Spicy Macaroni Salad is a pasta side dish all dressed up. Adding fresh veggies and a little heat make it something fun, tasty and new.
Macaroni Salad All Dressed Up
A real classic side dish that can be found at any good BBQ, Macaroni Salad takes a new turn and becomes something spicy and new. For this new take on a traditional salad, we add fresh components to cooked macaroni pasta and add a spicy dressing. If you like this one, be sure and check out our BACON CORNBREAD SALAD too!
Add a little spice to your life
It's no secret that I love hot stuff. You can take just about any recipe and add some heat to it and make it an entirely new thing. Just like we did with our SPICY BBQ SHRIMP Macaroni salad is a perfect base for hot ingredients because you can easily balance heat with the coolness of the mayo dressing base. It becomes a thing of real beauty.
How to make Spicy Macaroni Salad
Like many Summer salads, macaroni salad is simple and easy to make. You simply prep your ingredients and mix them all together. Marinate for a little while and anxiously await its transformation.
The most labor intensive portion of making this great side dish is boiling the pasta. I usually boil the pasta and cut up my fresh ingredients while I am waiting. So lets do it!
~Ingredients~
- 16 oz package of uncooked Elbow macaroni
- 3 teaspoons Salt, divided
- 1 tablespoon LemonJuice
- 2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
- ½ cup chopped Red Onion
- 1 cup chopped Red Bell Pepper
- ½ cup chopped celery
- 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 3 tablespoons whole grain mustard
- 1 teaspoon pepper
- 1 cup Mayo
- 3 teaspoons balsamic vinegar
- 1 teaspoon Hot sauce
~Method~
- Boil pasta in large saucepan with 1 teaspoon of salt for about 9 minutes. Just until tender but not overdone. Drain and rinse in cool water. Place pasta in a large bowl with onions, bell pepper and celery. Drizzle with 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Mix well to keep from sticking.
- In a smaller bowl, mix 2 teaspoons salt, one tablespoon olive oil, paprika, cayenne, pepper, mustard, lemon juice, mayo, balsamic vinegar and hot sauce. Mix well.
- Pour dressing over Pasta veggie mix and mix well. Cover and refrigerate for at least one hour. Serve and Enjoy!
Helpful tips for Spicy Macaroni Salad
Quickly draining pasta and rinsing with cool water stops the cooking process. This will keep your pasta done but not mushy or overdone.
Drizzling pasta with a small amount of olive oil will also preserve the integrity of the cooked pasta. It will provide a buffer that will help avoid pasta sticking to each other. This helps maintain texture.
Side salads usually don't have a lot of texture. Adding fresh vegetables as well as using whole grain mustard in the dressing will provide a small amount of texture to keep the dish pleasing to the palate.
Spicy Macaroni Salad
This recipe takes a great base and shows you how easy it is to spice it up. There is no end to the creative things you can do with a Pasta or macaroni salad side dish. We hope you try this and love it. Not only that, but we hope you are inspired to create your own spin on this recipe.
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Stuff We Used!
Spicy Macaroni Salad
Ingredients
- 16 oz package of uncooked Elbow macaroni
- 3 teaspoons Salt divided
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- ½ cup chopped Red Onion
- 1 cup chopped Red Bell Pepper
- ½ cup chopped celery
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 3 tablespoons whole grain mustard
- 1 teaspoon pepper
- 1 cup Mayo
- 3 teaspoons balsamic vinegar
- 1 tablespoon Lemon Juice
- 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1 teaspoon Hot sauce
Instructions
- Boil pasta in large saucepan with 1 teaspoon of salt for about 9 minutes. Just until tender but not overdone. Drain and rinse in cool water. Place pasta in a large bowl with onions, bell pepper and celery. Drizzle with 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Mix well to keep from sticking.
- In a smaller bowl, mix 2 teaspoons salt, one tablespoon olive oil, paprika, cayenne, pepper, mustard, lemon juice, mayo, balsamic vinegar and hot sauce. Mix well.
- Pour dressing over Pasta veggie mix and mix well. Cover and refrigerate for at least one hour. Serve and Enjoy!
Jennifer Lamb
You had me at spicy, I need to make this salad!
Brooke Burks
We love a little heat. This has all the elements that can be customized to suit your heat tolerance! LOL Hope you enjoy!