My grandma gave me this recipe, except hers substituted peas for the pickles. I further modified the recipe after my mum made certain changes. Your family’s new favorite dish will be made with these ingredients and will have the flavors of a cold macaroni or potato salad.
| Prep Time: | 10 mins |
| Cook Time: | 10 mins |
| Total Time: | 20 mins |
| Servings: | 4 |
| Yield: | 4 servings |
Ingredients
- 8 ounces uncooked elbow macaroni
- 2 dill pickles, chopped
- 6 ounces Colby-Jack cheese, cubed
- 1 (5 ounce) can albacore tuna in water, drained and flaked
- ½ cup light mayonnaise
- ½ teaspoon prepared yellow mustard
- 1 teaspoon dill pickle juice
Instructions
- Bring a saucepan of lightly salted water to a boil. Add the macaroni, and cook until tender, about 7 minutes. Rinse under cold running water, then drain well and pat lightly with paper towels.
- In a large bowl, stir together the macaroni, pickles, cheese, tuna, mayonnaise and mustard. Season with a splash of pickle juice, salt and pepper. Cover, and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes before serving.
- Diced carrots, diced cucumbers, chopped celery, finely minced white, yellow, or Vidalia onions, finely chopped green onions.
- Hard-cooked egg slices, tomato wedges, lettuce leaf bed.
- Salad Dressing such as Ranch or Thousand Island instead of mayonnaise, peas instead of pickles.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 491 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 55 g |
| Cholesterol | 55 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 3 g |
| Protein | 26 g |
| Saturated Fat | 10 g |
| Sodium | 1611 mg |
| Sugars | 8 g |
| Fat | 18 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
This was really good! I added a little finely diced onion and used equal parts mayo and miracle whip because I like the little zing it adds, otherwise I kept it on point and I enjoyed it very much! Great recipe! Thank you!
This was better than I expected. It helps to let it sit in the refrigerator in order for the flavors to meld.
The kids loved it.
Delightful!
I doubled the recipe so I doubled all the ingredients and made just a couple small changes to fit what I had on hand. I used penne pasta, added cucumber, used zesty dills, and gulden honey mustard and a little Mrs. Dash with the Salt and pepper. I did omit the cheese since I only had sharp cheddar. Big hit!!! It was delicious!
I make this without the cheese. I add green onions and black olives.
It’s easy to make ahead and only the noodles need cooking, so it barely heats up the kitchen. Good meal for Summer!
I made this as written only adding more pickles. My husband and I both enjoyed this and will be making it again soon.
I pretty much had everything but didn’t add cheese and substituted pickles with pepperoncini. Yummy!
It is so yummy it combined really well and was the perfect texture I did make bigger portion for our family of 4 I’m from SA so this dish was lovely for winter.
this dish was very good, I made it for my family and they all loved it!! Will definitely make it again.
We liked it. I added finely chopped fresh tomatoes.
I had made this recipe for a company gathering years ago, and have been trying to find the recipe again ever since. I agree with the reviewer that commented about changing the recipe and then giving a less than stellar review. The poster suggests many options. Hot sauce was not one of them. For me, the ingredients, pickles, mustard and cheese makes this the best tuna salad I have ever had. Growing up, I hated my mother’s tuna salad, which she made often. It made me leery to ever try any other. The biggest modification that I made was immediately doubling the recipe. I made it for my sister last week and she loved it. The only change was eliminating the pasta as she prefers less carbs. She thought it was amazing and we then tried it using left over rotisserie chicken. Also amazing. As suggested in the options, I added finely minced onion and finely minced celery and added dried dill on one of the trials and dried thyme on another. Thank you for posting this amazing creation.
Delicious! I’ll admit the pickles had me second guessing if that would taste “funky”, but it actually gave the the salad a perfect combination of flavors. I’ll be making this again for sure.
I really wanted to love this as I like all the ingredients listed…..it was only OK. I had to increase the mayo to a full cup because once I got all of my ingredients in the bowl with the noodles it was on the dry side; because of the mayo addition I also doubled the mustard and pickle juice. I added a 1/2 tsp of both salt and pepper as the original owner of the recipe suggested and it was still only OK. My kids didn’t like it and it was supposed to be their supper for tonight.
I really wanted to love this as I like all the ingredients listed…..it was only OK. I had to increase the mayo to a full cup because once I got all of my ingredients in the bowl with the noodles it was on the dry side; because of the mayo addition I also doubled the mustard and pickle juice. I added a 1/2 tsp of both salt and pepper as the original owner of the recipe suggested and it was still only OK. My kids didn’t like it and it was supposed to be their supper for tonight.
I remember my mom making this and I would eat bowl after bowl and now I’ve started making it but I add shredded cheese and green onions and no mustard
Delicious! Made as written the first time but the second time added some flare. Chopped green pepper, chopped red onion, garlic powder, dried dill and used a bit of light ranch dressing in addition to the mayo. It was amazing. Definitely my go to from now on!
I didn’t add pickles or pickle juice (I just don’t like it) and added peas, cucumber, celery and tomatoes. Delicious!
This was a great tasting dish to take to my Temple potluck. I did leave out the cheese, but otherwise followed the recipe, will definitely make again!
Good combination of flavors, I added the optional celery and finely chopped yellow onion and garnished with chopped tomatoes. Only drawback was too much pasta for only one can of tuna and I ended up adding a second can. Next time would only use 8 oz macaroni and plan on using two cans of tuna. Really liked the pickles and cheese together. Thanks!