No barbecue is complete without side dishes to complement the meat. Some of the most popular dishes are salads and one of the most popular traditional salads to serve at a BBQ is macaroni salad. Our favourite easy-to-make macaroni salad has always been Kraft Pasta Salad in the green box. It has been a staple for our barbecues until recently when it became harder to find.
Originally published in June 2021, updated in March 2025.
Our family loves this pasta salad with tuna, ham, or chicken added to it so it was disappointing when we could no longer find the green box in stores in our area, even Amazon was sold out. And the ingredients on the box were no help as they listed only spices as the ingredients with dried vegetables.
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Spice Mix Ingredients
The package ingredients list salt, dried red peppers, MSG, spices, dried onions, dried garlic, parsley, and whey. It was the ‘Spices’ that we had to figure out.
In place of dried red peppers, paprika is used. It not only adds colour but is made from ground peppers so it is the closest to dried peppers. Sometimes we use smoked paprika which adds just a just of smokiness that pairs well with ribs or any other meat that is smoked.
Granulated garlic and granulated onion are the go-tos in this recipe in place of dried garlic and onion.
The other spices are oregano, basil, ground thyme, celery salt, and black pepper.
A pinch of sea salt is also added. There is enough salt added to the celery salt as well as the salt added to the water to cook the pasta, so you only need a little salt in the salad itself.
Pasta For Macaroni Salad
For the pasta, elbow macaroni is what is used because it resembles the original recipe. You can use other types of shaped pasta if you prefer. We made this recipe with rotini or fusilli when macaroni wasn’t available.
Tips For Making Pasta Salad
For this recipe, the pasta should be cooked al-dente, just like a regular pasta dish. If it is overcooked, it will become mushy when stirred in the mayo and spices.
Rinsing the pasta in cold water helps keep the pasta from sticking and stops the cooking process. The cold water will cool the pasta and rinse some of the starch off which will stop the pasta from sticking together while cooling.
The Dressing
For the dressing, we only use real mayonnaise. The green box of Kraft Pasta Salad recommends using Miracle Whip or Real Mayonnaise. We have always preferred real mayonnaise.
Some people prefer salad dressing style mayonnaise such as Miracle Whip but it adds a sweeter taste than real mayonnaise. Salad dressing can be used in place of mayonnaise if that is what you have or prefer.
Additions For Pasta Salad
Depending on what we are serving macaroni salad with, we will add a few extras to the pasta before adding the dressing.
We sometimes add chopped chicken or ham and some diced peppers to the pasta salad.
For large BBQs, we add canned tuna, diced red and yellow peppers, diced celery, and green olives.
Can The Pasta Salad Be Made Ahead Of Time
Yes, this salad can be made the day before. It will stay fresh in the fridge overnight.
We make this salad for camping or trips to the beach. We make it the night before our trip and store it in covered containers that we can put in a cooler for travelling.
Serving Macaroni Salad
The pasta salad should be kept cold even when serving. Store the salad in the fridge covered until ready to serve.
When serving pasta salad at a BBQ, keep the salad covered and in the shade. On really hot days we will fill a bowl will ice and place the bowl of salad inside the bowl of ice to keep it cold.
Serve with crackers, cheese, and fresh raw vegetables, and you have a quick and easy lunch on a hot day.
Looking for more side dishes for your next BBQ, check out our Potato Salad and our Homemade Mac and Cheese recipes.
Have you tried this recipe? Let us know in the comments below.
Macaroni Salad (Copycat Kraft Pasta Salad)
Ingredients
- 3 cups elbow macaroni
Dressing Ingredients
- 1 cup mayonnaise
- 1 Tbsp granulated onion
- 1 Tbsp granulated garlic
- ½ Tbsp paprika
- ½ Tbsp dried basil
- ½ Tbsp dried oregano
- 1 tsp ground thyme
- 1 tsp celery salt
- ½ tsp black pepper
- pinch of sea salt
Instructions
- Prepare macaroni according to package directions for al dente pasta. (Don't forget to salt the water before cooking the pasta.)
- Drain pasta and run under cold water for 2 minutes to stop cooking process.
- Pour pasta into a large bowl and allow to cool completely at room temperature. Stirring occasionally to allow the heat to come out of the bottom.
- Meanwhile, mix all dressing ingredients together in a small bowl.
- When pasta is cooled, pour dressing over pasta and stir to coat.
- Cover a refrigerate until ready to serve.
- Serve cold.
Made this and it tastes like the packages one but better! So much flavor and my husband loved it.
I love macaroni salad! This recipe is so easy and delicious 🙂
This looks delicious. I love the idea and it seems easy to make. Thanks for the recipe 🙂
I love a good macaroni salad- especially a spicy one!
This will be great to have for our summer parties. This sounds delicious.
This easy recipe sounds a perfect one to make for any parties. This will be a crowd pleaser.
This recipe is fantastic! Taste just like Kraft pasta salad!
Fantastic. Very close to the commercial product. I substituted dill weed for celery salt as I had none on hand. Thanks for sharing this 🙂
Karft was what I learnt to make pasta with. So glas to have a perfect recipe hack for it.
Wow! This tastes like the salad I grew up with. Brilliant
Goes so perfectly with our summer dinners.
Do you add all of the spice mix or a portion of the mix?
Yes, all the spices in the recipe are added to the dressing.
This was very good. I needed a recipe after not finding the Kraft salad in my grocery store. This was as close as it could get to the boxed one. A little more work but it is still good.
Is this for “cooked” macaroni or raw?
This is 3 cups uncooked pasta.
This was so easy to make and the taste was awesome. I added some chopped ham as you suggested and it was really good. Also I added diced celery. But I used everything else you had in the recipe and it turned out great.