Easy creamy curried macaroni salad
Macaroni salad is the perfect side dish for casual summer eating. This easy creamy curried macaroni salad recipe is a twist on an old classic.
Table of Contents
Ingredients
Full recipe with amounts can be found in the recipe card below.
- Macaroni. Use any short pasta shape of your choice.
- Cucumber.
- Red bell pepper.
- Red onion.
- Celery. Can be substituted with fennel.
- Canned peaches. The sweetness of the peaches works incredibly well with the curried dressing.
- Mayonnaise.
- Condensed milk. The sweet, creaminess of the condensed milk is just delicious in this dressing. Try it, you won’t be disappointed!
- Curry powder. Any fine spice mix will work. I like curry mixes with coriander, cumin, cardamom, turmeric, etc.
- Turmeric.
- Cayenne pepper.
- Lemon juice.
- Salt and pepper.
Can you freeze macaroni salad?
Any pasta salad really is best served on the day it is made or a day or two after. They generally don’t freeze well because their creamy dressings split once defrosted and pasta can become watery or mealy once frozen.
How long does macaroni salad last?
Depending on the ingredients (meat, boiled eggs, etc) it can last up to 5 days in the fridge, covered well. If you have meat or boiled eggs, it should be safe to eat for up to 3 days if kept chilled and covered.
Do you rinse macaroni for salad?
Rinsing pasta is usually a big no-no as the starch that clings to the pasta is what allows the sauce to cling to the pasta and is often used to emulsify the sauce. However, with pasta salad that isn’t such a big concern so rinsing is perfectly fine. It also helps to rinse cooked pasta for salad as the pasta will stick to each other less when rinsed.
Pasta salad recipes
Easy creamy curried macaroni salad
Ingredients
- 500 g/1lb macaroni cooked
- 2 red bell peppers chopped
- 1 cucumber peeled and seeded, chopped
- 1 red onion finely chopped
- 3 celery sticks finely chopped
- 1 x 400g/14oz can peaches drained and chopped
for the dressing
- 1½ cups mayonnaise
- 4 tablespoons sweetened condensed milk
- 1-2 teaspoons curry powder to taste
- ½ teaspoon ground turmeric
- pinch of cayenne pepper optional
- 1-2 tablespoons lemon juice to taste
- salt & pepper to taste
Instructions
- Combine the cooked macaroni with the remaining salad ingredients.
- Stir together all the dressing ingredients.
- Pour ¾ of the dressing over the salad and mix well. Reserve the rest of the dressing.
- Place the macaroni salad in the fridge and allow to chill for an hour (alternatively, you can make this the day before. Cover with plastic wrap and chill.)
- Just before serving, pour over the remaining dressing and mix well.
- Serve.
