Easy Pasta Salad Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What does pasta salad contain? ›

Meet your new summer bestie: A stupidly easy pasta salad with pasta, juicy tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, red onion, salami, olives, herbs, and a drench of quick homemade dressing.

To quickly chill cooked pasta for salad, first drain the cooked pasta in a colander. Then place the colander into a bigger bowl filled halfway with ice water. When chilled, lift the colander out of the ice water, drain, and it's ready to use.

If you're making a dish that will be served chilled or at room temp—think cold soba, rice noodles, pasta salad—you do want to rinse so that you get toothsome (sorry) individual strands rather than one big gummy clump. Certain types of noodles benefit from a rinse in almost all applications.

Macaroni Salad Ingredients

Condiments: A creamy blend of mayonnaise and yellow mustard adds tons of flavor. Sugar and vinegar: White sugar adds a dose of sweetness, which is pleasantly balanced by white vinegar. Seasonings: This macaroni salad is simply seasoned with salt and ground black pepper.

Our how-to step-by-step will yield a pound of all-egg pasta, and you only need three ingredients that you probably already have on hand: flour, salt, and eggs (2 cups of unbleached flour, 3 large eggs, and a half-teaspoon of salt).

How long does pasta salad last in the fridge? When stored in an airtight container, pasta salad will stay fresh for 3-5 days. If some of the fresh ingredients go bad faster, it might only last 2 days, i.e. Deli/cured meats can lose their color after 2 days but will still be flavorful.

Cold-Start Pasta Is Faster and Uses Less Water

In our tests, 1 pound of dried pasta started in 1 quart of cold water cooked up just as nicely al dente as the same type of pasta started in 4 quarts of boiling water (our conventional method).

Luckily, there is one simple solution and it involves only adding half of the macaroni salad dressing the night before and then adding the second half right before serving.

There are endless ways to make any pasta salad healthier by focusing on a few key ingredients—like good-for-you whole grains, crunchy vegetables, fresh herbs and lean protein. Our step-by-step guide includes lots of ideas for great flavor combinations to help you make a healthier pasta salad.

How do you keep pasta salad from getting mushy? ›

Cook the pasta al dente: Al dente pasta is firmer and less likely to become mushy or soggy when mixed with other ingredients. Rinse the pasta with cold water after cooking: This helps to remove excess starch and cool the pasta, which can help to prevent it from becoming soggy.

If your leftovers seem a bit dry after a day or two, simply stir in a little more dressing or mayo to liven them back up! Why is my macaroni salad runny? There are usually two culprits — not draining off wet ingredients and/or adding too many watery vegetables.