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The Best Macaroni Salad Ever

by on June 19, 2012 in Pasta Salads, Salads June 19, 2012 Pasta SaladsSalads
4.89 Mitt(s) 9 Rating(s)9 votes, average: 4.89 out of 59 votes, average: 4.89 out of 59 votes, average: 4.89 out of 59 votes, average: 4.89 out of 59 votes, average: 4.89 out of 5

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Level: Easy

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Description

I love macaroni salad, but I’m very picky about it! Here’s the way I like it.

Ingredients

  • 4 cups Elbow Macaroni
  • 3 whole Roasted Red Peppers, Chopped (more To Taste, Can Also Use Pimentos)
  • ½ cups Black Olives, Chopped Fine
  • 6 whole Sweet/spicy Pickle Slices, Diced (about 1/2 Cup Diced)
  • 3 whole Green Onions, Sliced (white And Dark Green Parts)
  • ½ cups Mayonnaise
  • 1 Tablespoon Red Wine Or Distilled Vinegar
  • 3 teaspoons Sugar, More Or Less To Taste
  • ¼ teaspoons Salt, More To Taste
  • Plenty Of Black Pepper
  • ¼ cups Milk (more If Needed)
  • Splash Of Pickle Juice (spicy Sweet Pickles)
  • Extra Pickle Juice To Taste

Preparation

Cook the macaroni in lightly salted water according to package directions. Drain and rinse under cold water to cool. Set aside.

Mix together mayo, vinegar, sugar, salt, and pepper. Splash in enough milk to make it pourable. Splash in pickle juice for extra flavor. Taste and adjust seasonings as needed. Set aside.

Place cooled macaroni in a large bowl and pour 3/4 of the dressing. Toss and add more dressing if you’d like. (Dressing will seem a little thin, but it will thicken up as salad chills.)

Stir in olives, roasted red peppers (or pimentos), pickles, and green onions. Add more of any ingredient if you’d like more stuff going on! At the end, splash in a little more pickle juice and stir.

Chill for at least 2 hours before serving. Sprinkle with sliced green onion to serve!

3 Comments

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Angela Wallace on 8.22.2014

This is truly the best macaroni salad, ever! I love it, and so does my family. They keep asking, “When are you going to make that macaroni salad again?” And the directions are easy, and funny! <3

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Davina on 5.10.2014

This salad was very awesome. I made if for a church meeting for our women at church and they loved it. The down side was I used famous Dave’s sweet hot pickles and now I can’t stop eating them. But this salad was a hit. I am taking it to my mother’s today for mothers day dinner.

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Mary Bax on 4.22.2014

I made this salad for my friends at work. We had to work overtime and I wanted a salad to go with our sandwiches. OMG is all I can say!!! I am not a fan of black olives but I was surprised how much I like them! Perfect blend of everything!!! This is defiantly a keeper!!! I couldn’t find spicy pickles but I did find Garlic pickles and that was just fine. Everyone loved it and asked for the recipe…

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Angela Wallace on 8.22.2014

This truly is the best macaroni salad, ever! :)

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JamminJan on 7.2.2013

This is very good and the dressing is quite close to my own recipe. Instead of pickle juice, I use either yellow ballpark or honey mustard, up to 1T to taste. I have to admit though that I’m in the crunchy camp on this one. I use fresh sweet red and/or green bell pepper, red onion and celery, all chopped. I don’t like the softer texture of the pickles, olives and pimentos/jarred rstd reds. I also put in 3 chopped hard boiled egg whites. I mash up the yolks and add them to the dressing. Just personal taste preference.

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Launa Haywood on 5.26.2013

Best BEST best BEST Macaroni Salad… I have made like 40 different kinds of Macaroni Salad.. THIS ONE IS THE BEST!! Thanks Ree! You ROCK!

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aimee on 5.16.2013

This was very tasty. We had it as a main dish so I added a chopped grilled chicken breast. I loved all the flavors. It was a tad drier than I would have liked (probably from the extra chicken) so I will make more dressing next time. It was great to eat on a hot summer night. I will make again!

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Linda Berg on 9.15.2012

This, indeed, is the best macaroni salad ever. I just made it for our church picnic. I could not find “spicy” pickles so added a couple of chopped jalapenos to the sweet pickles. It worked! Very good, and very easy.

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