This Hawaiian Style Macaroni Salad was a looooong time in the making.
The husband is kind of a freak about Hawaiian-style Mac Salad. Evidently there was some Hawaiian restaurant near his college campus that had THE BEST mac salad EVER.
I’ve made macaroni salad for him a few times over the years, but got sick of tired of hearing about this fabled best-ever-mac-salad.
When I made a big batch of my Hawaiian Shoyu Chicken earlier this week, I decided that it was finally time to nail down my Hawaiian style mac salad recipe.
I can’t remember when exactly this was, but I was leafing through a magazine in the waiting room of my dentist’s office and came across an interesting tip.
The recipe said to toss the hot cooked macaroni with vinegar before letting it cool. I’d never heard of this trick before, but it made total sense to me so I decided to give it a shot.
Well, I’m here to report back that this MUST be the secret trick used by the college-campus-Hawaiian-restaurant because the husband ate his weight in mac salad over the past few days.
It made me a believer, too; I’ll never making mac salad any other way!
I absolutely love bringing a huge bowl of this to summertime barbecues. If you’re looking for some other fun side-dish options, try my 10 Minute Veggie Ribbon Salad, my Mediterranean Orzo Pasta Salad, or my Warm Israeli Couscous Salad with Roasted Vegetables.
Okay, I know you just can’t wait any longer to start making a HUGE batch of this stuff, so…
Here’s Your Recipe!
The Wanderlust Kitchen
Yields 8
30 minPrep Time
10 minCook Time
40 minTotal Time
Save Recipe3 based on 1 review(s)
Ingredients
- 1 pound elbow macaroni
- 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
- 2 cups mayonnaise, divided
- 2 cups whole milk, divided
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
- 2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
- 1 bunch scallions, sliced thin (about 5-7 scallions)
- 1 1/2 cups shredded carrot
- 1 1/2 cups minced celery
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of salted water to a roiling boil. Add macaroni and cook until very soft, 10 to 12 minutes. Drain, return the pasta to the pot and immediately toss with vinegar. Let cool ten minutes.
- In a large bowl, whisk together 1 cup of the mayonnaise, 1 1/2 cups of the whole milk, the brown sugar, salt, and pepper.
- Once the macaroni has cooled for 10 minutes, toss with the mixed sauce and let cool to room temperature.
- Once cool, fold in the scallion, carrot, and celery. Whisk together the remaining 1 cup mayonnaise and 1/2 cup whole milk and pour over macaroni salad. Toss well to coat. Taste and add more salt or pepper as needed.
- Chill in the refrigerator until cold.
Notes
Recipe from Cook's Country Magazine
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