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Short-Order Kitchen

High-Protein Macaroni Salad

By Wes Ellis2 min read
A white bowl of creamy elbow macaroni with corn on a wooden board, with forks and a bottle of oil nearby.
Recipe card
Servings
4
Prep
15 minutes, plus chilling
Cook
8 to 10 minutes
Method
Stovetop
Heat
Boiling water
Difficulty
Easy
Jump to ingredients & directions ↓

Part 7 of the thread Bowls, salads and wraps

THE SHORT VERSION4 points
  • One box of protein pasta elbows, cooked and rinsed completely cold.
  • 2 cups of chopped vegetables for crunch.
  • Add tuna, chicken or chopped eggs for more protein.
  • Chill it a few hours. It's better the next day.
THE RECIPE · HIGH-PROTEIN MACARONI SALAD

Ingredients

You'll need

  • Pot
  • Colander
  • Large bowl
  • Knife and cutting board

Directions

  1. Cook the pasta according to the package until just al dente. Drain, rinse under cold water until completely cool, then drain well again.
  2. Chop the vegetables. Drain the tuna or dice the chicken or eggs if you're using them.
  3. In a large bowl, combine the pasta, vegetables, any added protein, the dressing and the Parmesan.
  4. Season with salt and pepper and toss gently.
  5. Cover and refrigerate for at least a few hours, or overnight.
  6. Stir again before serving cold.
Notes Keeps 3 to 4 days in an airtight container in the fridge. It makes 6 to 8 cups; the numbers assume four big servings with tuna or chicken added. Roughly 427 calories and 40 g protein per serving, give or take.

wesellis.com/blog/high-protein-macaroni-salad/

Deli macaroni salad is mostly mayo holding pasta together. This one's more pasta than sauce, and the pasta itself carries a good share of the protein. With a can of tuna stirred in, it's lunch on its own, not just a side.

Rinse it cold, drain it twice

Protein and chickpea pastas behave differently from wheat pasta. They go from al dente to mushy faster, and they release more starch into the water. So pull them a minute early, dump them in a colander, and rinse under cold water until there's no warmth left at all. Then let them drain again. Any water left clinging to the elbows ends up in the bottom of the bowl, watering down the dressing.

Heads up

Check the pasta a minute or two before the package time. A tired elbow falls apart when you toss it.

Give it time

Straight out of the bowl, it tastes like pasta with dressing on it. After a few hours in the fridge, the dressing soaks in, the onion mellows and it starts tasting like actual macaroni salad. Overnight is better still.

chickpea pastaPasta made from chickpea flour instead of wheat. It has more protein than regular pasta and a slightly firmer, nuttier bite.More: Air Fryer Baked Pasta shows up in a couple of other salads in this thread. The Chicken Pasta Salad is the single-serving version, and the Caesar Pasta Salad trades ranch for a Greek-yogurt Caesar dressing.

Tip

If it tightens up after a day in the fridge, stir in a spoonful more dressing before serving.

LINKED FROM2 notes

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