Light Spanish Macaroni Salad Recipe

We all love to enjoy a large dish of Paella with pasta, or the delicious Spanish black rice, but on hot days, it’s harder to enjoy them.

For those summer or spring days where the temperatures don’t give you a break, you can try and make the Spanish macaroni salad.

This is one of the most popular summer pasta recipes, and it is a great way of enjoying a nice Spanish lunch filled with Spanish flavors without sweating all the time.

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Background of the Dish

The Spanish macaroni pasta was the solution for people from Southern Spain to enjoy pasta during the summer.

We can assure you that it is tastier than other healthy pasta recipes because it has all of the ingredients that make Andalusian and Mediterranean cuisine shine.

From minced garlic to onion, tomatoes, and olive oil, this pasta salad has everything you need to have a full meal.

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Things You’ll Need for Spanish Macaroni Salad

To prepare this cheap pasta recipe you will need fusilli pasta, a mix of vegetables, hard-boiled eggs, pitted black olives, manchego cheese, and olive oil for the dressing.

Feel free to try and make other Spanish salad recipes like the Spanish chickpea salad or the Spanish lentil salad.

Ingredients

• 3 cups (300gr) fusilli pasta
• 2 tomatoes
• 1 carrot
• 1 onion
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1 spring onion
• 2 eggs
• 12 black olives (pitted)
• 200gr Manchego cheese
• 2 tablespoons fresh chopped parsley
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 tablespoon sherry vinegar
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• Salt and pepper to taste

How to Make Spanish Macaroni Salad – Step by Step Guide

1. To start making this quick pasta recipe, grab a small pot and boil 2 eggs (for 15 to 20 minutes depending on how you like them). Set them aside to cool.

2. For the next step grab a large pot and fill it with water. Add a generous amount of salt (between 1 and 3 tablespoons, don’t worry, it won’t be salty) and heat at high heat.

3. Once the water is hot and almost boiling, add the fusilli pasta. Cook until al dente, drain the excess water, and let it cool.

4. After that, mince the garlic and chop the onion into small pieces. Cook them in a saucepan for 5 minutes or until golden (you can add them raw if you like it). Set aside.

5. Now chop the green leaves of the spring onion into thin pieces. Wash and chop the tomato into cubes, remove the seeds, and peel it if you prefer it that way.

6. Then wash, peel, and chop the carrot into small cubes.

7. Next, grab a large bowl and put the pasta and the vegetables. Cut the manchego cheese into small cubes and the pitted black olives in half and add them to the Spanish macaroni salad.

8. Season with salt and pepper. Add the olive oil, sherry vinegar, and lemon juice, and mix everything with the salad for the dressing. 

9. For the final step, chop the hard-boiled eggs and place them on top of the salad. Serve the Spanish pasta salad cold or at room temperature.

Substitution of Ingredients

If you want to prepare this Spanish macaroni salad recipe but you don’t have all the ingredients don’t worry, there are some replacements that you can make.

First, fusilli pasta is the classic one for cold macaroni salad but you can use other types such as macaroni, rigatoni, penne, or your favorite one.

Some light pasta recipes call for whole wheat pasta, and you can use it but keep in mind that it takes longer to cook.

If you don’t want to use manchego cheese for this macaroni salad with cheese, you can skip it or add others like cheddar, feta, American cheese, or Alpine style.

Did you know there’s a delicious Spanish salad that has manchego and apple as the main stars? Then make sure you try our tasty apple manchego salad recipe.

Lastly, feel free to add or remove any vegetable from this healthy pasta salad. Or give a go to another delicious Spanish pasta salad, the ensalada de coditos, with ham, cheese, and mayo.

Do you want to try other unique Spanish salads? The Spanish rice salad is an incredibly delicious and nutritious salad you must try.

Tips on Serving Spanish Macaroni Salad

The Spanish macaroni salad is known as summer pasta, but you can have it at any time of the year.

It is better to serve it cold, but it works fine at room temperature too.

With the manchego cheese, the vegetables, the olives, and the hard-boiled eggs you already have the perfect toppings, but other salad toppings ideas might work too.

For example, you can chop and toast some almonds and walnuts and add them to this ensalada de macaroni, or some croutons.

Besides that, you can serve this as a main dish and serve it with other simply fresh salads like the Spanish mixed green salad, or serve it as a side dish.

You must also try other Spanish salads like ensalada de cangrejo or the Spanish tomato salad recipe, an incredibly easy salad for your summer recipe cookbook.

And if you enjoy eating salad, why not try a dessert and go for our easy Spanish fruit salad recipe?

How to Store Spanish Macaroni Salad

We love making this Spanish macaroni salad due to how fast and easy it is, but storing it can be a little bit tricky.

You can store this tomato pasta salad in the fridge before adding the dressing, and it can last up to 3 days there.

If you want to freeze it, then you just can freeze the cooked pasta by itself, without the other ingredients (because raw vegetables, hard-boiled eggs, cheese, and olives don’t freeze well).

The pasta can last up to 30 days by itself in the fridge, then let it thaw overnight.

Some easy and quick pasta recipes that can be stored for longer are the Spanish sardines pasta and the Spanish pasta with chorizo.

Recipe Card: Spanish Macaroni Salad

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