This Small Macaroni Salad is the perfect simple side for small get-togethers and dinners with friends!
I have a confession: You know what my favorite summer food is? It’s not ice cream. It’s not s’mores. It’s not even a perfectly cooked and marinated ribeye steak (though that’s a really close second). It’s spoonfuls of macaroni salad stolen from the fridge on a hot summer day.
I don’t know what makes this taste so good. Maybe it’s the blast of cold air you get every time you open the fridge or the delicious feeling that you’re doing something vaguely naughty and getting away with it, but for whatever the reason, it’s the best, and I highly recommend it.
My go-to macaroni salad recipe (AKA the Best Macaroni Salad in the world) is party-sized. It’s made with a pound of macaroni and makes waaaay too much food unless you are having a party. And most of the time I make it, I’m not having a party, so it either ends up going to waste OR I eat a cutlery-drawer’s worth of spoon and forkfuls and don’t feel great about my life choices at the end of the weekend.
So, today I’m shrinking down my fav and sharing a Small Macaroni Salad recipe. It uses just four ounces of pasta and makes two to four very reasonable servings, making it perfect for burger nights with one or two friends, and leaves you with a little left over for fridge stealing the next day. 😉
Aside from being the perfect size, I LOVE THIS PASTA. I wasn’t kidding when I called the original the best macaroni salad in the world. And this small version is just as good. It’s not soaked in gallons of goopey mayonnaise like some pasta salad. There’s mayo to be sure, but just enough for a light dressing that’s sweet but not too sweet, tangy and not too vinegary. It’s loaded with crunchy bits of celery and bell pepper and is basically perfect.
Everyone I’ve ever served this pasta salad to falls instantly in love with it, even people who don’t normally like pasta salad. It’s that good.
So, serve with Tri-Tp Sandwiches . Serve with Oven-baked Ribs . Serve by itself in a bowl with a spoon. However you choose to eat it, it’s gonna be a good time.
Ingredients
Pasta
- ▢ 4 ounces ( 1 cup) macaroni
Dressing
- ▢ 1/4 cup ( 52g ) mayonnaise
- ▢ 1 tablespoon white vinegar
- ▢ 1 to 2 teaspoons granulated sugar
- ▢ 1 heaping teaspoon Dijon mustard or yellow mustard
- ▢ 1/8 teaspoon salt
- ▢ 1/8 teaspoon black pepper
- ▢ Pinch of cayenne
Vegetables
- ▢ 1 small green onion diced, use green and white parts
- ▢ 1/2 cup finely diced bell pepper any color
- ▢ 1/4 cup finely diced celery
- ▢ 1/4 cup finely grated carrot
Instructions
- Bring a medium pot of generously salted water to boil and cook macaroni according to package instructions. Drain and set aside to cool completely. Stir occasionally to prevent the noodles from sticking together too badly.
- In a medium bowl, combine all of the dressing ingredients and whisk together until smooth. Add vegetables and toss to coat. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until pasta is cool.
- Once pasta is cooled, stir pasta into the dressing. Serve and enjoy!
Notes
Adapted From Food Wishes
These Cookies and Cream Popsicles are the perfect summer treat, and all you need to make them is two ingredients and a popsicle mold!
I feel like I always start my posts with a Hey, do you need X problem solved? Here’s a recipe that will do that!
Like, hey, do you have a sad brown banana? Make One-banana Small-batch Banana Muffins !
Or, hey, do you have tons of leftover pesto? Make a Pesto Chicken Sandwich !
But that’s how I approach most of my recipe creation because I love recipes that solve problems, even when X problem = something silly like too much ice cream.
So, hey, do you have some vanilla ice cream you need to get rid of? You should make some Cookies and Cream Popsicles!
A few weeks ago, my lovely sister gave me one of those giant tubs of bargain ice cream that she bought for a class party and didn’t use. And when faced with that much ice cream, these popsicles were the very first things I decided to make with it. (BTW, that tub is still going strong. I’ve made about a 75 things with that ice cream so far, and I’m pretty sure it’s going to last me until NEXT summer.)
I’m not much of a vanilla ice cream fan, but add some crushed Oreos and a wooden stick, and it’s like something magical happens and turns the most boring of boring ice cream into a perfect summer treat. They’re cool, refreshing, and refreshingly easy to make.
