The Best Healthy Macaroni Salad (Deli Style!)

Course: Side Dish

Cuisine: American

Prep Time: 15

Cook Time: 10

Additional Time: 1

Total Time: 1 25

Servings:

Calories: 164kcal

Author: Lauren

This Healthy Macaroni Salad (Deli Style!) is the absolute best summer side dish. It's amazingly creamy, packed with delicious crunchy vegetables and has the most perfect tangy sweet flavor! This recipe is lower in fat than the traditional recipe but absolutely no one will know it for a second! The perfect side dish for your next summer BBQ!

Print Recipe

Equipment

Vegetable chopper optional, just makes life so much easier and so nice to have everything the same size!

Ingredients

Macaroni Salad:

8 oz. elbow macaroni noodles
1 cup celery (140g)
1 red bell pepper (150g) diced small
1/2 cup red onion (60g) diced small
1/2 cup baby gherkins (70g) or any pickles, diced small

Dressing:

1/2 cup light mayo (120g)
1/4 cup plain greek yogurt (60g)
2 Tbsp pickle juice (30g)
2 tsp dijon mustard
2 tsp sugar
2 tsp red wine vinegar
1/4 tsp salt
Freshly cracked black pepper

Instructions

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Generously salt the water, then add the pasta. Cook according to package instructions. Then rinse with cold water and drain well.
Whisk together the dressing ingredients in a small bowl and set aside.
In a large bowl, add the diced celery, peppers, red onion and gherkins to the bowl. Add the pasta and the dressing and toss well to evenly coat. Taste and add more salt, pepper, pickle juice, etc to taste.
Cover and refrigerate for at least one hour. Best if refrigerated for 24 hours.

Notes

To make gluten-free: use gluten-free pasta

To make dairy-free or vegan: use dairy-free greek yogurt (or omit and use all mayo)

Ways to switch it up:

Add your favorite cheese! Try adding cheddar cheese cubes, crumbled feta or mini mozzarella balls.
More veggies! Add additional veggies like shredded carrots, cucumber, green onions or diced radishes!
Throw in some protein! If you're looking to really kick up the protein add some diced chicken or ham!
Spice it up! Give it an extra kick with diced jalapeños or a few shakes of cayenne or paprika!

Helpful Tips

Don’t over-cook your noodles – Cook noodles until they are al dente (or 2 minutes less than the package directions). Fully cooked or overcooked noodles might become soggy in your macaroni salad and no one enjoys that!
Rinse noodles in cold water – Rinse the cooked pasta in cold water to stop additional cooking. Check out this awesome article from the The Kitchn about when to rinse noodles!
Add salt to noodle water – adding salt to the water before you cook your noodles will help give the whole dish additional flavor! You can omit if you or someone you're serving is on a low-sodium diet.

Nutrition