Marie’s Easy Creamy Pasta Salad Recipe
After a lifetime of disliking any form of macaroni salad, I created one of my own. This easy, creamy pasta salad has the perfect balance of textures, flavors, and colors.
Servings: 10 People
Calories: 501kcal
Ingredients
- 1 lb Uncooked Rotini Pasta*
- 3 ribs Celery chopped
- 5 Green Onions Thinly sliced
- 1 Red Bell Pepper Chopped
- 8 oz Mild Cheddar Cheese Cubed
- 1 ½ cups Frozen Green Peas Thawed and drained - optional
- 1 ½ cups Mayonnaise
- ⅓ cup Apple Cider Vinegar
- 2 teaspoon Granulated Sugar
- 1 ¼ teaspoon Salt
- ½ teaspoon Celery Seed
- Ground Pepper
Instructions
- Get a large pot of water boiling, salt it well.Cook pasta according to package directions, but adding a few minutes to the boil time. Drain, and rinse well with cold water until cool. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine celery, green onion, pepper, cheese, and peas, if using. Gently toss to mix well and break up any cheese cubes that are stuck to each other. Add cooled pasta, gently toss to combine.
- In a separate bowl, combine all remaining ingredients except pepper. Pour over pasta salad, gently toss to completely coat. Season with pepper to taste.
- Cover and chill for at least 2 hours before serving.
Notes
* This amount of dressing is perfect for Rotini, which has a lot more surface area than most pastas. If you’d like to use a different pasta, you’ll likely need less dressing. Start with about ⅔ of the dressing this makes, and add more if you like!
Nutrition
Calories: 501kcal | Carbohydrates: 37g | Protein: 12g | Fat: 34g | Saturated Fat: 8g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 16g | Monounsaturated Fat: 7g | Trans Fat: 0.1g | Cholesterol: 37mg | Sodium: 667mg | Potassium: 205mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 3g | Vitamin A: 735IU | Vitamin C: 17mg | Calcium: 185mg | Iron: 1mg