Skip to main content

The Best Macaroni Salad Ever

I love, love, love, adore, and love macaroni salad. I'm also picky, picky, picky, particular, and picky about macaroni salad....

By thepioneerwoman · From Open Recipes · 13 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓
The Best Macaroni Salad Ever

Why it works: Olive and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 29,779 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

The Best Macaroni Salad Ever

Serves 12
Prep10 min
Cook15 min

Ingredients

Directions

Step-by-step directions aren't available for this recipe. See the full recipe at the source →

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

364Calories
16 gProtein
14 gFat
39 gCarbs

Counts 10 of 12 ingredients. The other 2 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 10 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Wine2 tbsp cooking wine (30ml)25
Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Olive1 large (4g)4
Vinegar1 tbsp (15ml) distilled3
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Macaroninot in our table0
Pimentonot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By thepioneerwoman. Recipe from Open Recipes.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Olive + oniontop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together29,779 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  2. Pepper + oniontop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  3. Pepper + olivetop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together30,263 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  4. Olive + red winetop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,318 recipes

    Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, fruity).

  5. Olive + milktop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,828 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pepper, olive, red wine, sugar, milk):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Tomatofits better
  3. Potatofits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against pepper, olive, red wine, sugar, milk. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.