No barbecue is complete without a nice chilled pasta salad. Today I’m going to share with you a twist on a classic macaroni salad. One that will be a SUPER-DUPER HIT at any pot luck, 4th of July celebration or a large family gathering!!
Now, before any of you go off on me, about this salad not being healthy…I’m letting you know that it isn’t meant to be. It’s a feel good, comforting, holiday pasta salad that you’ll feel guilty for eating so much of, but you can’t help yourself cos it’s soooo good! This isn’t your grandma’s macaroni salad either, it’s a sweet n creamy dressing with hint of spice. If you try it once, I guarantee it’ll be a summer barbecue staple and a 4th of July must-have on the menu.
Although I made a smaller batch of this salad for the recipe (half a pack of pasta), you can easily double it to make a whole (1lb) pack of pasta, for a larger gathering. The dressing part of the recipe makes quite a lot (cos this macaroni salad is best creamy and moist) so, if you’re doubling the pasta and veggies I’d only 1 1/2 times the dressing. You could always adjust the dressing to your taste adding just as much as you like and not the whole thing.
Here’s how you can make this deliciously sweet and creamy macaroni salad…
- 1/2lb elbow macaroni
- 1/2 cup celery, finely diced
- 1/2 cup bell peppers, finely diced
- 1/2 cup carrots, finely diced
- 1/4-1/3 cup red onion, finely diced
- handful of chopped parsley
- 2 green onions, sliced
- 3/4 cup mayonnaise
- 1/3 cup sweetened condesed milk
- 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
- 1 tsp sweet paprika
- 1/2 coleman’s dry mustard powder
- 1/4 tsp cayenne powder
- – Start by boiling the macaroni in a large pot of salted water, until it’s cooked through. I like cooking it a little bit softer than I would for a hot pasta dish, because it does toughen in the fridge when chilled.
- – While the pasta is cooking. Prep all your veggies and add it a bowl. I finely diced some celery,1/4 red pepper and yellow pepper, some carrots and a quarter of a large red onion.
- – For the dressing, in a seperate bowl measure out the mayonnaise, sweetened condensed milk, apple cider vinegar, paprika, mustard powder and cayenne pepper.
- – Stir everything together well until you have a smooth and creamy dressing.
- – Once the macaroni is cooked, drain and rinse it under cold water to stop it from cooking any further and cool it down.
- – Drain the excess water and add the macaroni to the big bowl of veggies and mix it all together well.
- – Pour the as much of the dressing over the top of the macaroni and veggies as you would like and mix it until everything is coated in the sweet and creamy dressing.
- – Garnish the salad with some fresh chopped parsley and finely sliced green onion and chill the salad covered, for a couple hours or overnight in the frigde. Yummmmm…