Amish Macaroni Salad is full of flavor, texture, and fresh ingredients. For a spring picnic or a light dinner side dish, make a big batch of this and watch it disappear!
Macaroni Salad
Macaroni Salad is a staple at outdoor barbeques. I crave it when I head to graduations, summer parties, or any outdoor potluck. Does that stop me from making this recipe on a random Tuesday? Nope. I love this stuff. This Amish Macaroni Salad recipe is so sweet and tangy. My mouth is watering just talking about it.
The base for this dish is Miracle Whip, not mayo (sorry). Mayonnaise is great for many things, and it is typically my go-to for most recipes. However, we are looking for the sweet tang of miracle whip in this recipe. They are not interchangeable here.
Can I make Amish Macaroni Salad with Ham?
Yes, and you probably should! Small chunks of sweet ham taste pretty good with this dish. When we cook up a crock pot honey ham, we typically chop up the leftovers and use them in this macaroni salad. You could probably mix in any number of meat variations and this would still be good. I am thinking of oven-roasted pulled pork or even cooked tuna fish.
Can I Make This with a Different Type of Noodle?
Yes, but I caution you from using noodles that get too flimsy like spaghetti or linguini noodle. That could make the dish taste a little mushy. I would stick with a more structured, solid noodles like an elbow macaroni noodle, a bow-tie, or even a fusilli noodle. Whatever you decide, cook to the package directions for al dente. Typically it is about 10-12 minutes.
How to Store Amish Macaroni Salad
Store macaroni salad in the refrigerator, covered. It will last up to 3-5 days; give it a good stir when ready to serve.
More Pasta Dishes
Amish Macaroni Salad
Ingredients
- 12 ounces box elbow macaroni
- 4 large hard-boiled eggs, chopped
- 1 small red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
- 1 small vidalia onion, chopped (sweet onion)
- 3 stalks celery, chopped
- 2 cups Miracle Whip salad dressing
- 2 tablespoons dill pickle relish
- 3 tablespoons yellow mustard
- 2 teaspoons white distilled vinegar
- ¼ cup (50 g) granulated sugar
- ¾ teaspoon celery seed
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
Instructions
- Heat a large pot to boiling and cook the macaroni for the time instructed on the packaging minus 1 minute (ie. if the instructions say cook for 9 minutes, cook for 8 minutes). Drain and rinse under cold water.
- In a large bowl, add the eggs, red bell pepper, onion, and celery. Stir to combine.
- In a separate medium bowl, whisk together the dressing, relish, mustard, vinegar, sugar, celery seed, and salt.
- Pour half of the dressing mixture into the egg mixture. Stir to combine. Add all of the cooled macaroni and stir to coat. Add in more dressing, if needed. Serve immediately or cover and chill in the refrigerator until ready to serve.
Video
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Photography by The PKP Way.
I would be tempted to use sweet pickle relish.
It looks like there is grated cheddar in the picture but I don’t see that ingredient on the list?
Love salads made with miracle whip. Only way hubby will eat potato salad is with miracle whip.
Me too grown up on miracle whip we love Mac salad and potato salad made with it don’t like mayo at all born in the Midwest Minnesota
I love most of the recipes you post, but I have to make an exception on this one. I have always said, “Lips that touch Miracle Whip shall never touch mine.” Is there an acceptable alternative to it?
Mayo
Love reading the Amish recipes, my mom’s family is mennonite, instead of using vinegar use the pickle juice. Pickle juice is vinegar anyway. Just thought I would add that hint.
I am going to make this Mac salad for my next family get together and for my next church pot luck. Thank you for these recipes. I have a lot of Amish recipe books, but I have never seen this recipe.