A cool salad prepared throughout the summer or during the holidays. a delicious combination of angel food cake, strawberries, and flavor-infused gelatin.
| Prep Time: | 20 mins |
| Cook Time: | 10 mins |
| Additional Time: | 2 hrs |
| Total Time: | 2 hrs 30 mins |
| Servings: | 14 |
Ingredients
- 1 (16 ounce) package elbow macaroni
- 1 (12 ounce) can tuna in water, drained and flaked
- 6 large hard-cooked eggs, chopped
- 2 large tomatoes, finely chopped
- 1 large white onion, finely chopped
- 1 cucumber, finely chopped
- 3 cups creamy salad dressing (such as Miracle Whip)
- ½ cup 2% milk
- ¼ cup white sugar, or to taste
- 3 tablespoons prepared yellow mustard
- 1 ½ tablespoons ground black pepper, or to taste
- ½ tablespoon salt, or to taste
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Cook elbow macaroni in boiling water until tender yet firm to the bite, about 8 minutes; drain. Rinse with cold water to cool completely; drain.
- Mix together cooked macaroni, tuna, eggs, tomatoes, onion, and cucumber in a large bowl.
- Whisk together salad dressing and milk in a separate bowl until smooth. Mix in sugar, mustard, pepper, and salt until well combined; pour over macaroni mixture and stir to coat.
- Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 367 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 20 g |
| Cholesterol | 104 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 1 g |
| Protein | 12 g |
| Saturated Fat | 5 g |
| Sodium | 855 mg |
| Sugars | 8 g |
| Fat | 26 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
This was delish! I did not add tuna as we were having hamburgers and I added some cheddar cheese. My husband loves it and I will make it again
Great recipe just as it is but also very adaptable if you don’t have or like every ingredient. Less onion, if your husband is like mine; but a few tablespoons of finely minced onion is undetectable yet, if I skip onion altogether, it is missed. Any pasta shape works. You can swap out salsa, if you don’t have fresh tomato. You can swap dill pickle for the cucumber. Almost anything works for the dressing… mayo, miracle whip, ranch dressing, Greek yogurt; I use half mayo and half Greek yogurt. I swap honey for the sugar. You can add cooked peas, raw broccoli, zucchini, grated carrots… whatever you have on hand. It doesn’t have to taste the same every time you make it, as long as it tastes good every time, and the onion and mustard are key to the flavor.
A meal in a salad…be ready, people will ask for this recipe!!!
This recipe has too much dressing. I decreased the mayo to 2.5 cups and still had too much. I would say to cut the mayo to 1.5 cups at most. You will need to reduce the amount for the dressing ingredients accordingly. I also increased the tuna to 2 cans and added celery. The flavours blended well. It’s nice that the dressing is as complex as it is.
We loved this. I kept the tomatoes and cucumber on the side because there are only two of us and I didn’t want watery leftovers. The flavors were simple but balanced, and I loved the sweetness. It was cool, comforting, and the perfect side for the hot, well-sauced grilled meats I serve it with. The milk gives it that sought-after creaminess and smooth finish. Plus, Mac salad has to have a good balance of mayonnaise to mac, where it’s not drowning in it, nor not too dry either.
I have easily made this recipe at least 15-20 times in the past 2 years since I first discovered the recipe. I do make a few modifications (though it’s perfectly great as written!): I omit the tuna and cucumber and add a few stalks of finely chopped celery. I also swap out the Miracle Whip for real mayo and use radiatore-shaped pasta instead of elbow macaroni. Oh, and red onion instead of white. I find that the radiatore holds helps to trap the creamy dressing and bits of egg and veggies. I make the dressing exactly as written, with the yellow mustard, sugar, and milk, and it’s SO good. This is now my go-to recipe, and every time I have a potluck or family gathering, people beg me to make it. Thank you for such a great concoction!
I’m kind of known as the salad lady at most togethers. I don’t usually follow recipes as I create my own but I was curious about this recipe as this claims to be the best EVER! 🙂 I followed the recipe as written (with the exception of adding a little celery) even after reading reviews. I did see some people cut back on the sauce but since I make salads on a regular basis I knew that even though it may seem too creamy at first, over time your noodles absorb quite a bit. I don’t like a dry salad so I trusted the recipe & after a night in the fridge, in my opinion it was just right. If you wanted to serve it within a cple hours, you could cut back a little I suppose. I will say I was a little leary about the tomatoes as they can get soggy & can make it watery. I even used reg tomatoes vs romas & so they are still firm almost 24 hrs later! I was also hesitant about using mustard as I am not a big mustard based salad fan. BUT once again to my surprise it blended well! The only ingredient that I’d say was a bit of a turn off for me was the tuna. Not that it was too overpowering, because it wasn’t, it was just a bit of a surprise. It doesn’t appear in the original picture? (I’m a visual girl.) It tasted fine but my plan was to serve this with chicken & I guess I’m weird about mixing flavors that don’t relate in my mind. Overall I’d say it was good! I’ve made many many salads over the yrs so I wouldn’t say its my all time favorite but I’d say its worth trying! Thanks for sharing!
good everyone that tried this liked it.
Very good and easy. After reading other reviews I only used 1/2 the amount of Miracle Whip (still a bit too much I’d say). I used 2 Tbsp of mustard and also substituted the sugar with 1 Tbsp honey. I only had 3 hard boiled eggs and no cucumber. So I used a stalk of celery that gave it a nice crunch. I also added an extra can of tuna. The best thing about this recipe is you can easily change it up and use what you like or have on hand.
Yielded way to much sauce so I will reduce milk and dressing next time. I used mayo instead of miracle whip so the sweetness was perfect.
I love this recipe! I tried it the first way, and felt it was a little too tangy and too much dressing, so I used 1 1/2 cups of Miracle Whip and 3/4 cup of Hellman’s mayo, and cut the milk to a 1/4 cup. I also added 1/4 cup of pre-shredded carrot, cut into smaller pieces. I love how simple and refreshing it is, great on a really hot summer day!
made this salad and was really good but i added half of the mayo i think it was too much and added less milk
Was looking for some summer comfort food and this fit the bill. I used a tablespoon of honey instead of sugar. So good.
u r so right !!! this is the best mac salad i ever ate, and i’ve eaten many.thank you for sharing.it makes plenty for a crowd .my pickey son loved it.said it was the best salad i ever made ,however i gave u the credit.thanks again
WAY too much dressing which was WAY too sweet, I did not like the raw onion and cucumbers in it either…but I could substitute more to my taste green pepper and get the same effect. The tomatoes were a nice addition. won’t make this again
WAY too much dressing which was WAY too sweet, I did not like the raw onion and cucumbers in it either…but I could substitute more to my taste green pepper and get the same effect. The tomatoes were a nice addition. won’t make this again
This is a great salad! I like a few more tomatoes in mine but otherwise it was perfect! Thanks.