This recipe for Macaroni Slaw came about when I couldn’t decide whether to make classic macaroni salad, or traditional coleslaw. Then it occurred to me that they both feature a creamy mayonnaise dressing and – well, I thought, why not do a mash-up?!
Classic Macaroni Salad Meets Coleslaw
This Macaroni Slaw has so much going for it – chewy, toothsome rice-based elbow pasta, crunchy, fresh shredded cabbage, carrots, celery and bell pepper and a tangy, creamy dressing based on mayonnaise and lactose-free sour cream. Perfect alongside burgers or dogs.
Make this for your next cookout and watch everyone – FODMAPers and non- dive in.
A Note On Sour Cream
Did you know that conventional sour cream has a low FODMAP serving size of 2 Australian tablespoons? This means that if you cannot find lactose-free, you can still make this recipe with regular sour cream.
Substitutions
You could try lactose-free yogurt in lieu of the sour cream, but the flavor will change a bit. Use a full-fat variety if you can for best texture.
Choose Your Pasta
There are many gluten-free low FODMAP pastas from which to choose. We usually use rice flour based pastas and for this dish, the classic elbow “macaroni” shape is perfect. Make sure to cook them just until al dente or they will be too mushy for a salad.
Macaroni Slaw
This Macaroni Slaw is a mash-up of classic macaroni salad and coleslaw with a creamy dressing to tie it all together.
Ingredients:
- 12 ounces (340 g) low FODMAP gluten-free elbow pasta, cooked al dente, drained and cooled
- 8 ounces (225 g) green cabbage, shredded
- 8 ounces (225 g) red cabbage, shredded
- 2 medium carrots, scrubbed, root end trimmed, shredded
- 2 medium stalks celery, diced
- 1 medium green bell pepper, cored and diced
- 1/4 cup (16 g) finely chopped scallions, green parts only
- 1 cup (226 g) mayonnaise
- 1/4 cup (60 ml) apple cider vinegar
- 1/4 cup (60 g) lactose-free sour cream
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 1 teaspoon celery seeds
- Kosher salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
Preparation:
-
Stir together the drained and cooled pasta, both cabbage, the shredded carrot, diced celery and bell pepper and chopped scallions in a large mixing bowl.
-
In a small mixing bowl, whisk together the mayo, vinegar, sour cream, sugar and celery seed. Taste and adjust seasoning, if you like, with salt and pepper.
-
Pour the dressing over the pasta and vegetables and fold together until well combined. Salad is ready to serve but actually improves if let to sit for at least 1 hour for flavors to meld. Salad can be refrigerated overnight in an airtight container. Bring to room temperature before serving - or at the most serve it just lightly chilled. Salad can keep, refrigerated, for up to 3 days.
Dédé's Quick Recipe Tips Video
Notes:
Tips
- This makes “just” enough dressing. You could increase the dressing by .25, if you like it creamier.
Nutrition
All nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered estimates. Actual nutritional content will vary with brands used, measuring methods, portion sizes and more. For a more detailed explanation, please read our article Understanding The Nutrition Panel Within Our Recipes.
Thank you for this great recipe Dede. I replaced the sour scream with lactose free Greek yoghurt and it was delicious. Even my 6 and 7 year olds enjoyed it.
Thank you for writing! We love hearing about families being able to enjoy our food together. I might try your approach next time. Always remember to check FODMAP loads when making alterations.
Good idea. I don’t seem to be able to find lactose-free sour cream here, but the stores do have lactose-free plain yogurt.
Conventional sour cream has a low FODMAP serving size of 2 AUSTRALIAN tablespoons. I would substitute conventional sour cream.
Great idea! I often buy bags of precut red+green cabbage+carrots during summer and this recipe is perfect for them. So good and refreshing!
Great prep tips.
This recipe has celery in it. I thought we couldn’t have celery???
Hi Kathryn, who told you that? There is a lot of misinformation out there – even from doctors. It is our opinion that you cannot follow this diet without the Monash app and the FODMAP Friendly apps. They are doing the original research. At your fingertips you can look up celery and see that there is a small low FODMAP serving size, which is reflected in the serving size of this recipe and others. Over-restriction is not necessary.
Thank you for this recipe. Will be trying it today. How you know how much is one serving in this recipe (and in others)?
It is right at the top of recipe itself, next to time of prep.
I’m sorry if I’m missing it but is there an amount like 1 cup for a serving size? I see that it makes 14 servings but unless you divide the salad up into 14 equal portions how do you know how much one serving equals? Thank you.
Hi Lindsay, you are correct that there is no volume amount, and I will explain why. When it comes to this type of pasta – elbow – we have seen some brands that are twice as large as others. Since we do not know what you will be using, the volume of that ingredient alone can greatly alter the outcome; what is consistent is the dry weight. And in terms of weight, the amount of water absorbed by different kinds of pasta well also affect final weight and volume (how much the pasta increases in size). Then you add in all the other variables like the sizes of the chopped and prepped vegetables, which will not be the same from me to you, or even by you from one time to the next. The only way to accurately determine a low FODMAP amount is to take what we know to be true about the raw ingredients, take stacking into account and come up with the right serving size, which in this case is recommended as 1/14th of the whole.