Southern Macaroni Salad

5 from 7 votes

An easy Southern macaroni salad is the perfect make-ahead side dish for your next potluck, cookout, or family gathering.

Course Side Dish

Cuisine American

Keyword classic macaroni salad, macaroni salad, old fashioned macaroni salad, southern macaroni salad

Prep Time 20

Cook Time 8

Chilling Time 2

Total Time 2 28

Servings cups

Calories 157.2kcal

Author Blair Lonergan

6 ounces uncooked elbow macaroni pasta (about 1 ½ cups uncooked or 3 cups cooked)
1 cup mayonnaise (we prefer Duke's brand)
2 tablespoons white vinegar
2 tablespoons white sugar
1 tablespoon yellow mustard
1 tablespoon sweet pickle relish
½ teaspoon minced, pressed, or grated fresh garlic
1 sweet onion, diced
2 cups chopped celery
1 red bell pepper, diced
3 hard boiled eggs, chopped
¼ cup chopped fresh parsley

Cook macaroni in a large pot of salted boiling water according to package directions for al dente. Drain and rinse with cold water.
While the pasta cooks, chop the onion, celery, bell pepper, eggs, and parsley. In a small bowl, whisk together mayonnaise, vinegar, sugar, mustard, pickle relish, and garlic until smooth.
In a large bowl, combine cool pasta, onion, celery, bell pepper, eggs, and parsley. Toss with dressing and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Use any short pasta, such as elbow macaroni, mini shells, ditalini, or rotini.

Add cooked, diced chicken, ham, shrimp, or tuna to the salad. You might also like this ham pasta salad, Aunt Bee's shrimp pasta salad, this tuna pasta salad, or this chicken pasta salad with shrimp and pepperoni.

Instead of sweet pickle relish, use chopped sweet pickles, chopped dill pickles, or dill pickle relish.

A hint of garlic in the background adds another layer of flavor. You can omit this ingredient altogether if you don't care for raw garlic in your salad, or substitute with a pinch of garlic powder.