Best Hawaiian Style Macaroni Salad Recipe

Hawaiian macaroni salad makes a perfect summer meal or side. Sweet and tangy, this version of the popular picnic staple is a new, fresh take your friends and family will love. Plus, it is a great make ahead dish, which means you don’t have to stress putting it together the day you need it.

What is Hawaiian macaroni salad?

Hawaiian Macaroni Salad is a cold pasta side dish traditionally paired with Hawaiian meals, known for its sweet and tangy flavor. Unlike typical pasta salads, it beautifully balances subtle flavors using a less salty dressing. Hawaiian macaroni salad puts a tropical spin on the traditional macaroni salad. Mostly sweet with a hint of tang, our Hawaiian macaroni salad recipe uses pineapple chunks and juices.

We love macaroni salad Hawaiian style because it offers a refreshing and unique flavor, perfect for summer cookouts, picnics, and get-togethers.

What Ingredients do you need for Hawaiian Macaroni Salad

When you make this delicious macaroni salad Hawaiian style, you’ll need the following ingredients. For ease, we broke it down into what you’ll need for the macaroni and what you’ll need for the dressing.

The dressing

• Dressing base - For the base of the dressing, you’ll want both Greek yogurt and mayonnaise. We use regular mayo for this and plain Greek yogurt.
• Sugar - You can use either white or light brown sugar.
• Black pepper
• Salt
• Juice from pineapple chunks can - You can use the juice from the can you use for the macaroni.

For the macaroni:

• Elbow macaroni - You could use a similar sized noodle if you prefer.
• Apple cider vinegar - If you don’t have apple cider vinegar, you could use another vinegar without issue.
• Pineapple chunks - We use a can and then use the leftover juices for the dressing.
• White onion - You could also use a yellow onion if you prefer.
• Celery ribs - When you use these, make sure to cut them into small pieces.
• Carrots - You’ll want to grate these.
• Green onion chopped

Quick and Easy Hawaiian macaroni salad

Hawaiian style macaroni salad is really simple to make and doesn’t require any more steps compared to other forms of the famous macaroni salad. We use three additional ingredients to make this Hawaiian style, they include:

• Pineapple chunks
• Pineapple juice
• White sugar

How to make

Here’s what you need to do when you are ready to make Hawaiian macaroni salad.

• First, add 1 and 1/2 cups of water, sea salt, and the macaroni to the Instant Pot’s inner pot.
• Next, stir gently and place the lid on with the vent knob turned to the sealing position. Once in place, select “pressure cook” on high for 3 minutes.
• When the cooking cycle is complete, do a quick pressure release immediately and remove the lid.
• Carefully pour the cooked pasta into a colander to drain any remaining water left in the pot and then stop it from cooking further by rinsing it with cold water until the pasta is cool to the touch.

• As the pasta cooks, whisk together the Greek yogurt, mayonnaise, salt, pepper, apple cider vinegar ,pineapple juice, and sugar until smooth in a medium bowl. Refrigerate the dressing until needed.
• Once the pasta has cooled, combine it with all remaining ingredients (onion, celery, carrots, and pineapple chunks) in a large mixing bowl.

• Finally, add in the dressing and mix well, sprinkle the green onions, and cover with plastic wrap
• Before serving, refrigerate the Hawaiian macaroni salad for at least 1 hour. Remove from the refrigerator 10 minutes before serving.

Pro tips and tricks

For best results, you’ll want to follow these tips when you make this macaroni salad Hawaiian style.

• Make sure to not over cook the noodles by releasing the pressure immediately, draining quickly, and then running cool water over the noodles to stop the cooking process.
• Once you put the salad together, allow it to rest at least an hour, though this is a perfect make ahead meal or side, so feel free to make it a day ahead of time.
• You can make the dressing ahead too, just make sure to store it in an airtight container in the fridge until you are ready to mix with the rest of the salad.

FAQs

More Summer Recipes

• Red Potato Salad
• Cucumber Salsa
• Dill Pickle Pasta Salad

Here are a few of our favorites:

• Rainbow Vegetables Pinwheels Recipe
• Summer Samosa Rolls
• Falafel Wrap
• Sun-dried tomato and Humus Sandwich
• Tofu Tikki Gyro
• Easy Tea Party Sandwiches

Let us know what you think

If you make this delicious recipe, let us know how it went! When you make this, be sure to take a pic and tag us on Instagram @dbellyrulesdmind or Facebook @thebellyrulesthemind!