Cold Creamy Chicken Macaroni Salad

This is an extremely popular Chicken Macaroni Salad Recipe. With a sweet and tangy dressing the flavors and textures are irresistible.

Cuisine American

Prep Time 15

Cook Time 10

resting time 2

Total Time 25

Servings

Calories 424kcal

Cook pasta according to package instructions just past a al dente stage.
In the meantime chop all vegetables. Once the pasta is cooked, drain in a colander and then rinse with cool water to stop the cooking process.
Place drained pasta in a large mixing bowl. Add all of the remaining ingredients and stir gently to combine.
Taste and adjust flavors to suite your palate. If you like it sweeter, add a little bit of sugar. If you think it's too sweet, add a little more salt or vinegar.

Cook the pasta past the a la dente stage. Flavors in this pasta salad will benefit from a rest in the refrigerator overnight. If the pasta is cooked a la dente, it will continue to absorb the moisture from the mayo sauce and will dry out. Cook the pasta to just past the a la dente stage, but don't let it get mushy.
I like to slice boneless, skinless chicken breast, season it with salt and pepper and then saute it in a fry pan stove top. Once cooked through, simply cut into bite sized pieces. You can even purchase pre-cut chicken tenders at the store to make this even easier.
Should you rinse macaroni when making macaroni salad? The only reason I so is to help stop the macaroni from cooking while it's draining in the colander. But, don't let the cooked macaroni cool too much. Mixing warm macaroni with the vegetables helps bring out the flavor of the celery and onion.
Let the salad rest in the refrigerator for a couple of hours, or even over night. This will marry the flavors.
This is a good chance to practice your knife skills. Try to cut the celery and onion into equal sized pieces. Doing so will improve the appearance of the salad. Uniform pieces will also insure a more enhanced flavor experience due to even distribution.