Name: Mom-Style Macaroni Salad
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 10 min
Total time: 40 min
Yield: 12
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: 1 pound macaroni--shells, elbows or rotini; 1 cup medium onion, diced (as much or as little as you like); 2 ribs celery, small dice (ditto); 1-2 carrots, peeled and shredded on a box grater; 1/2 cup pickle relish (sweet or dill); 12 oz canned tuna, drained and pressed (about 2 small cans); 1/2 cup cheddar cheese cut into 1/4" cubes; 2 cups mayonnaise; 2 Tablespoons yellow or spicy mustard; 3 Tablespoons vinegar or sweet pickle juice; salt, to taste; pepper, to taste; 1 teaspoon celery seed; 1 Tablespoon sugar or honey, (optional and only if using vinegar rather than sweet pickle juice); 1/4 to 1/2 cup "green can" Parmesan cheese (optional but nice)

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This Mom-Style Macaroni Salad was one of the very early recipes I posted on this blog, and for good reason. It is one of my all-time favorite comfort foods, a retro pasta salad that is hard to beat.

Easy to make and evey easier to eat, you can also customize it with additional vegetables if you’d like. But for me, the way mom mom used to make it is still my favorite way. Try it. I hope you love it as much as we do!

If you like your macaroni salad a little on the spicy side, give my chipotle ranch pasta salad a try, and if you like warm pasta dishes, you will also want to check out my creamy mac and cheese recipe. It is The Best.

If you love pasta like I do, here are all of my pasta recipes in one place.

For ease of browsing, here are all of my side dish recipes in one place.

Macaroni salad in mayonnaise-based dressing in cast iron enameled serving bowls. Text says "Mom-Style Macaroni Salad."

What You'll Find in This Post Click to view ToC

The Difference Between Macaroni Salad and Pasta Salad

I do enjoy a good pasta salad: crisp, blanched vegetables and yummy al dente pasta shapes all drenched in a homemade vinaigrette and spiked with whatever herbs and spices strike my fancy.

Macaroni salad or retro pasta salad is the less fancy version of modern pasta salad.

Classic, workhorse pasta shapes like shells or elbows are the order of the day here, and maybe rotini if you’re feeling fancy. The dressing is usually mayonnaise-based and not vinaigrette based.

When trying to decide whether a dish is pasta salad or macaroni salad, ask yourself these questions, which are admittedly subjective, but it’s my list, s there you go:

Are there tons of vegetables in it? (It’s probably pasta salad)
Do I see any black olives? (It’s definitely pasta salad)
Is all the pasta slathered in creamy, mayo-based sauce? (It’s probably macaroni salad)
Is there pickle juice in the dressing? (It’s probably macaroni salad)
Is there cheese in it?
- Is it feta cheese? (It’s probably pasta salad)
- Is it Parmesan cheese from a can? (It’s probably macaroni salad)
- Is it Velveeta or American cheese or maybe cheddar? (It’s probably macaroni salad)

So maybe some of those questions are broad generalizations and are based on my own personal preferences. Maybe.

My Mom’s Macaroni Salad

Pasta shells in mayonnaise-based dressing, close-up, with a fork in the bowl.

My mom’s macaroni salad is definitely not pasta salad.

This is the macaroni that you take to the covered dish Wednesday night supper.

The one that you make for the little league end-of-season party. The Dish of Choice for the swim team party, the block party, the I’m-sorry-your-aunt-died get together.

I grew up eating this stuff, and when I make it for myself, I stay pretty true to Mom’s way of making it. And now, I’m going to share it with you.

Use this as a basic recipe template, and feel free to add/substitute to your Heart’s Content. But do try it The Original Way at least once. Especially if you are a fan of celery seed and tuna. You won’t be sorry.

Ingredients and Equipment for This Recipe

Overhead shot of two handled bowls of retro pasta salad in mayonnaise-based dressing on a cutting board with half an onion.

As with most mom-style recipes, you don’t need a lot of fancy equipment or ingredients to make a retro pasta salad. Here’s a checklist to make sure you have what you need (and you probably do):

large pot for boiling pasta
a colander or strainer (I use my over-the-sink strainer all the time)
a large bowl for mixing up the salad
a large spatula for folding everything together without smashing the macaroni

And the ingredient list, exactly as I like to make it with no substitutions:

Duke’s mayonnaise (or a half and half mixture of mayo and sour cream if I’m feeling righteous)
yellow mustard
sweet pickle juice or apple cider vinegar and a touch of sugar
sweet or dill pickle relish (I prefer sweet)
Parmesan cheese (green can here is just fine)
little cubes of sharp cheddar cheese (maybe 1/4″ cubes)

About the cubes of cheese? Don’t buy already cubed cheese because those cubes are too big and you’ll just need to cut each of those into 8 smaller cubes.

Why cubes? Because I add the cheese while the pasta is still somewhat warm. If you use shredded cheese, it could melt.

