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This vegan macaroni salad is just like the classic and the ultimate crowd-pleaser. It’s made with a simple creamy dressing, colorful veggies, and al dente elbow pasta. Bring this side to your next cookout and impress your family and friends!
Since I was such a fan of traditional macaroni salad as a kid, I thought it was the perfect summer picnic recipe to veganize. As you may expect, it’s pretty easy to make this dish vegan. With a simple swap of mayo for vegenaise, you’re well on your way to enjoying a vegan version of this summer favorite!
Ingredients You’ll Need
- Vegan mayo: Mayonnaise is a staple in classic macaroni salad recipes. Vegan mayonnaise is the perfect swap – it tastes exactly like traditional mayo, yet is completely egg-free.
- Vegan yogurt: Adds a nice tanginess and additional creaminess. Make sure to use a plain, unsweetened yogurt. Sweetened brands will negatively impact the flavor. Or, replace the yogurt with vegan sour cream or additional mayonnaise.
- Relish: Our favorite to use is sweet pickle relish, but feel free to opt for any chopped sweet pickles or dill pickles. You can even add a splash of pickle juice if you love relish!
- Vinegar: Both apple cider vinegar and white wine vinegar work well in this macaroni salad. White wine vinegar or red wine vinegar may also work, but we have not tested it.
- Mustard: We love the tangy, sharpness of dijon mustard, but if you prefer a milder mustard flavor, opt for yellow mustard.
- Garlic + Onion: These aromatics add a mild bite and brightness to the dish. Both red onion or green onion work well!
- Macaroni: We opted for a gluten-free pasta variety, but any noodles of choice will work. If you don’t have elbow pasta, you can replace it with another short cut pasta such as ditalini, bow tie, or shells.
- Veggies: We stuck to the classics and used carrot, bell pepper, celery, and fresh dill and parsley. Feel free to swap any of these veggies with your family’s personal favorites and make this macaroni salad your own!
Equipment Needed
How to Make Vegan Macaroni Salad
- Cook the macaroni. Bring a pot of salted water to a boil, then add in the macaroni. Cook according to package instructions, or until al dente. Drain and set aside to cool completely to room temperature.
- Make the creamy macaroni salad dressing. In a large salad bowl, whisk together the vegan mayonnaise, plain vegan yogurt, sweet pickle relish, vinegar, dijon mustard, minced garlic and sea salt, and black pepper to taste.
- Add in the remaining ingredients. Into the same bowl with the creamy dressing, add the carrot, red bell pepper, celery, onion, fresh herbs, and cooked macaroni. Fold everything together until well combined and uniform.
- Serve. This vegan macaroni salad can be served room temperature or placed in the refrigerator to chill until ready to serve.
Serving Suggestions
This vegan macaroni salad is the perfect side dish to serve for summer gatherings, pool days, pot lucks, or your next BBQ!
If you’re looking for main dish ideas to pair this salad with, here are a few of our favorite party and vegan grill recipes:
- Party appetizers: Baked Buffalo Cauliflower Wings, Easy Restaurant-Style Salsa, Vegan 7-Layer Dip, or Easy Homemade Guacamole with Homemade Tortilla Chips (No Oil Added)!
- Veggie burgers: Grillable Veggie Burgers, Grilled Portobello Mushroom Burgers, or these Grilled Portobello Mushroom Burgers are all great options. Or, try these Grilled Carrot Hot Dogs instead!
- Other grill recipes: Grilled Barbecue Tofu Skewers, Grilled Buffalo Corn on the Cob, or even Grilled Romaine Lettuce for another salad option!
- Drinks: Serve this macaroni salad with Homemade Strawberry Lemonade, Calamansi Margaritas, Easy Mango Kombucha Margaritas or a Raw Green Juice Mojito.
- Vegan desserts: Easy Vegan Strawberry Shortcake, Maple-Glazed Grilled Peaches with Ice Cream, 5-Minute Vegan Frozen Yogurt, Classic Vegan Brownies, Classic Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies, or Oreo Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies!
Storage Instructions
Store leftover macaroni salad in the serving bowl tightly covered with plastic wrap or in an airtight, covered container. When tightly sealed, this vegan macaroni salad should keep for 4-5 days.
Freezing this macaroni salad is not recommended. This will change the consistency of the creamy dressing and make the vegetables watery.
Recipe FAQs
Yes! Vegan mayonnaise is oil-based, so if you fold the mayo in with hot pasta, it will melt and become oily, not creamy. To keep this macaroni salad creamy, it’s important to allow the pasta to cool completely before folding it with the dressing.
Rinsing the macaroni when making macaroni salad can be helpful, but it is not necessary. If you are in a rush, feel free to rinse it under cool water to help speed up the cool-down process.
