We always end up adding onion and prefer red onion for the pop of color. Shapes that have nooks and crannies like elbow macaroni, small shells or even spiral shapes work nicely.Īdd some color and texture with a variety of vegetables. When choosing the pasta shape, choose something that will hold onto the dressing. What you add to your macaroni salad is up to you, but think about checking these boxes: More: You may also enjoy our Italian-inspired salad, here’s our Three Herb Italian Pasta Salad What Goes into a Creamy Pasta Salad? We typically stay away from sweeter pasta salads, but if that’s what you love, add a tablespoon or so of honey to the dressing, and you’ll be a happy camper! Nobody wants an unseasoned salad, right? We start with a 1/2 teaspoon of fine sea salt and go from there based on taste. There’s a lot of pasta and vegetables going into the bowl. Salt and pepper are a must when it comes to making the dressing.If you don’t have apple cider vinegar, most kinds of vinegar will do, especially white or red wine vinegar. Apple cider vinegar adds even more flavor to the dressing.We usually use Dijon mustard in our recipes, but just like when making our potato salad, we prefer regular yellow mustard for the best pasta salad. Yellow mustard adds a bit of color and rounds out the flavor of the dressing nicely.In addition to the mayonnaise and sour cream, we use these ingredients: Since the sour cream has a bit of tanginess, it lifts the flavors of the dressing, just as fresh lemon juice would to other dishes. Instead of just using mayonnaise, which can make the pasta heavy, we combine mayonnaise with sour cream. If you love sweeter salads, you can add a bit of honey, as well.įor creamy macaroni salad, we love using a slightly adapted version of our potato salad dressing (it gets rave reviews). Since the base of our dressing is creamy, we love brightening it up with some acid from vinegar and mustard. Use a bright and flavorful salad dressing.Choose lots of colorful veggies and textures to add to the salad.By removing the starches, the salad won’t turn sticky or clump as much. If you’ve ever made pasta salad that turned sticky, not rinsing the pasta before tossing with the dressing could be the reason.

Rinse the cooked pasta under cold water before tossing with the salad dressing.If done, drain the pasta and move onto our next tip. Use the package directions of the pasta you choose as a guide, but a minute or two before it should be done, test it. When it comes to making a cold, creamy pasta salad, keep these tips in mind: We’ve already shared a few with you including our Quick and Easy Pasta Salad, this Lemon Orzo Pasta Salad with Cucumbers, and for a gluten-free salad, this Mediterranean Zucchini Noodles Salad. There are lots of options when it comes to making pasta salad.

Colorful spiral noodles