Packed with crisp veggies, this cold Macaroni Salad skips the mayo and surprises guests with a flavorful Italian dressing.

Close up pieces of cucumber, green pepper, celery with shredded carrots and radishes mixed into Italian Macaroni Salad.

Grandma’s Macaroni Salad Recipe

Zesty Italian dressing brings a light, flavorful twist to this old fashioned macaroni salad recipe that a friend shared with me. This is one of her grandma’s best recipes. She originally noted using “mangos,” which I learned is an old-fashioned name for what we now call green bell peppers.

Our Macaroni Salad for 50 people features classic carrots, onion, celery, and green peppers mixed with tender elbow pasta. This Italian style version keeps those familiar flavors while adding chopped cucumber and thinly sliced radishes for a fresh, memorable zing.

My friend also shared her family’s Old Fashioned Three Bean Salad, Greek Salad Dressing with Red Wine Vinegar, and Pasta Salad with Pepperoni and Salami. She’s a great cook, so her recipes are always a hit!

Overhead view of a bowl with a variety of old fashioned vegetables stirred into macaroni with Italian dressing.

This simple pasta side dish is easier to serve at summer picnics than other mayo based options.

Ingredients Needed

Elbow Macaroni
Carrots – purchase shredded or use a grater with a whole carrot – one carrot shreds into roughly 1/2 cup.
Celery – one medium stalk of celery makes about 1/2 to 2/3 cup when chopped.
Green Pepper – also known as mangos.
Cucumbers – we prefer English or baby cucumbers.
Radishes – slice thin and then chop or slice the slices – about 4 or 5 radishes makes 1 cup.
Italian Dressing – a bottle of a quality brand like Wishbone, or your favorite works best.
Seasonings – granulated sugar, salt and pepper. The original recipe calls for twice as much sugar, but after testing in our own kitchen we think 1/2 cup is plenty.

Ingredients to make Italian Macaroni Salad are green pepper or mango, onion, English cucumber, carrots, celery, salt, pepper, radishes, prepared Italian dressing and sugar on a wooden counter.

Simple Steps To Follow:

Cook pasta according to package directions in a pot of salted water. Drain and run under cold water immediately.

Our food chopper saves a ton of time to make evenly sized, small pieces that blend together the best and maximize the flavors in every bite.

In a large mixing bowl add a 16 ounce bottle of Italian dressing, salt, pepper and granulated sugar. Stir well.

A bottle of Italian dressing poured over cooked elbow macaroni with sugar, salt and pepper sprinkled on top.

Add grated carrots thinly sliced and chopped radishes, chopped onion, sliced celery and stir well.

Shredded carrots, sliced cucumbers, chopped onion, green peppers, radishes and cucumbers on top of a bowl of Italian Macaroni Salad.

Cover and refrigerate for at least one hour.

Crunchy celery, cucumber and radishes mixed in with shredded carrots into a delicious macaroni salad with Italian Dressing in a foil pan.

Stir well before and during serving. Salad stores well in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 2 to 4 days.

Jennifer’s Recipe Tips:

This is a flexible Italian Macaroni Salad recipe – feel free to use the amount or type of vegetables that blend well together, or that you already have on hand.