Amish Macaroni Salad
A colorful and flavorful macaroni salad made with hard-cooked eggs, bell pepper and celery in a creamy dressing. Best macaroni salad I have ever had. I always get many requests for the recipe. Enjoy!
A colorful and flavorful macaroni salad made with hard-cooked eggs, bell pepper and celery in a creamy dressing. Best macaroni salad I have ever had. I always get many requests for the recipe. Enjoy!
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup white sugar
- 1 small onion chopped
- 3 stalks celery chopped
- 2 cups uncooked elbow macaroni
- 3 hard-cooked eggs chopped
- 1 small red bell pepper seeded and chopped
- 2 tablespoons dill pickle relish
- 2 cups creamy salad dressing (e.g. miracle whip)
- 3 tablespoons prepared yellow mustard
- 2 1/4 teaspoons white vinegar
- 3/4 teaspoon celery seed
- Carbohydrate 48.40924362612 g
- Cholesterol 93.06 mg
- Fat 3.19214888949906 g
- Fiber 2.34340279481027 g
- Protein 8.18509583399828 g
- Saturated Fat 0.824962222259959 g
- Serving Size 1 1 serving (139g)
- Sodium 176.240139061534 mg
- Sugar 46.0658408313097 g
- Trans Fat 0.60064388891643 g
- Calories 254 calories
Step-by-step
- Bring a pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add macaroni, and cook for 8 to 10 minutes, until tender. Drain, and set aside to cool.
- In a large bowl, stir together the eggs, onion, celery, red pepper, and relish. In a small bowl, stir together the salad dressing, mustard, white sugar, vinegar, salt and celery seed. Pour over the vegetables, and stir in macaroni until well blended. Cover and chill for at least 1 hour before serving.
Unlike a standard oil-and-vinegar pasta salad that relies on an herbaceous vinaigrette to coat dry grains, this style incorporates a dense, mayonnaise-based binder sweetened heavily with sugar and brightened by yellow mustard. When preparing pasta for cold salads, shock the drained elbow macaroni in cold water to halt the cooking process completely and prevent the starch from absorbing all the dressing later. Scaling this formulation requires careful attention to the dressing-to-pasta ratio because doubling the macaroni without proportionally increasing the liquid components yields a dry, rigid mixture that loses its signature creaminess.
Adjusting Yields and Managing Produce Textures
Multiplying quantities for large gatherings demands precise math, particularly with the 3/4 cup of sugar and 2 cups of dressing, whereas halving the batch means reducing the 2 1/4 teaspoons of white vinegar by half to maintain proper acidity. Fresh celery, red bell pepper, and onions release moisture over time as salt draws out their internal cellular water, whereas dill pickle relish and prepared yellow mustard contribute stable, preserved acidity that will not dilute the sauce during storage. Letting the finished dish rest in the refrigerator for the mandated one-hour minimum allows the sugar to dissolve completely into the emulsion.
- If the salad tastes overly sweet after chilling, whisk an extra quarter teaspoon of white vinegar into the mixture to balance the sugar.
- Drain the cooked pasta thoroughly in a colander, shaking it multiple times so excess surface water does not thin out the creamy dressing.
- Store leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to three days, discarding the batch if the vegetables release excessive liquid.
