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I am having my son's graduation party this Saturday. I'm making amish macaroni salad but I'm not sure what to scale the recipe for. We are having approx 50 people but if I scale it for 50 people, it says I would need almost 17 cups of macaroni and 17 cups of mayo. That seems like WAY too much.

What are the portion sizes? If you are having a number of different dishes, and serving buffet style, you can figure a number of people don't care for pasta salads.

I looked at a box of pasta and it considers 2 oz of dry a serving (8 servings for a 1 lb box). Using that as a guide for 50 servings you would need 6.25 lbs of pasta. For dressing that amount of salad I would thin the mayo with some milk. Instead of buying 4 or 5 jars of mayo at the grocery I would get one of the larger jars at a wholesale club.

What else is on the menu?

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Charming,

I would not allow a 2-oz. portion per person as a side dish. I did that for mac and cheese for 12 guests once and was eating leftovers for a week.

Your recipe sounds like the pasta has already been cooked. It almost certainly can't be for 17 cups of dry pasta. The recipe proportions would allow 1/3 cup pasta and 1/3 cup mayo per serving. Broken down that way, it doesn't sound like so much, considering that the 1/3 cup mayo will also be dressing the assorted veggies you'll probably add to the macaroni.

Rule of thumb -
4 ounces of uncooked pasta (elbow macaroni, shells, rotini, cavatelli, wheels, penne, or ziti) = 1 cup dried pasta = 2 1/2 cups cooked pasta.
Your recipe (assuming the 17 cups of mac has been cooked) would begin with 28 oz. = 7 cups of dry mac according to this guideline. Considering that there will be lots of chopped veggies in the salad, too, 1/3 cup cooked mac per person should be adequate.

The amount for the mayo does seem overdone for my taste. I wouldn't think that 1/3 cup of cooked mac plus veggies would need that much moistener. I'd start with about 1.5 or 2 tablespoons per serving, which would add up to between 9 1/3 and 12.5 cups. I'd be sure to have at least that much on hand to add if the 9 1/3 cups isn't enough.

Nettiejay is correct. Instead of looking at the box which gave main dish servings, I should have checked a recipe. :

I would prepare about 1/2 cup of salad for each guest or about 25 cups of salad total.
To determine how much a recipe will yield, I count how many cups of ingredients are in the recipe.
For example: one pound (16 ounces) of dry pasta will measure about 9 cups when cooked al dente. If you used even two cups of mayo, a cup each of onion, celery, green pepper, cucumbers, and 4 cups of ham cubes you would have about 19 cups of salad (38 servings.)
Adjust the recipe accordingly.
If this pasta salad is the only side dish you are offering with an entree, no other vegetables or potatoes, you should figure a larger portion per person, say about 2/3 cup.
No doubt you are serving other sides with your meal and dessert.
It also makes a difference what spoon you choose to use as a serving utensil. If I intend for guests to take a large serving, I put a larger spoon in the dish. For small portions a small spoon, etc.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Lurah,

Thanks. Yes, we are having other sides. Our menu is:
Pulled pork sandwiches
Bourbon beef sandwiches
Amish Macaroni salad (My favorite recipe)

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/a...ni-salad/detail.aspx

Fruit salad
Potato salad
taco dip
chips/salsa/quacamole
Shrimp dip

Take a look at the recipe and see how many servings I need. I have made this recipe a few times before and it's amazing, but it's always been for a small group.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Forensicmom,

It looks good, but do you really use all that sugar? If you've made it in the past - how many portions do you really get?

I was told by a caterer once when there are choices such as you have (i.e. potato salad AND macaroni salad -- both similar both starch) that instead of making enough to serve 50, you should make enough to only serve 2/3 of your guests -- so like enough for 32 people. Some will take one or the other and those that take both won't take full servings of both.

I've always done it and it's always worked for me.

Martha

If you make 50 servings of that recipe as written, you'll end up with about 67 cups of mac/vegetable/pickle mixture before you add dressing. The dressing won't actually add a full 17 cups of its own volume; it will "melt" into the mix and add some bulk, but not a lot.

IMO, that's way too much of this one salad as part of a full buffet. It would make more than a full cup of salad for each and every person.

Thanks. I was thinking the same thing about having too much. Most people will pick one or the other.

I was originally planning to have a tossed salad instead of the potato salad but my son (who the party is for) begged me to make potato salad instead.

Forensicmom - I looked at your recipe and it should yield about 10 cups of salad and make about 20 portions (1/2 cup each) which is a generous size serving.
Linderhof is right, it you have multiple offerings, cutting back on the volumne of each salad or starch or dessert is a good rule of thumb.