If you’re looking for the perfect easy old fashioned macaroni salad gluten-free macaroni salad for your next summer cookout or picnic, then this recipe is for you! You will love the al dente noodles smothered in a creamy mayo sauce layered with crunchy diced celery, olives and onions.

This easy recipe can be made in a cinch and the best part is that you can serve it cold or warm, so if you need to prepare it ahead- there is no worry!

Gluten free dairy free macaroni salad is a recipe that you need to have on hand. This is the best gluten free macaroni salad recipe and I have been serving it for over 10 years now to friends and family that are not gluten or dairy free!

I will also share with you the best gluten free pasta for macaroni salad too!

Gluten Free Macaroni Salad

Two things that scream summer to me are some good gluten free potato salad and macaroni salad recipes. Let’s be honest, I quit macaroni salad after going gluten free and missed it. See, back then there weren’t many gf noodle options and I didn’t find gf macaroni for a while.

This traditional macaroni salad is creamy and insanely easy to make with just a handful of easy ingredients. You will find yourself making it often because of how easy it is to make.

When you are having a BBQ or summer gatherings this is always our favorite go-to side dish recipe because nobody will even notice that it is gluten free.

One word of advice is to not tell anyone that this is gluten free if you can. Just watch silently with pleasure as people shove your food into their mouths. Then when they compliment how good it was, tell them it’s gluten free.

How do I make the best creamy gluten free macaroni salad

The ingredients you will need to make dairy free macaroni salad are…

Gluten Free Elbow Pasta: My favorite brands are Mountain High Organics, Tinkyada, and Jovial.
Mayo– mayo is dairy free, but not vegan. You can easily make this vegan by using vegan mayo
Sweet Pickle Relish
Diced Onions
Diced Olives
Diced Celery
Green Onions

FYI- Those that are new to the dairy free lifestyle, Eggs are not dairy. Eggs are not vegan, but they do not contain dairy.

How to make Gluten Free Macaroni Salad…

Boil and cook the noodles, you want them to be al dente.
While they are cooking prep everything and chop the veggies, add them to a bowl and stir well to make your creamy dressing.
When the noodles are done drain them, rinse them with cold water and transfer to the large bowl with your dressing.
Add all of the ingredients and stir to combine well.
Serve right away warm or later cold. Store this in the fridge. I have found that it only keeps well for 1-2 days in the fridge before the noodles start to harden.

We love making this dairy free macaroni salad all summer long and serve it with burgers, ribs, steak, hot dogs and grilled chicken!

The best part is that this recipe really does taste like the macaroni salad you ate growing up.

So, the real question is, are you team potato salad, or macaroni salad?

Full Recipe for Gluten Free Macaroni Salad (Dairy Free)

Gluten Free Dairy Free Macaroni Salad

Easy and delicious gluten and dairy free macaroni salad is the perfect summer side dish

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Course: Side Dish

Cuisine: American

Keyword: gluten free dairy free macaroni salad, gluten free macaroni salad, the best gluten free macaroni salad recipe

Servings:

Calories: 324kcal

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Ingredients

2 cups of gluten free Elbow Pasta
1 cup mayo
2 TBSP. sweet relish
2 TBSP. diced white onion
1 2.25 ounce can of diced olives
2 stalks of celery diced
3 green onions chopped

Instructions

Boil and cook the noodles according to package directions
Chop the veggies while the noodles are cooking
Once the pasta is done cooking drain it and put the noodles in a large bowl
Add all of the chopped veggies, mayo and relish with the pasta and toss until well combined and serve hot or cold.
Store in the fridge

Nutrition

Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

Need more side dishes? I’ve got you covered…

close up view of two vegan baguettes on a wooden cutting board, with one partially sliced

This was original posted in July 2016. It was updated and reposted in June 2023.

2 Comments

Kimberly says:

at

Im looking for some ideas for resipies that are gluten free but this is for my grandson who is also allergic to eggs and dairy and bananas and high fruictose corn suryp can you help me find something i can feed him that he will not get sick from, i forgot to mention he is 3 years old

1. livingfreelygf says:
  
  at
  
  Hi Kimberly,
  
  I have a lot of recipes on my blog and in my cookbooks that are free of gluten, eggs, dairy and high fructose corn syrup. Many of my recipes that contain eggs can have flax eggs used in place of them.