Musubi Makers
Other Hawaiian dishes

Hawaiian mac salad

Soft elbow macaroni in a creamy, mayo-forward dressing, served cold. It is the scoop that turns two plates of food into a plate lunch, and it is a little different from the mac salad you might know.

soft, creamy, cold from the fridge

What it is

Hawaiian mac salad is elbow macaroni cooked past al dente on purpose, so it is soft, then dressed heavy with mayonnaise, a splash of milk, a little vinegar, and some grated carrot and onion. That is pretty much it. It is mild, creamy, and cold, meant to sit quietly next to a strong protein, not to compete with it. No sweet relish, no crunch.

A short history

Mac salad is pure plate lunch. On the plantations, workers from Japan, China, the Philippines, Portugal, and Hawaii itself ate lunch side by side, and the plate lunch grew out of that mixing: two scoops of rice, a scoop of macaroni salad, and a meat. Mac salad became the constant, the side that shows up no matter what the protein is. The island version leans soft and creamy where mainland ones lean firm and tangy, and locals will tell you soft is the whole point.

How to make it at home

The trick is to dress it while the noodles are still a little warm so they drink up the dressing, and to make it wetter than looks right. It firms up in the fridge.

Hawaiian mac salad

Serves 6 as a side

You need

  • 1 lb elbow macaroni
  • 1.5 to 2 cups mayonnaise (the real stuff, like Best Foods)
  • 1/4 cup milk
  • 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
  • 1 carrot, grated
  • 2 tbsp grated or minced onion
  • Salt and black pepper

Steps

  1. Boil the macaroni a couple minutes past the package time, so it is soft. Drain and let it cool just until warm.
  2. Toss the warm noodles with the vinegar and a little salt so it soaks in.
  3. Fold in the mayo, milk, carrot, and onion. It should look a little too wet. Season with salt and pepper.
  4. Chill at least a couple hours. Stir before serving, and add a spoonful more mayo if it dried out.

This is the side for kalua pork or chicken katsu. See the rest of the Hawaiian favorites.

Where I read up on this