Macaroni Salad

Several month’s ago I got an offer for a magazine subscription for Cooking with Paula Deen. That is where this macaroni salad recipe comes from. Paula may be my favorite cook on the food channel. She’s a down home girl and I consider my self to be a down home girl in my own Utah kind of way. So I decided to give her magazine a try.
My first issue was the March/April 2008 issue. I have had it laying around the house with pages dog eared of recipes that I wanted to try. Well, with it being memorial weekend I thought to look at what I had marked. I was hoping to see if there was a recipe that I could use for the weekend.
I decided to give a recipe for Macaroni Salad a try.
It’s in a section that is recipe’s from Paula’s friends. Above the recipe it reads, “Elaina Lindner got this recipe from her husband’s Aunt Gert. Everywhere she takes this dish, people ask for the recipe. The flavor is surprisingly sweet.” I found this recipe to be quite good and it was surprisingly sweet.

I only made 1/2 a recipe since there was only five of us. Then instead of just garnishing the salad with hard boiled egg and parsley, I mixed it in just before serving. I used 2 eggs for the 1/2 recipe and sprinkled in parsley until it looked like enough. Now, I do think that you could mix in some other things if you wanted to. I think that it could be good to add fruit like pineapple, grapes, and mandarin oranges. Actually, I liked the fact that you make this salad a head of time. I made it the night before, then at dinner the next day it was all ready.
Here is what you need to make the
Macaroni Salad
- MAYONNAISE
- ONION
- CELERY
- SUGAR
- WATER
- WHITE VINEGAR
- GARLIC
- RADIATORE PASTA (YOU CAN SUBSTITUTE ROTINI PASTA)
- GARNISH: CHOPPED HARD BOILED EGG, CHOPPED FRESH PARSLEY (I USED DRY)

Macaroni Salad
Real Mom Kitchen
Ingredients
- 2 cups mayonnaise
- 1 medium onion chopped
- 1 cup diced celery
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 cup cold water
- ½ cup white vinegar
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1 16 oz box radiatore pasta, cooked and drained (the recipe also says you can substitute rotini pasta)
- Garnish: chopped hard boiled egg chopped fresh parsley (I used dry)
Instructions
- In a large bowl, combine mayonnaise, onion, celery, sugar, water, vinegar, and garlic. Add pasta, stirring to combine well. (there is also a note on the recipe that says: Mixture will be very soupy at first, but thicken as it chills.)
- Cover, and chill overnight. (I gave mine a mix in the morning.) Garnish with hard boiled egg and fresh parsley if desired. Serves 12-16.
This is the original photo from this post. The above photo was updated in June 2013.