Vegan Macaroni Salad
Jun 21, 2018
Vegan Macaroni Salad with a creamy green dressing made with avocados and cilantro! This macaroni salad is the perfect summer salad for potlucks and parties!
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This Vegan Macaroni Salad is the perfect salad for summer potlucks and picnics. Packed with veggies, this salad has a creamy green dressing made with avocados and cilantro.
You are sure to love this vegan spin on the classic macaroni salad!
This week has been kind of tough. It was my mom’s 1st death anniversary on 18th June (it still kind of feels unreal saying this). I can’t believe that it has already been one year. Time really flies, it feels like yesterday that I was travelling to India every month to be with mom.
I am not a great writer but no words in this world can possibly describe how much I miss her. That void in my life can never be filled and I know I have to live with it. I am learning to but it hasn’t been easy. And days like this make it tougher.
This whole week I have been trying to take it easy. I can’t work when I am stressed, it’s like my creativity level goes down to zero under such situations. So, I figured there’s no point trying to push so much when my mind was asking for rest.
I chose to do some packing for our Europe trip in stead. We are leaving this weekend and it’s one thing I am looking forward to. This would be our first time and I am most looking forward to all the desserts and pastries in Paris.
It has also been pretty hot here (yes finally!) and I have been making blueberry ginger cooler and iced teas on a repeat. I have also been making this Vegan Macaroni Salad quite often these days.
What I love about this salad is that it’s so easy to put together using simple ingredients. It is great for potlucks and parties and also for lunch-box. I was little wary of how it would hold since the dressing has avocado in it but it kept very well.
I stored this salad overnight and gave it to Sarvesh for lunch next day and it was perfectly fine. So you can easily make it before time and then take it with you to your summer picnics.
This Vegan Macaroni Salad Recipe
✓ is the perfect summer salad for potlucks!
✓ vegan, dairy-free and nut-free
✓ is a vegan spin on the classic macaroni salad
✓ great way to make your kids eat some veggies
✓ uses a creamy green avocado dressing, which would be good on just about any salad!
Let’s talk about the dressing that I have used for this vegan macaroni salad. Traditionally, macaroni salad uses mayonnaise. My recipe uses avocados and vegan yogurt to make a creamy replacement.
This creamy green dressing has avocado, vegan yogurt (almond milk yogurt), cilantro, lemon juice olive oil and maple syrup. It’s a really tasty and easy dressing. While it was great in this macaroni salad, I think it would be great on top of any salad. It’s has the perfect balance of flavors and the avocados make it really creamy.
I have used plain almond milk yogurt from kite hill in this recipe. I do not like vegan yogurts but this was definitely one of the best that I have tried. This is not sponsored, just sharing with you guys what I used in the recipe.
Coconut yogurt would have made it very coconut-y and I didn’t want my macaroni salad to taste like that. So this almond milk yogurt perfectly here. The tangy flavors in this salad comes from lemon juice but you may also use vinegar in place.
Hope you guys give this vegan macaroni salad a try this summer. It’s really the perfect summer salad for your whole family to enjoy!
Method- How to Make Vegan Macaroni Salad
First start off by chopping all the veggies. Here I have used all the classics that are used in a macaroni salad-Â red onion, red pepper, carrot and celery.
Boil the macaroni as per instructions on the package. The only thing to keep in mind is that your macaroni shouldn’t get mushy. It should be al-dente for this salad. Toss the boiled macaroni with all the chopped veggies in a large bowl and set it aside.
Next to your food processor or blender, add all the ingredients for the dressing – avocados, cilantro, almond milk yogurt, lemon juice, maple syrup, garlic salt, ground black pepper and salt to taste.
Blend until everything is well combined and you get a smooth green and creamy dressing on hand!
Add in the prepared dressing to the bowl of macaroni and veggies.
Mix well using a spatula until all of the dressing is well combined with the macaroni and the veggies. Taste test and adjust the salt and pepper to taste at this point.
Sprinkle chopped dill on top. If you don’t like dill, you may skip it!
Cover the vegan macaroni salad with a cling sheet and refrigerate 3-4 hours before serving.
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Vegan Macaroni Salad
Ingredients
- 8 oz macaroni little more than 1.5 cups macaroni
- 1 medium red pepper diced, around 3/4 cup diced red pepper
- 2 medium carrots chopped, around 3/4 cup chopped carrots
- 1/2 cup chopped celery
- 1/4 cup diced red onion
- 1 tablespoon chopped dill
Dressing
- 2 large avocados
- 1/4 cup packed cilantro
- 1/2 cup vegan yogurt I used plain almond milk yogurt
- 1.5 tablespoons lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 tablespoon maple syrup
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
- 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper or to taste
- salt to taste
Instructions
- First start off by chopping all the veggies. Here I have used all the classics that are used in a macaroni salad- red onion, red pepper, carrot and celery.
- Boil the macaroni as per instructions on the package. The only thing to keep in mind is that your macaroni shouldn't get mushy. It should be al-dente for this salad. Toss the boiled macaroni with all the chopped veggies in a large bowl and set it aside.
- Next to your food processor or blender, add all the ingredients for the dressing - avocados, cilantro, almond milk yogurt, lemon juice, maple syrup, garlic salt, ground black pepper and salt to taste.
- Blend until everything is well combined and you get a smooth green and creamy dressing on hand.
- Add in the prepared dressing to the bowl of macaroni and veggies.
- Mix well using a spatula until all of the dressing is well combined with the macaroni and the veggies. Taste test and adjust the salt and pepper to taste at this point.
- Sprinkle chopped dill on top. If you don't like dill, you may skip it!
- Cover the vegan macaroni salad with a cling sheet and refrigerate 3-4 hours before serving.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
can i replace almond yoghurt with greek yoghurt? do u think it will taste good?
it should be fine
The dressing is super easy and delicious. I omitted the olive oil and it still tasted great. Thanks for sharing.
Turned out great. I don’t eat avocados due to texture but in this recipe it turned out great. Also my mom vegan family really liked it.
good to know!
The vegan macaroni salad was amaze balls.
Changed the yogurt for coconut cream, cilantro for baby spinach
We adore avocado/yoghurt dressing and have them almost daily with our salads. This looks like a perfect weekday lunch! Relax and enjoy the rest of the week, Manali.