To make these Cookies and Cream Popsicles, you just let your ice cream get a little melty and then layer it into a popsicle mold with crushed up Oreos. Freeze for a few hours and you’re good to go.
So if you have some ice cream in your freezer, grab some Oreos and try this ASAP, and if you don’t, these popsicles are totally good enough to justify buying a carton just to make them. You won’t regret it!
If you don’t have a popsicle mold, this is the one I have, and I love it. And once you have a popsicle mold and try these Cookies and Cream Popsicles, you can try my Red Wine Popsicles and Smoothie Popsicles !
Ingredients
Special Equipment
- ▢ Popsicle mold
- ▢ Popsicle sticks
Cookies and Cream Popsicles
- ▢ 15 Oreos
- ▢ 4 cups vanilla ice cream
Instructions
- Allow ice cream to sit at room temperature for 15 to 25 minutes until quite soft.
- Place oreos in a plastic bag and crush into pieces with the bottom of a glass or rolling pin.
- Add about 1 heaping teaspoon of crumbs to each popsicle mold. Fill halfway with softened ice cream. Add another heaping teaspoon of crumbs (this should use up the rest of the Oreos) and add the rest of the ice cream, leaving about a 1/2 inch of space. Replace lid, add popsicle sticks and freeze for 4 hours.
- Run popsicle mold under lukewarm water to loosen popsicles, gently remove, and enjoy!
This No-churn Peanut Butter Oreo Ice Cream is creamy homemade vanilla ice cream with swirls of peanut butter, chunks of Oreos, and Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups Minis throughout. What could be better?
Looking for more sweet, frozen treats? Try my Cookies and Cream Popsicles , Smoothie Popsicles , and Apple Pie Sundaes !
Happy Saturday, folks! Do you have anything fun planned for the weekend? I do! My birthday’s tomorrow, so I have a long day of good company and good food ahead of me, but before I run off to do that, let’s have a little chat about some ice cream first.
I had a couple different names for this recipe. In my editorial calendar, it’s written in as It’s My Birthday, B*tch Ice Cream because when I was coming up with something fun and decadent to post around my birthday, I immediately knew this was the over-the-top flavor combo I wanted work with.
When I shared the ice cream with other people, I called it Parent Trap Ice Cream since for a lot of us 90’s kids, that’s where we first learned about the delights of combining peanut butter and Oreos .
But, in the end, SEO won out, so the official title’s No-churn Peanut Butter Oreo Ice Cream.
And sure, the title may be a little boring, but this ice cream is definitely not.
The vanilla ice cream base is your standard super-easy no-churn ice cream combo of one can sweetened condensed milk and 2 cups heavy whipping cream, whipped with vanilla. It’s a fabulous rich and sweet base that pretty much begs you to add something fun to it. For this Peanut Butter Oreo Ice Cream, I chopped up some Oreos, added a handful (okay, like three handfuls, let’s be real here) of mini Reeses Peanut Butter Cups, and then I swirled some melted peanut butter into the ice cream.
Six ingredients, about eight minutes to throw everything together, and then you just cover your creation, pop it in the freezer, and wait four to six agonizing hours until it’s ready to go.
And it’s worth every single second of the wait. This ice cream is a frozen summer dream come true. It’s creamy and perfect, with ribbons of peanut butter running through it and big chunks of Oreo and Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups alongside.
If you’ve felt like your summer’s a been a little lacking in delight this year, take two scoops of this and call me in the morning to tell me how much better your summer is now. 😉
Ingredients
Special Equipment
- ▢ Freezer safe container loaf pans work great for this
- ▢ Handheld electric mixer or stand mixer
No-churn Ice Cream
- ▢ 2 cups heavy whipping cream chilled
- ▢ 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ▢ 1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk chilled
Mix-ins
- ▢ 15 Oreos roughly chopped
- ▢ 3/4 cup Reese’s Minis
- ▢ 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
Instructions
- In a large bowl, combine heavy cream and vanilla. Use an electric mixer, starting on low, working up to high, to beat cream until stiff peaks form. Turn mixer down to low and mix in condensed milk.
- Use a rubber spatula to fold in Oreo pieces and peanut butter cups. Pour half of the mixture into your freezer-safe container.
- In a small, microwave-safe bowl, microwave peanut butter for 20 seconds and stir until peanut butter is smooth and pourable. (Continue to microwave in 10-second increments if necessary.) Pour half of the peanut butter over the ice cream in the container.
