Tuna Macaroni Salad

Tuna Macaroni Salad is easy to make and great for lunch, dinner, BBQs, potlucks and truly the perfect picnic food. It is a great twist on classic macaroni salad, that you can easily make at home. Comes together in 20 minutes and is bursting with flavor, so good.

Reasons to love this Tuna Macaroni Salad

For sure, I could eat something like Macaroni Salad or a Hawaiian Macaroni Salad almost every day, because it is definitely not meant to be a summer pasta salad only. And this Tuna Macaroni Salad add another special twist to them:

You will absolutely love the textures from bountiful vegetables to the rich and creamy macaroni salad dressing.

Only pantry staples that you almost certainly have in your fridge are going into this Tuna Macaroni Salad. Once you try it, you will be surprised how that these ingredients will make such an amazing result.

Great for picnics or entertaining, because you can make anything 2 days in advance and serve it up whenever you are ready. As everything sits the dressing, it really sinks into the salad and makes everything even tastier.

Have a look at my step by step pictures, because this way you know you can make it absolutely amazingly and easily at home at a fraction of cost of a restaurant visit. This cheap recipe makes a lot and tastes great.

What to serve with Tuna Macaroni Salad

Creamy Cucumber Salad or Avocado Salad are wonderful side dishes and taste really refreshing.

Fries are really great to serve along, but what is of course better than just regular fries: Garlic Fries and Steak Fries.

Also tortilla chips, crackers, sandwiches like a Grilled Cheese Sandwich or bake some amazing bread such as Focaccia.

What do you need for this Tuna Macaroni Salad recipe

Elbow macaroni are widely available, cheap and delicious. They are the foundation for our pasta salad, but you can use any pasta you want, like farfalle, penne or whatever floats your boat.

Tuna: I use plant based, but you can  use any tuna you want. It will taste great and delicious any ways. Providing a great texture with a hearty finish that goes wonderful with the other components that we are going to use in this salad recipe.

Celery is here for a great crunch and easily enhances the flavors of all the other ingredients.

Seasoned mayo: I mix egg free mayo with garlic and pickles to make our dressing. It adds tons of flavor. The contrast from flavorful garlic, creamy mayo and pickles which adds a hint of acidity.

Red onions are milder than regular onions and it will give you a great pop up color into your salad.

Finally, peas add another layer of texture and a hint of sweetness.

How to make Tuna Macaroni Salad

Start with preparing macaroni according to your package directions. Set them aside and let them cool down. If you want to make them cool down faster, run them in a colander under cold water.

To make the dressing, get a bowl and combine mayo, pickles, garlic powder and a pinch of salt and pepper. Mix and set aside.

To a large mixing bowl, add the macaroni, drained tuna, celery, onions, peas and mix with dressing.

Serve or store in the fridge for further use (up to 5 days).

Tips and tricks

Always drain your tuna first. No matter, packed with water or oil you can use any that you like.

Things that you can add to Tuna Macaroni Salad are corn, red bell peppers, tomatoes or fresh herbs like dill, chives or parsley.

You can cook your macaroni 2 days in advance so they are perfectly cooled down and you can save time, go straight to preparation as you see in my instructions.

More acidity for your dressing? Surely it is delicious as it is, but for even more acidity you can add lemon juice, vinegar, or mustard.

For a little bit of a kick: add chili flakes or a dash hot sauce.

Other tuna recipes to try

• Tuna Pasta
• Tuna Melt
• Tuna Patties
• Tuna Noodle Casserole
• Tuna Salad

Share remakes of this Tuna Macaroni Salad with a  tag on Instagram or Facebook.

Enjoy, Florian.