While that’s not the worst thing, I like to find little bites of cheese in my macaroni salad, so even if the outsides of the little cubes melt some, they generally stay intact.

Now, on with the ingredient list:

salt and pepper
celery seed–I love it. Try it in tomato soup sometime!)
Medium shell pasta sweet, white, or yellow onion
celery
shredded carrot (my mom uses it, but I generally don’t because I am not a Carrot Fan)
canned tuna

How to Make Macaroni Salad

There are plenty of ways to make macaroni salad, and probably no one right way, but this is how I do it.

Mix up all the dressing ingredients in a bowl.
Cook the pasta, drain well, and rinse so it’s not boiling hot.
Mix the dressing with the still warm pasta so it can soak in.
Chop/mince up additional ingredients.
Fold them into the salad with a spatula.

Make It a Meal

Wondering what to serve with mom’s macaroni salad? It makes a great side dish for an old fashioned burger like a Double Polar Burger with Everything (from Grease!) or a smashed bacon double cheeseburger.

Since the macaroni salad is already pretty carby, you could also choose to serve it with this chicken with mushrooms and thyme. Or you can stick with the salads theme and serve it with coronation chicken salad.

And of course, round out your meal with a retro classic double chocolate cheesecake. You’ve earned it!

More Retro Recipes

I love the recipes my mom made as I was growing up back in the 70s, so I have quite a few on the blog.

If you’re a fan of easy, mom-style retro recipes, you may like some of the following:

My favorite casserole, beefy and tomato-y and creamy Hamburger Macaroni Casserole Supreme
My favorite Christmas cookie, the perfect pecan slices or Angel Slices. These have a shortbread type crust, coconut pecan filling, and thin, crunchy lemon glaze. They are perfect.
Perfectly buttery all-butter Angel Biscuits. Lord, y’all.

Okay, enough talk.

Here it is. My mom’s macaroni salad, and my favorite retro pasta salad in all the land.

Do you have a favorite “mom-style” dish that you go back to again and again? I’d love to hear about it so I can make it and Eat It. And maybe share with The Beloved.

Maybe.

If you have questions about this post or recipe, don’t hesitate to get in touch. You can leave a comment on the post and I will get back to you within about 24 hours.

If your question is more urgent, please shoot me an email, and I will respond within 4 hours, unless I’m asleep.

Email Jenni

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If you make the recipe, please consider rating it a rating and a review. You can do this via the recipe card in the post.

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Close up shot of macaroni salad made with shells in a green bowl.

Mom-Style Macaroni Salad

Yield: 12 servings

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes

Total Time: 40 minutes

The best mom-style macaroni salad in the world. Because it's my mom's. Give it a try, or spin it using your favorite ingredients.I never measure when I make this.

Leave out the tuna to make it vegetarian. To make it vegan, you can use Just Mayo for the mayonnaise and leave out the cheese (or sub with the vegan cheese of your choice)

The whole idea is to make enough dressing goo to coat all the pasta pretty liberally. By the next day, most of it will have soaked in, leaving the pasta somewhat dry.

If you don't like it that way, make a Very Lot of dressing goo. If you like your macaroni on the dry-ish side, make Just Enough. Whatever that means is up to you.I will give you amounts to start with, and from there you can add more or less as your taste dictates. Enjoy!

Ingredients

For the Dressing

2 cups mayonnaise
2 Tablespoons yellow or spicy mustard
3 Tablespoons vinegar or sweet pickle juice
salt, to taste
pepper, to taste
1 teaspoon celery seed
1 Tablespoon sugar or honey, (optional and only if using vinegar rather than sweet pickle juice)
1/4 to 1/2 cup "green can" Parmesan cheese (optional but nice)

For the Macaroni

1 pound macaroni--shells, elbows or rotini
1 cup medium onion, diced (as much or as little as you like)
2 ribs celery, small dice (ditto)
1-2 carrots, peeled and shredded on a box grater
1/2 cup pickle relish (sweet or dill)
12 oz canned tuna, drained and pressed (about 2 small cans)
1/2 cup cheddar cheese cut into 1/4" cubes

Instructions

For the Dressing

Mix together all the dressing ingredients in a medium bowl. It should be pretty yellow, so decide if you want to add a bit more mustard or not.

For the Macaroni

Cook the macaroni until it is done to your liking, and drain well. Rinse with cool water just to keep it from being boiling hot.
Put the macaroni into a big old bowl, and stir in the dressing. Yes, while the macaroni is still warm, so it will soak in.
Then, stir in the onion, celery, relish, and tuna until it is all nicely Mixed Up. I do this one ingredient at a time, just to give the macaroni time to cool off some before adding the cheese.
Add the cheese cubes last and fold them in gently so they're evenly distributed
Refrigerate until cold.
Put in your face.

Notes

Remember, you can add additional vegetables if you would like. You can also leave out anything in the ingredient list that you don't like and substitute for ingredients you enjoy.

It's mom-style macaroni salad, so make it the way your mom would made it (if she is a macaroni salad maker)

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