Not draining the macaroni thoroughly can cause excess water to be added to the macaroni salad and result in a watery dressing.
More Vegan Potluck Recipes You May Enjoy:
- Vegan Pasta Salad – An oil-based pasta salad that’s delicious served cold.
- Vegan Quinoa Salad – A hearty and nutritious salad made with vegan feta and veggies.
- Esquites-Inspired Pasta Salad – This salad is inspired by a Mexican Corn Salad.
- Watermelon Mojito Salad – With just 5 ingredients, this refreshing salad is perfect for hot weather.
- Mom’s Vegan Potato Salad – Jasmine’s mom’s famous vegan potato salad that’s oil-free and gluten-free to boot!
Make sure you tag us on Instagram @sweetsimplevegan and @consciouschris and hashtag #sweetsimplevegan if you recreate any of our recipes, we love to see your photos!
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Classic Vegan Macaroni Salad Recipe
- Total Time: 20 minutes
- Yield: 8 servings
Description
This vegan macaroni salad is just like the classic and the ultimate crowd pleaser. It’s made with a simple creamy dressing, colorful veggies, and al dente elbow pasta. Bring this side to your next cookout and impress your family and friends!
Ingredients
Dressing
- 3/4 cup vegan mayonnaise
- 1/4 cup plain vegan yogurt (or you can use more mayo)
- 1/4 cup sweet pickle relish
- 1 1/2 tablespoons white wine or apple cider vinegar
- 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
- 1 clove garlic, finely minced (optional)
- 1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste
- Black pepper, as desired
Additional Ingredients
- 8 oz. gluten-free macaroni noodles (or noodles of choice)
- 1 medium carrot, grated
- 1/2 cup diced red bell pepper
- 1/3 cup thinly sliced celery
- 1/3 cup finely diced red (or green) onion
- 1 1/2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
- 1 1/2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill
Instructions
- Cook the macaroni according to the package directions. Drain and set aside to cool.
- In a large bowl, whisk together all of the dressing ingredients. Add in the carrot, red bell pepper, celery, onion, parsley, dill and the cooled macaroni noodles. Fold everything together until well combined and uniform.
- Serve immediately or place it into the fridge until you are ready to serve.
Notes
- Store the macaroni in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 1 week.
- Feel free to customize this recipe and add/omit vegetables and herbs of your choice! This woul be great with peas, olives and even diced vegan cheddar cheese.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 10
- Category: Appetizer, Side
- Cuisine: Vegan, Gluten-free, American
Nutrition facts label provided by Nutri Fox.
Disclaimer: The nutritional information shown is an estimate provided by an online calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional’s advice. This page may contain affiliate links, which simply means that we earn a commission if you purchase through those links, but your price remains the same. Thank you for supporting Sweet Simple Vegan!
This was so good and took me straight back to the macaroni salad I loved as a kid! I will definitely be making this again.
Thanks for the recipe. Best regards. https://www.fooddoz.com/
This is my go to macaroni salad. I love the flavors. I just made a double batch 🙂
oh this macaroni looks so good!!!!!! love the easy recipe.
Thanks so much!
I made this and it came out so good. I had a lot of veggies in my fridge to use up so I chopped up yellow summer squash, zucchini, broccoli and carrots and blanched them for about 2 minutes with the cooking pasta. I opted for all mayo, no yogurt and the relish really makes this recipe taste like the macaroni salad of my childhood. So perfect for any BBQ or summer potluck!
Looks so good! I was planning on making this today but I don’t have sweet relish. Can I substitute it with chopped pickles or will it give it a different flavor? Should I add a sweeter if I do? If so what sweeter no use suggest and how much? Thanks
Chopped pickles would be just fine! We do that all of the time and it tastes great 🙂
This is absolutely delicious ???????? just another amazing recipe from you guys. Thank you for always coming up with great recipes that can work for everyone.
Love you guys ????
Definitely going to be giving this a try next week, it looks delicious!
Shannon | https://shannonmichelle1.blogspot.com
Made a half recipe to test. This is a nice solid base for a macaroni salad and easily customizable.
I had to use dried herbs so used 1/3 less (after dividing in 2) so it will need to sit to meld those flavors but I can see keeping this in the summer rotation but full fat since this will be a potluck salad for work.
These recipes look tempting, but anything with 3/4 cup of vegan mayonnaise or coconut oil is NOT healthy food! I’d love to see more low or no oil things that look as delicious as these do!
We have lots of oil-free recipes on the blog 🙂 We also never claimed that this was a health food, just a veganized version of the classic dish. Our goal here is to create something for everyone. If you want to make it healthy, try just using the vegan yogurt 🙂
Just made this and it is fabulous!! My daughter is not a huge fan of pasta salad and she can’t stop eating this one! Thanks!