8 Creative Macaroni Salads

If you're looking for a quick dish to make, macaroni salad is the perfect choice for barbecues, potlucks, or family dinner. Macaroni salad is a type of pasta salad that is served cold — made with elbow macaroni and usually prepared with mayonnaise. You can also create a vinegar-based version, or top it with a surprising variety of in-season vegetables. Mayo and macaroni is a great combo, but there are so many macaroni salad options to choose from. That's why for this week's SWAT (Sharing With A Theme) we decided to round up some delicious creative macaroni salads.

Click here for 8 Creative Macaroni Salads Slideshow.

We asked The Daily Meal's Culinary Content Network members to share their best creative macaroni salads, and the results will make you want to have this summery dish every day this week. Here are the highlights.

Quesadillas with Macaroni Salad

This is not what you'd expect when you hear the words macaroni salad. Rini Desarin of Healing Tomato made a Mexican-inspired iteration that she turned into a filling, giving us macaroni salad in a quesadilla. It's the perfect snack for you and your kids to have for lunch.

Greek Yogurt Macaroni Salad with Avocados and Tomatoes

The Daily Meal's cook editor Angela Carlos made a Greek yogurt macaroni salad with avocados and tomatoes for this week's SWAT. This is great for people who don't like mayonnaise or just want to try something a little different. The Greek yogurt fulfils all of the same duties as mayonnaise and works as an excellent binder.

BBQ Bacon Cheddar Macaroni Salad

Barbecue and macaroni salad scream summer time. While they are great as separate meals, why not combine them into one? Michelle De La Cerda made a delicious barbecue bacon Cheddar macaroni salad for her blog The Complete Savorist. The recipe uses macaroni, cheese, bacon, mayo, barbecue sauce, and tasty produce. It's an unusual combination that tastes so good we made this dish the winner of this week's SWAT.

Want more creative macaroni salads? Don't worry! We have more eight delicious recipes for you to try.

Mexican Corn Pasta Salad

Instead of using mayonnaise in your next macaroni salad, go for ranch dressing — it adds a light and refreshing texture to the dish. For the Mexican Corn Pasta Salad recipe, click here.

Bacon Ranch Pasta Salad

Sometimes macaroni salad can be a little boring so this recipe gives it a recharge with ranch dressing. The ranch pasta salad uses a packet of ranch seasoning and it tastes devine. For the Bacon Ranch Pasta Salad recipe, click here.