Macaroni Salad

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You can use greek yogurt, sour cream, buttermilk, half-and-half. I would think you could even use chicken broth...I make a shrimp pasta salad that uses half-and-half and mayo.
 
You can use greek yogurt, sour cream, buttermilk, half-and-half. I would think you could even use chicken broth...I make a shrimp pasta salad that uses half-and-half and mayo.


you had some good ideas to share for making macaroni salad, cws. i followed a couple of them with good results: i tossed some celery seed and dried onion in with the pasta cooking water. adding a small amount of 1/2 and 1/2 to my salad seemed to bring the mayo in it back to life. to my personal salad bowl i added some gambino's olive salad. this gave the salad a nice oily finish as well as the "umph" that (imo) it had been lacking. thanks.
 
I will add dried basil, oregano, and marjoram to the pasta when I'm making a pasta salad using an Italian salad dressing instead of mayo.
 
Bow tie pasta, cooked per package directions
Snow peas, cut in half, steamed/cooked crisp
artichoke hearts, cut to bite size pieces
olives
chopped celery
chopped onions
maybe some sliced radishes
a little parsley
tossed with a good Italian dressing... no mayo
sometimes I add broccoli florets
I've also used the colored pasta

this pasta salad looks like a keeper and a winner! it's what i'm making next time. what italian dressing do you like for it?
 
.............are you chilling (or at least cooling) the noodles before adding mayo ?
That's all I can think of..............
 
I don't know--but some of the seeds cling to the noodles and seem to enhance the flavor...my grandma made the best pasta salads and she always did this. Give it a try and let us know if you think it makes a difference or not. Maybe do a test where you make one with adding the seeds and the other without, but that is the only difference in the recipe.
 
I don't know--but some of the seeds cling to the noodles and seem to enhance the flavor...my grandma made the best pasta salads and she always did this. Give it a try and let us know if you think it makes a difference or not. Maybe do a test where you make one with adding the seeds and the other without, but that is the only difference in the recipe.

I'll try the recipe
 
I'm told that the ONLY time that noodles absorb flavor is during the cooking process............. could be wrong, but that's what I hear constantly from my fave "chefs":chef:


You should try making the famous SESAME NOODLES recipe. You start with cooked noodles sitting in a pool of sesame oil, rice vinegar, etc. then you keep tossing it every five minutes and magically all the liquid has been absorbed by the noodles. Besides, it tastes great!
 
You should try making the famous SESAME NOODLES recipe. You start with cooked noodles sitting in a pool of sesame oil, rice vinegar, etc. then you keep tossing it every five minutes and magically all the liquid has been absorbed by the noodles. Besides, it tastes great!

sesame noodles - a fine spicy hot weather choice too, soo good! never tried making them myself before--you make it sound easy though....:)
 
so then adding celery seed or dill weed should help flavor the noodles, like we know adding salt does...right?
I guess--it is just what we've always done when making pasta salads (or potato salads, or spaghetti...or other pasta dishes. I thought everyone did this).

Hmmm--guess my grandma was a better cook than I thought, and she was a DARNED good cook. baker, maker of pickles, etc. Not to mention, she was the best fisherman when we went fishing. She always caught the most walleye. And, she had a very green thumb. Oh--could I like to think it is genetic and I inherited some of that!!!
 
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Speaking of pasta salads--I used to be able to buy Cora's ring pasta. I haven't seen that for years (I have been hoarding my last box). Is it still available? (I haven't googled to find that--I did find a source for Swedish Brown Beans and have ordered some for when I'm in MN).
 
with all this hot weather we've been having, i find myself making macaroni salad for the third time in two weeks. the problem i'm having seems so basic that i'm embarrassed to reveal it even in this friendly forum. when boiling the pasta for the salad, i don't ever know how much i will need. sometimes, 1/2 lb. is all i need, other times 1 lb. is not enough to make a large bowl of macaroni salad. what causes the pasta to swell a lot or hardly at all - amount of water, brand of pasta, cooking time, what? i actually prefer the macaronis to stay small, but i mainly just need to know in advance how my pasta is going to behave....
 
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