Tuna-Macaroni Salad  Recipe (2024)

Less fattening and less cloying is to use half mayonnaise and half sour cream. Equally delicious. I love this on a hot summer night with sliced heirloom tomatoes on the side.

I use pimiento-stuffed green olives instead of relish or celery and sometimes add grated cheddar. A nice, old-fashioned, go-to recipe, great to make on the weekend for a crowd (scales up easily) or for weekday lunches.

I have made a salad similar to this for many, many years (first had it on the Greek island of Hydra). The differences are: curry powder mixed with the mayonnaise and cubed, peeled cucumber. So, the elbow shaped pasta, a light mayonnaise, tuna, egg, cucumber, and salt and pepper. None of the other ingredients. It's enough for lunch on its own with some crackers, and keeps well for many days.

I'm sitting at home in Chiang Mai, Thailand drooling over this totally American dish. I checked and have all the ingredients on hand and will "cook" this dish today. Not sure I can wait 3 hours to let it chill though.

Almost my recipe to a T, but use half mayo, half regular Greek yogurt for a slightly lighter salad.

You can also substitute natural yogurt. I do this with almost everything that requires mayo, as I am not a fan of it. Do not much like the taste. You can make egg salad, tuna salad, almost anything and the yogurt gives it a nice, creamy taste that is not oily or cloying. Beautiful recipe though, and my husband loved it.

Great recipe! I used 1/2 c less mayonnaise and 1 T more of the dijon. Added finely chopped red onion (1/4 of the onion) and chopped red pepper (1/2 red pepper). Also added 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper and added 3 more celery stalks. I did not add cucumber as those can go bad faster than the other ingredients. Very light and flavorful salad! The eggs and tuna give it a good dose of protein too.

I didn't regret adding 1/2 c. frozen peas and some lemon juice

I make something very similar to this and add Velveta cubes to it - they melt and OMG is it a good pasta salad!

Nothing says 'I put the best out for my guests' like this dish, inspired by Reagan-era late-night infomercials. Be sure to arrange garish nosegays to signal your friends of the connection. I love this on a weekend bender with a 30 of PBR and diced, microwaved Steak-Ums, peppered with whatever non-expired condiment you can find. Bonne nuit!

You can make vegan mayonnaise as a substitute. https://minimalistbaker.com/easy-vegan-mayo-with-aquafaba/

I do something similar as another commenter, 1/2 mayo to 1/2 sour cream. I also add some celery seed, fresh dill, and peas to add a facet of freshness

I prepped all the ingredients, and split them in half. One batch i dressed in greek yogurt. The other half I used a vinaigrette for a nicoise vibe. Both were very good.

I substituted diced Chicken for tuna. Also used 1/2 mayo/1/2 sour cream- very light and tasty

So old-fashioned it hurts. But I do love it.

This was excellent, despite not having half of the ingredients I needed. I *did* have the pasta and tuna. Swapped green pepper for celery, added edamame instead of peas as one reader suggested (I wanted to use them up), added one entire small sweet onion (not half), used dill pickles (chopped) instead of sweet relish that I didn't have, used plant-based sour cream with the remaining few T of mayo that I had (only used 1 c. total), added chopped green olives and pickled jalapeno. Everyone loved.

Would this work with cooked rice?

Lemon zest! Adds a kick of flavor and freshnedd

Based on another recipe I use, I grated the onion instead of chopping finely. You get the flavor profile, minus the "bits" ! The amount of dressing seems overly generous: I used about 60-70% of it and the dish was very creamy. I cut the mayonnaise with full-fat yogurt, about 1/3 yogurt and 2/3 mayonnaise.

I can't explain how excited I am to make this recipe. It's like discovering a childhood relic I forgot about.

This reminded me of 80s salads and was a hit with everyone from the 2 year old to teens and adults.

I added one cup of mayonnaise and it was more than enough.

My 16yo son and DH (and I) loved this. Nice and easy for a hot summer night. Used mostly yogurt as only had about 1/2 c. mayo - couldn't tell the difference (and actually, I think was better!). My son wants this for his school lunch.

I agree with Linda Criss - adding some sour cream helps keep the tuna salad creamy, and helps prevent the hot pasta from totally absorbing the mayo. I add some green peas - either fresh and raw, or, if using frozen, just toss them into the cooking pot with the pasta and hot water just before you're going to drain the pasta. Also, I love eating this while it's still warm. Use green peas, skip the celery. Use red onion for a nice 'bite' to the salad.

This one is going straight into the Methodist Potluck folder.

Almost perfect recreation of tuna mac salads of my childhood. As young as is delightful Millie Peartree, I'm surprised she has this as a reference! Fun. Notes:*Onion listed optional...use it...a sweet one but maybe half. Nix the onion powder.*Just say no to yellow mustard here.*Used top quality, line caught, natural juice packed canned tuna from Oregon.*Start with half (or less) of specified mayo and work up to where you want it to be.*Easy to scale this to make half recipe.