Macaroni salad is a type of

pasta salad Pasta salad (pasta fredda) is a salad dish prepared with one or more types of pasta, almost always chilled, and most often tossed in a vinegar, oil, or mayonnaise-based dressing. It is typically served as an appetizer, side dish or a main cours ...

, served cold made with cooked elbow macaroni and usually prepared with mayonnaise. Much like

potato salad Potato salad is a salad dish made from boiled potatoes, usually containing a dressing and a variety of other ingredients such as boiled eggs and raw vegetables. In the United States, it is generally considered a side dish and usually accompanie ...

coleslaw Coleslaw (from the Dutch term ''koolsla'' meaning 'cabbage salad'), also known as cole slaw, or simply as slaw, is a side dish consisting primarily of finely shredded raw cabbage with a salad dressing or condiment, commonly either vinaigrett ...

in its use, it is often served as a

side dish A side dish, sometimes referred to as a side order, side item, or simply a side, is a food item that accompanies the entrée or main course at a meal.barbecue, fried chicken, or other picnic style dishes. Like any dish, national and regional variations abound but generally it is prepared with raw diced

onion An onion (''Allium cepa'' L., from Latin ''cepa'' meaning "onion"), also known as the bulb onion or common onion, is a vegetable that is the most widely cultivated species of the genus ''Allium''. The shallot is a botanical variety of the onio ...

s, dill or sweet

pickles Pickles may refer to: Dogs * Pickles (dog) (died 1967), a dog that found the stolen World Cup trophy in 1966 * Pickles (pickleball), a dog often cited as the name origin for the sport of pickleball * Mr. Pickles, the titular demonic dog in ...

and

celery Celery (''Apium graveolens'') is a marshland plant in the family Apiaceae that has been cultivated as a vegetable since antiquity. Celery has a long fibrous stalk tapering into leaves. Depending on location and cultivar, either its stalks, ...

and seasoned with

salt Salt is a mineral composed primarily of sodium chloride (NaCl), a chemical compound belonging to the larger class of salts; salt in the form of a natural crystalline mineral is known as rock salt or halite. Salt is present in vast quant ...

and

pepper Pepper or peppers may refer to: Food and spice * Piperaceae or the pepper family, a large family of flowering plant ** Black pepper * ''Capsicum'' or pepper, a genus of flowering plants in the nightshade family Solanaceae ** Bell pepper ** Chili ...

By country

Australia & New Zealand

In Australia, and

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

it is commonly known as

which is usually made with cooked shell pasta pieces and bought from supermarket delis.

Philippines

In the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

, macaroni salad is a dessert or appetizer with a mildly sweet flavor. It does not use onions, pepper, or celery. It typically uses native sweetened jellies, cheese, as well as various fruits in contrast to western macaroni salads. It is commonly consumed during holidays such as Christmas and New Year's Day, as well as parties and gatherings. A common variant adds shredded chicken and is known as chicken salad or chicken macaroni salad.

United States

In the United States, macaroni salad has been described as a " deli staple". In

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only state ...

, macaroni salad is a popular staple in

plate lunch The plate lunch ( haw, pā mea ʻai) is a quintessentially Hawaiian meal, roughly analogous to Southern U.S. meat-and-threes. However, the pan-Asian influence on Hawaiian cuisine, and its roots in the Japanese bento, make the plate lunch uniqu ...

es and is traditionally made with grated onion and macaroni cooked until very soft. In

Rochester, New York Rochester () is a city in the U.S. state of New York, the seat of Monroe County, and the fourth-most populous in the state after New York City, Buffalo, and Yonkers, with a population of 211,328 at the 2020 United States census. Located in W ...

, macaroni salad is served as an element of the Garbage Plate. In

Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and unincorporated ...

macaroni salad may contain mayonnaise, mustard,

canned tuna A tuna is a saltwater fish that belongs to the tribe Thunnini, a subgrouping of the Scombridae ( mackerel) family. The Thunnini comprise 15 species across five genera, the sizes of which vary greatly, ranging from the bullet tuna (max len ...

or bits of Spam, onions,

Cubanelle The Cubanelle, also known as "Cuban pepper" and "Italian frying pepper", is a variety of sweet pepper of the species ''Capsicum annuum''. When unripe, it is light yellowish-green in color, but will turn bright red if allowed to ripen. Compared to ...

peppers and

pimento A pimiento or pimento (or cherry pepper) is a variety of large, red, heart-shaped chili pepper ('' Capsicum annuum'') that measures 3 to 4 in (7 to 10 cm) long and 2 to 3 in (5 to 7 cm) wide (medium, elongate). Pimientos can have vari ...

By country

Australia & New Zealand

Philippines

United States

See also

References

Further reading