It is essentially chicken pot pie in a creamy broth with a biscuit crust on top.
| Prep Time: | 30 mins |
| Cook Time: | 15 mins |
| Additional Time: | 4 hrs 15 mins |
| Total Time: | 5 hrs |
| Servings: | 12 |
Ingredients
- 1 cup mayonnaise (Optional)
- ¼ cup white vinegar
- 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt, or more to taste
- ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
- ⅛ teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1 tablespoon white sugar, or more to taste
- 1 cup finely diced celery
- ¾ cup diced red bell pepper
- ½ cup grated carrot
- ½ cup chopped green onions, white and light parts
- ¼ cup diced jalapeno pepper
- ¼ cup diced poblano pepper
- 1 (16 ounce) package uncooked elbow macaroni
- 1 tablespoon water (Optional)
- 1 tablespoon mayonnaise (Optional)
Instructions
- Whisk mayonnaise, vinegar, Dijon, salt, black pepper, and cayenne together in a bowl until well blended. Whisk in sugar, then stir in celery, bell pepper, carrot, green onions, jalapeño pepper, and poblano pepper. Cover and refrigerate until macaroni is ready.
- Bring a large pot of generously salted water to a boil. Cook macaroni in the boiling water, stirring occasionally, until tender but firm to the bite, about 8 minutes. Drain but do not rinse.
- Let macaroni drain in a colander for about 5 minutes, shaking out the moisture from time to time. Pour macaroni into a large bowl; toss to separate and let cool to room temperature, 10 to 15 minutes. Macaroni should be sticky.
- Pour dressing over macaroni and stir until evenly distributed. Cover and refrigerate until macaroni absorbs the dressing, at least 4 hours or overnight if possible.
- Stir salad before serving. Mix water and remaining mayonnaise into salad for a fresher look.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 295 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 32 g |
| Cholesterol | 7 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 2 g |
| Protein | 5 g |
| Saturated Fat | 2 g |
| Sodium | 508 mg |
| Sugars | 3 g |
| Fat | 16 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
This was the best tasting mac salad EVER!!!! I highly recommend that you make it a day ahead and keep some of the dressing on the side before you serve so it brightens the salad! I added more jalapeno since I love spicy food and I added a bit more mayo as I saw fit but this was amazing!
Except for making my own mayo , I made this exactly like this recipe and we thought it was amazing. I plan to make it again for a sibling BBQ.
Too much salt and too much vinegar. Reduce by half.
Made it as directed. Everyone loved it!!! Told me several times how good it was. Took it to a pool party. They noticed the subtle taste of the jalapeños. Thanks for the great recipe!!!
An excellent recipe, especially the use of three different peppers. The contrasting flavors really came through. I used only 1 tsp of salt, however, and found that to be sufficient for my taste. I also eliminated all the sugar because I don’t like sweet macaroni salads–the mayo and veggies add enough sweetness without any need for the addition of sugar. I also used shell macaroni because I have never cared for elbow macaroni, and the shells really scoop up both the flavor and the veggies in ever bite. Will definitely be making this again and again.
Made this for the first time. Different from my usual mac salads but was a hit with everyone! Omitted the poblano pepper because I didn’t have one on hand but still turned out great!
Superb taste. We added hard boiled eggs…
Dude. This recipe kicks butt.. My deviation is replace the jalapeños with 3 habanero peppers, and it kicks.. Also diced some ham steak to balance w some fat for all that heat. And extra cayenne bc that’s what chej John would really do at home.
Loved it! Great flavors. Will make again.
I made it exactly as recipe was written. This is a keeper for me. The only thing I will change is next time I will add more jalapeno pepper and a pinch of Peri Peri Pepper. I like heat in my salad. Otherwise if one doesn’t care about heat then the amount called for is perfect. This is a very tasty salad . I did need to add the table spoon of water and mayonnaise before serving. I let the salad sit overnight in the fridge and it soaked up the dressing quite well. This is what made it so good. I will definitely make this again. I used Dukes Mayonnaise.
If you’re afraid of “hot peppers”, then you might as well just buy storebought macaroni salad. Why bother making it if you’re gonna leave out all the good stuff? Jalapenos can sometimes be a tiny bit spicy, like just a teensy tiny bit, and poblanos are not even remotely spicy. This salad is delicious, the only thing I add are hard boiled eggs and sometimes tuna or chicken.
When I decided to add macaroni salad to the menu for Memorial Day, I turned to Chef John for the recipe. I did make some changes (I know, I know) because I was really wanting something that was a cross between Hawaiian style mac salad and southern deli macaroni salad. Chef John always gets the seasonings just right so I knew this would be a great base and it was! I used cavatappi pasta because I mistakenly thought I had macaroni on hand, omitted the peppers/cayenne and mustard, but added in a 4 oz jar of pimientos, juice and all, in place of the peppers and mustard.
Ignore the “optional” in the listing of ingredients after the cup of mayo. It’s misplaced. This makes an excellent macaroni salad, but I don’t add the hot peppers since I don’t like spicy food.
This is the best macaroni salad I’ve had yet between making my own or buying. I eliminated the jalapeno and poblano because I had everything else on hand, and it was still great.
Very good! I made it exactly as written except I didn’t have a poblano. I loved the jalapeño though. It makes a lot. One half the recipe works for the 3 of us with plenty of leftovers.
I added some ham and it was delicious!
I only make this one Best one I have tried so far thanks
I halved the recipe, which worked well. It’s delicious and I appreciate the techniques you’ve shared with us. I didn’t have poblanos so I left them out. It’s still delicious! This is now my go-to mac salad recipe.
I was trying to find a recipe for a macaroni salad like we eat in the South. This is not it. I’ll keep looking. This was quite dry and I had to put some ranch on it when I ate it because it was so dry. Mine was not creamy at all.
Used a little bit less mayo and as I had no carrots, nor any poblano peppers I added orange pepper, green pepper and some cucumber. A huge hit. Served with some beauty thick strip loins cooked medium rare and sliced in thin strips.
I made this pasta salad for camping – I’m super late but I had to take a second to write a review. This is the BEST PASTA SALAD of my life. Why? How? So so so good. I did it just as written except I used green pepper instead of poblano. Stunning Chef John!