This Hawaiian-style Mac Salad is a crowd pleaser. From picnics in summer, to a must-have side dish for those filling Hawaiian Plate Lunches. The Hawaiian Plate Lunch has been making people happy since the late 1800’s. A hearty “island style” presentation of the Japanese Bento Box designed to feed hungry pineapple and sugar plantation workers—but proved too irresistible for the rest of us. Typically filled with lots of meat and lots of rice, the plate lunch expanded in the last century to include mac salad.
Mac Salad is unique because of the taste and texture, the macaroni is cooked very soft which adds to the creamy texture and the addition rice vinegar + a little sugar balances out the flavor. The secret ingredient is a little bit of canned tuna, it took me years to figure this out because I could never get it to taste like my favorite restaurant’s mac salad, but just a little bit adds that extra boost of umami. If you’ve ever been to Hawai’i you can appreciate the protein options from Kalua Pork, Chicken Katsu, Huli Huli Chicken, BBQ Ribs to Spicy Garlic Shrimp and how perfectly the creamy Mac Salad pairs with any of those dishes.
To get the most authentic flavor, you must use Best Foods or Hellman’s Mayonnaise and a lot of it!
Cook the macaroni for 20 minutes, for Hawaiian Mac Salad the macaroni needs to be overcooked and very soft. If you use al dente pasta, the mac salad will be creamy when you first add the mayo mixture, but after it sits in the fridge, it dries out and the mayo becomes clumpy instead of creamy. This is a basic recipe, it’s similar to what you’d get at almost any Local Food or Hawaiian BBQ restaurant, feel free to add your own touches to it, some people like to add chopped ham or ground black pepper
8 Comments
Don
April 22, 2018 at 10:40 am
So many options for mac salad out there, but yours is one of my favorites. Plate lunch here I come. Thank you for this.
Don
Van
April 22, 2018 at 12:48 pm
You’re welcome Don! What else are you making for your plate lunch? I could go for some spicy garlic shrimp right now!
Don
April 24, 2018 at 9:09 am
Oh Shrimp sounds yummy, but you can’t forget Instant Pot Kalua Pig. Fast and tasty.
Van
April 24, 2018 at 9:14 am
I’ve been wanting to try kalua pork in the Instant Pot, do you wrap it banana leaves?
Don
April 25, 2018 at 8:04 am
No, I use the recipe from NomNom Paleo and I think it is great. The Hawaiian salt makes it very tasty. Putting the cabbage in after the meat cooks and then cooking it in the broth…..yummm. Maybe better than the pork.
Please try it.
Don
Van
April 25, 2018 at 10:21 am
Thanks Don, I’ll check it out! I still have alaea salt from the last time I made kalua pork (in the oven) – I might try wrapping the pork in banana leaves because I happen to have some in the freezer.
Mateo
May 5, 2024 at 5:35 pm
Is this seriously calling for 1 teaspoon of canned tuna?
Van
May 12, 2024 at 5:46 pm
Lol yes, just omit it or you can add a little more