Loved this salad. I only made half a recipe with just a few changes. I reduced the sugar to just a tablespoon for the diabetics in my guest list. I usded white balsamic vinegar to put back some of the sweetness. I also used those tiny grape tomatoes cut in half and didn't bother with cutting out the seeds (much fast prep work). I made this salad the day before without the tomatoes and bacon. On the day of the dinner, I tossed in the grape tomato halves and served the salad out of an oblong glass baking dish using the crisp bacon (that I fried up that day) on top as a garnish. This way the bacon didn't get soft and soggy, and yet every bite had bacon in it because the salad was spread out in the oblong baking dish rather than heaped into a deep dish.
I usually prefer potato salad to macaroni salad, but that was before I tasted this. I made it exactly as written and it was perfect. This is a new summer favorite for us.
Really want to give this one 4 1/2 stars. Made this last night and it turned out really good and it was easy! I didn't really change anything like I normally do except that I don't like green olives so I skipped them. I halved the recipe and it made more than enough for dinner. The only thing I will change next time is to use a little less vinegar maybe a half tbsp less when doing a smaller batch as it was just a little strong (it did mellow out after sitting overnight). Great recipe!
If you put bacon in something it's sure to be a winner! I'm not usually a fan of macroni salad but I do like this recipe. The apple cider vinegar gives it a very different taste and my whole family enjoyed it.
So I have to admit I was so dubious about this recipe but I had most of the ingredients so I thought I would go for it. I made it almost as is (no olives 1/2 pack bacon white wine vinegar penne rigate instead of elbows cut back to 1/2 the sugar). It made a huge amount of dressing so I added it a bit at a time to the pasta until I was happy with the consistancy and had lots left. BUT it is delicious!!! I'll make it again definitely.
This recipe was good.. nice texture and flavor. I only gave it 3 stars because I made adjustments to the original recipe.To me the 4 or 5 star should be reserved for those recipes that are truly delicious without having to make extensive changes. Anyways... I made this for a Memorial Day barbeque and halfed the entire recipe because there were just 6 of us. This made plenty for our small group. I cut back on the sugar vinegar and mustard (as others had suggested) and prepared the recipe the night before in order to give the flavors a chance to fully develop. I expected that I might need make a little more of the mayonaise mixture to add the next day to give the salad a more creamy texture and I was right. Even after this addition I still felt that it was missing something so just before serving I added some fresh dill - this seemed to help. The basic recipe is a good concept so I will most likely try this again and experiment different ingredients.
This Bacon and Macaroni Salad recipe we will be using all summer long for picnics & parties. The first time we made this i left the chopped tomato & cucumber on the side so you could add how much your personal preference was. The next time we made this we mixed all the ingredients together ( except the green olives we didn't have any ) and added paprika to the top. I would like to try this recipe with black olives. We served the salad on lettuce leaves and people were cutting the lettuce and eating that right with the salad. We will be using this recipe alot so we will get many chances to try different twist. Thanks for the cool recipe!
I think with a bit of tweaking this will be great! I didn't have celery or cucumber on hand, so no cucumber, but I added a little celery seed. Took it to a potluck and everyone enjoyed it. I personally think a little more salt or tangy, not quite sure...but overall easy and really good.
One of the best macaroni salads I've ever eaten! Love the olives in it.
