Macaroni Salad
A step beyond bland, mayo pasta salad to a bright, flavorful macaroni salad that also carries a little heat.
Servings: 8
Calories: 267kcal
Equipment
- Veggie workstation (cutting board, chef knife, discard bowl, wipe down towel)
- Pot for pasta
- Colander to drain pasta
- Whisk for sauce and a rubber spatula to get it all out of the bowl
- Small bowl for sauce, medium sized bowl for veggies + herbs, large bowl for mixing
- Wooden spoon to mix
Ingredients
Pasta
- 12 oz dry elbow macaroni
- 4 Quarts Water Per box instructions
- 2 T kosher salt Water should taste like the sea
- 2 T Avocado Oil used to keep pasta from sticking
Veggies
- 1. Yellow- orange bell pepper chopped small
- 2 Shallot diced
- 3 stalks Celery sliced, with leaves
- 3 Scallions sliced diagonal
- 1 Carrot sliced diagonal
- 1 T kosher salt
- 1/2 cup fresh parsley leaves Chopped well
- 2 T Seasoned rice vinegar
Sauce
- 4 T mayonnaise
- 4 T Sour cream
- 4.5 T Seasoned rice vinegar Use Japanese version of this vinegar
- 1/2 Meyer Lemon Meyer lemons will add a sweeter acid
- 2 t Sriracha sauce Put in as much as you prefer, to taste
- 2 T Dijon mustard Use quality Dijon
- 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1 t Salt To taste
Instructions
Pasta
- Cook the past in salted water, drain into a colander in the sink, and place the pasta in the large bowl to cool while other ingredients are prepped.
- Mix in 1-2T olive oil to keep the pasta from sticking together. Mix and set aside.
Veggies
- Chop an orange or yellow bell pepper into small cubes, no seeds and put in a veggie bowl.
- Slice scallions and carrots on the diagonal and put into the veggie bowl.
- Dice the shallot and finely chop the fresh parsley and add to the bowl. Set aside ~2t parsley to add to the sauce.
- Add 2T seasoned rice vinegar into the veggies and mix. While waiting to finish the sauce let this veggie mix marinate in the vinegar. Mix a bit so everything gets marinated.
Sauce
- Add seasoned Japanese rice wine into a sauce bowl, add salt, pepper, mayo, sour cream, lemon juice and mustard, and mix well. I also add two quick squirts of Sriracha sauce, ~1t. Add more hot sauce if you want, it is up to your preference.
- Add a bit of the parsley to the sauce and then taste for additional seasoning.
Notes
This is a highly flavorful sauce on the acidic side. I love it, my spouse not so much.
I tested this with gluten free elbow pasta and while it felt a little “mealy” to me, the flavor of the sauce would make me eat it.
The gluten pasta texture felt better to me and had a better overall taste.
Nutrition
Calories: 267kcal | Carbohydrates: 35g | Protein: 6g | Fat: 11g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Cholesterol: 6mg | Sodium: 3077mg | Potassium: 233mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 3g | Vitamin A: 1849IU | Vitamin C: 13mg | Calcium: 51mg | Iron: 1mg