni Salad + Homemade Dressing

Macaroni salad with a creamy, dreamy homemade dressing.

Prep Time 30 minutes

Cook Time 10 minutes

Additional Time 20 minutes

Total Time 1 hour

Ingredients

HOMEMADE DRESSING:

• 1 large egg, plus 1 yolk
• 2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons distilled vinegar
• 1 (heaping) tablespoon Dijon mustard
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more to taste
• 3/4 teaspoon sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus more to taste
• 3/4 cup grapeseed oil

SALAD:

• 1 pound (dry) elbow macaroni noodles
• 1/2 a large red bell pepper, finely diced
• 1/2 a large orange bell pepper, finely diced
• 2 stalks of celery, finely diced
• 4 green onions, sliced

Instructions

1. In a blender or mini food processor, add the egg, egg yolk, vinegar, mustard, sugar, salt and pepper. Secure the lid, turn it on and slowly drizzle in the grapeseed oil in a thin and steady stream. Scrape down the sides and pulse until combined. Pour dressing in a small bowl, cover and refrigerate until ready to dress the pasta salad. Recipe yields 1-3/4 cup of dressing.
2. Bring water to a boil in a large pot. Cook pasta until al dente by follow the directions on your brands pasta box. Usually it's 9-10 minutes. Once cooked, drain the elbow macaroni into a colander and rinse with cold water.
3. In a large bowl combine the finely diced peppers, celery, green onions and cooled pasta. Add in 3/4 of the dressing, toss, taste and season with more salt and pepper if desired. Chill until ready to serve.
4. This pasta salad is best if refrigerated for at least 4 hours. Right before serving pour the remaining dressing over the macaroni salad and toss.

[this post contains affiliate links.]