Recipe: Tuna Macaroni Salad

This recipe for Tuna Macaroni Salad has been around in our family for years…. my Mom made it often… and when I had my own family, they loved it too. It can become a meal in itself… a good way to stretch a food budget.

TIPS

The only change I made over the years was to replace the chopped green or red pepper with chopped pimentos. I like pimentos, they don’t over power the flavors as much as raw peppers do.

I have always made this salad “by eye” so when writing up this recipe… I measured everything. I keep elbow macaroni in a jar… so this recipe calls for 3 cups dry elbow macaroni… which is about 12 ounces…. Not quite a full package (those that are pound packages)… you certainly can use a full pound… just adjust your quantities slightly… always do it to your taste.

I sometimes use only one can of tuna if I think my guests may prefer a lighter tuna taste.

The celery is really optional... my taste tester is picky and prefers no celery.. so I leave it out for him.

I have been using shallots lately.. the onion flavor is lighter and we prefer it.

Fresh parsley is a must, I grew up using the dried stuff.. now I find it tasteless... once you start using fresh parsley, there's no going back to dried.

I used elbow macaroni, but you can use any pasta you would like… small shells are especially good for salads.

This is delicious… and so easy… I hope you try it.







Recipe: Tuna Macaroni Salad

All you need:

3 cups dried elbow macaroni
2 cans (6 ounces each) solid white tuna in water, drained and chopped
¼ cup chopped fresh parsley
2 hard-boiled eggs, chopped
1 medium onion or 2 fairly large shallots, finely chopped
1 (2 ounce jar) chopped pimentos, drained
1 stalk celery, finely chopped (optional)
1 cup Hellman’s mayonnaise
Salt to taste
Pepper to taste

All you need to do:

Cook macaroni according to package directions… (boil in salted water with 1 tablespoon oil for about 10 minutes).

Rinse macaroni in cold water…. and drain.

In a large bowl, combine all ingredients and mix well.

Refrigerate.