- Add the rest of the ice cream to the pan and pour the rest of the peanut butter over the top. Use a butter knife to swirl everything together. Cover tightly with plastic wrap, freeze for at least four hours and enjoy!
Adapted From Martha Stewart
This Small Macaroni Salad is the perfect simple side for small get-togethers and dinners with friends!
I have a confession: You know what my favorite summer food is? It’s not ice cream. It’s not s’mores. It’s not even a perfectly cooked and marinated ribeye steak (though that’s a really close second). It’s spoonfuls of macaroni salad stolen from the fridge on a hot summer day.
I don’t know what makes this taste so good. Maybe it’s the blast of cold air you get every time you open the fridge or the delicious feeling that you’re doing something vaguely naughty and getting away with it, but for whatever the reason, it’s the best, and I highly recommend it.
My go-to macaroni salad recipe (AKA the Best Macaroni Salad in the world) is party-sized. It’s made with a pound of macaroni and makes waaaay too much food unless you are having a party. And most of the time I make it, I’m not having a party, so it either ends up going to waste OR I eat a cutlery-drawer’s worth of spoon and forkfuls and don’t feel great about my life choices at the end of the weekend.
So, today I’m shrinking down my fav and sharing a Small Macaroni Salad recipe. It uses just four ounces of pasta and makes two to four very reasonable servings, making it perfect for burger nights with one or two friends, and leaves you with a little left over for fridge stealing the next day. 😉
Aside from being the perfect size, I LOVE THIS PASTA. I wasn’t kidding when I called the original the best macaroni salad in the world. And this small version is just as good. It’s not soaked in gallons of goopey mayonnaise like some pasta salad. There’s mayo to be sure, but just enough for a light dressing that’s sweet but not too sweet, tangy and not too vinegary. It’s loaded with crunchy bits of celery and bell pepper and is basically perfect.
Everyone I’ve ever served this pasta salad to falls instantly in love with it, even people who don’t normally like pasta salad. It’s that good.
So, serve with Tri-Tp Sandwiches . Serve with Oven-baked Ribs . Serve by itself in a bowl with a spoon. However you choose to eat it, it’s gonna be a good time.
Ingredients
Pasta
- ▢ 4 ounces ( 1 cup) macaroni
Dressing
- ▢ 1/4 cup ( 52g ) mayonnaise
- ▢ 1 tablespoon white vinegar
- ▢ 1 to 2 teaspoons granulated sugar
- ▢ 1 heaping teaspoon Dijon mustard or yellow mustard
- ▢ 1/8 teaspoon salt
- ▢ 1/8 teaspoon black pepper
- ▢ Pinch of cayenne
Vegetables
- ▢ 1 small green onion diced, use green and white parts
- ▢ 1/2 cup finely diced bell pepper any color
- ▢ 1/4 cup finely diced celery
- ▢ 1/4 cup finely grated carrot
Instructions
- Bring a medium pot of generously salted water to boil and cook macaroni according to package instructions. Drain and set aside to cool completely. Stir occasionally to prevent the noodles from sticking together too badly.
- In a medium bowl, combine all of the dressing ingredients and whisk together until smooth. Add vegetables and toss to coat. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until pasta is cool.
- Once pasta is cooled, stir pasta into the dressing. Serve and enjoy!
Notes
Adapted From Food Wishes
Small Macaroni Salad
Ingredients
Pasta
- 4 ounces ( 1 cup) macaroni
Dressing
- 1/4 cup ( 52g ) mayonnaise
- 1 tablespoon white vinegar
- 1 to 2 teaspoons granulated sugar
- 1 heaping teaspoon Dijon mustard or yellow mustard
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 1/8 teaspoon black pepper
- Pinch of cayenne
Vegetables
- 1 small green onion diced, use green and white parts
- 1/2 cup finely diced bell pepper any color
- 1/4 cup finely diced celery
- 1/4 cup finely grated carrot
Instructions
- Bring a medium pot of generously salted water to boil and cook macaroni according to package instructions. Drain and set aside to cool completely. Stir occasionally to prevent the noodles from sticking together too badly.
- In a medium bowl, combine all of the dressing ingredients and whisk together until smooth. Add vegetables and toss to coat. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until pasta is cool.
- Once pasta is cooled, stir pasta into the dressing. Serve and enjoy!
