Best Sylvias Picnic Macaroni Salad Recipes

THE PERFECT PICNIC PASTA SALAD

Steps:

• Whisk Dijon mustard, cider vinegar, rice vinegar, salt, sugar, and cayenne together in a large bowl for about 30 seconds. Whisk in olive oil in 1-teaspoon increments until emulsified. Whisk in tarragon, dill, parsley, chives, and thyme. Remove and reserve 1/2 of the dressing in a separate small bowl.
• Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil; cook rotini at a boil until tender yet firm to the bite, about 8 minutes. Add snow peas, carrots, peas, and broccoli about 2 minutes before the pasta is done. Drain pasta and veggies well, but do not rinse.
• Transfer hot pasta mixture to the vinaigrette in the large mixing bowl and toss well to combine. Let rest for 5 minutes and toss again. Toss occasionally until the mixture is almost room temperature, 15 to 20 minutes.
• Add bell peppers, cherry tomatoes, red onion, green onions, salt, and the reserved dressing and toss well.
• Wrap and chill in the refrigerator for 3 to 4 hours before serving. Toss and adjust seasoning before serving.

PICNIC MACARONI SALAD

Steps:

• Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Cook elbow macaroni in the boiling water, stirring occasionally, until tender yet firm to the bite, about 8 minutes. Drain and let cool completely, about 30 minutes.
• Mix ranch dressing, mayonnaise, 2 tablespoons reserved olive juice, garlic powder, adobo, and pepper together in a bowl.
• Pour dressing mixture into cooled macaroni. Add olives, tuna, and red bell pepper to macaroni; stir well to combine. Chill until serving.

SUMMER PICNIC MACARONI SALAD

Steps:

• Drain the macaroni.
• Pour a mixture of 3 tablespoons vinegar and 2 tablespoons sugar over the drained (still in the colander) macaroni.
• Drain the macaroni (again).
• In a large bowl mix salad macaroni, peas, baby gherkins, celery, sweet onion, tuna, cubed cheese.
• Dressing: Take the mayo, sugar, some vinegar, salt and pepper to taste; mix into the macaroni mixture. You may want to add more dressing.
• This is a very forgiving salad. You can sub salad shrimp, ham or chicken for the tuna or ditch the meat/fish and add some grated carrots (if using carrots you might want to cut back on the sweet pickles), diced zucchini and diced red peppers.
• Chill, check the dressing and enjoy.

OLD-FASHIONED PICNIC MACARONI SALAD

Steps:

• In a large salad bowl, toss together the warm pasta, oil, salt, and pepper; allow to cool, then add the onion, celery, pickles, and bell pepper; toss to blend.
• In a small bowl, stir together the mayonnaise, milk, mustard, and celery seeds; pour half over the salad and toss to coat.
• **At this point, cover and refrigerate the salad and remaining dressing for at least 4 hours and up to 2 days.
• One hour before serving, remove the salad from the refrigerator, add more dressing, if needed, and taste for salt and pepper.
• Sprinkle with the paprika, cover, and refrigerate until ready to serve.
• Variations--try adding any of these to the salad:.
• *2 cups frozen peas, defrosted.
• *2 cups smoked turkey or ham cut into 1/2 inch cubes.
• *2 cups cherry tomatoes, whole, or cut in half.
• *2 cups pimento-stuffed green olives, drained and chopped.
• *2 cups ranch dressing, in place of the mustard/mayonnaise combination; omit the celery seeds.
• *6 hard-boiled eggs, sliced.

PICNIC PARTNER MACARONI SALAD

Steps:

• Cook and drain macaroni, saving 1 cup pasta water. Cool macaroni. Rinse in cold water to cool and drain well.
• In large bowl, combine yogurt, mayonnaise, onion and seasonings. Add macaroni, toss to coat. Add celery, peas, cucumber and cheese. Mix well. Cover. Chill at least 2 hours or overnight. Pasta has a tendency to absorb a lot of liquid as it sits, so if the salad appears dry, add some of the pasta water to hydrate again.
• Stir gently before serving.

CONTEST-WINNING PICNIC PASTA SALAD

Steps:

• Cook spiral pasta and tortellini according to package directions. Drain and rinse in cold water. Place in a large bowl; add the artichokes, broccoli, provolone cheese, salami, peppers, beans, olives, onion and garlic. , Prepare salad dressing according to package directions; pour over salad and toss to coat. Serve immediately or cover and refrigerate.

SYLVIA'S PICNIC MACARONI SALAD

Steps:

• Cook macaroni.
• Drain and rinse well, and then chill.
• Combine rest of ingredients and mix well with macaroni.
• Season to taste.
• Note: I also have found that adding either packaged dry dill or ranch dressing really adds wonderful flavor, but has to be made early, so flavors meld.
• Just add the dry dressing to the mayonnaise.