Hawaiian macaroni salad is one of our favorite dinner side dishes. It is indulgent, creamy and comforting. This authentic side dish from Hawaii is excellent for summer BBQs, and any Asian meal. It is a Hawaiian plate-lunch classic and has excellent flavor and texture compared to the classic American pasta salad – SO delicious!
I got introduced to Hawaiian Macaroni Salad at a little Hawaiian restaurant called Local Boyz. The food they do is wonderful! Beef ribs with crunchy edges in a sweet and savory sauce, Huli Huli Chicken and flavorful steak strips. Everything is served up in the Hawaiian plate lunch style with big scoops of white rice and Hawaiian mac salad.
Local Boyz is so popular that we often have to get our food to go because we can’t find a table. Now we live in a different state and I’ve never found another Hawaiian restaurant that compares so we make all of our plate lunch favorites at home! Being able to make your favorite restaurant food at home is fun and will save you money in the long run!
What Makes The BEST Hawaiian Macaroni Salad?
Authentic Hawaiian macaroni salad does NOT have ham or pineapple in it. This is a simple, simple pasta salad. You need the right mixture of pasta and seasoned dressing. Jonathan and I worked together over many, many, many batches to find the perfect balance of milk, mayonnaise, garlic and pepper.
The final result is astounding! We make a lot of Korean BBQ around here and this is the perfect side dish. I also take it to cookouts on a regular basis and somebody is always asking for the recipe. Even my readers say this hawaiian macaroni salad recipe is better than what you can get in Hawaii!
tips for making Hawaiian Macaroni Salad
- Cook the pasta just enough. Good pasta salad is going to absorb the dressing so the pasta should be cooked just until al dente so your salad doesn’t get mushy. I read the directions and set a timer for 2 minutes less than the package suggests. If it isn’t done I check it in one or two more minutes. Al dente pasta is pasta that has just a touch of chew to it. I bite through the middle and if I see a big raw section in the middle it is NOT ready. I’m looking for the slightest chew but I want to pull that pasta before it turns to mush.
- Use a good quality mayonnaise. I’m all for buying store brands when you can but with mayonnaise you can’t. I don’t think Kraft has a good flavor for pasta salad. I suggest using Hellman’s, Best Foods or Duke’s.
- Give this salad time to absorb. It really needs a good 3 hours to marinate. When you first put it in the fridge it is going to look soupy but it will be the perfect texture three hours later.
- Use sweet onions if you can. A sweet onion has lots of great onion flavor without too much bite. This is the perfect onion for Mac salad. A sharper onion can give you too much onion flavor.
- Try cutting your onions with this wonderful chopper. It gets really nice minced size onions which is perfect for mac salad. (I also use it to save a lot of time vegetable chopping from soups to omelettes.)
Making Hawaiian Macaroni salad ahead of time
This is a pasta salad that is pretty easy to make in advance. I will make it the morning before I need it or the day before!
This recipe is intended to sit and soak but if it gets a little bit too dry you adjust easily. Whisk together 2 Tablespoons of mayonnaise and 2 Tablespoons of milk. Use a rubber spatula to gently fold / stir the mixture into the salad. Repeat this process if needed.
How Long is pasta salad with mayo good for?
Hawaiian Macaroni salad is great for several days in the refrigerator. It doesn’t dry out as much as other pasta salads do – I think that milk / mayo combination makes a big difference! Keep the salad covered and it will retain its best flavor for up to four days. Discard after seven days.
Remember not to leave any mayo at room temperature for more than two hours. On a hot day you can put the serving bowl of salad into a bigger bowl full of plenty of ice. This can help protect your food from going bad in the heat. I would still avoid keeping any pasta salad with mayo outside of the refrigerator for long periods of time.
Making a Vegan version of Mac Salad
To make a vegan version of this Hawaiian macaroni salad replace the mayonnaise with a vegan mayo. I’ve been told that Hellman’s is a good quality vegan mayo. Replace the milk with an unsweetened dairy free milk that you like the flavor of.
More Summer Side Dishes Perfect for Summer cookouts
- Smoked Sausage and Bacon Loaded Potato Salad
- Best Coleslaw Ever (according to me)
- Baked Beans With a Kick
- How to Cut a Watermelon Into Trees
- Slow Cooker Creamed Corn
Hawaiian Macaroni Salad
Ingredients
- 2 3/4 cups macaroni noodles uncooked
- 2 1/2 cups mayo can use light mayo
- ¾ cup milk
- 1 Tablespoon brown sugar
- 1 Tablespoon garlic powder
- 1 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons fresh ground black pepper
- ¾ cup sweet onion minced
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of salted water to a rapid boil. Add macaroni and cook until tender, 10-13 minutes.
- Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, combine all the other ingredients.
- When pasta is tender, run it under cold water until cool. Drain it well, tossing a few times to get all the water out of the elbows.
- Add pasta to the mayonnaise mixture and toss until pasta is thoroughly coated.
- Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for a minimum of 3 hours.
- The pasta will have absorbed some of the mayonnaise and will look strange. Stir and it will look creamy again. Taste for salt and adjust if desired.
Notes
Nutrition
I read each and every comment and I try to respond to questions asap, so ask away! If you’ve made a recipe, I would love to hear about it! Please come back and share your experience and give the recipe a 5-star rating so other people will know how much you loved it!
This recipe was originally posted in July 2014. It has been updated for content.
Aranka schaffers
Hi!
I am a corvallis, oregon visitor and i am just very happy to find this page! I love local boys and whenever i am in corvallis, i go there for lunch ir dinner. It is truly amazing.
Thank you for postibg this! I an going to try this today!!
Aranka
Aranka schaffers
Ps. Together with the shoyu chicken!!
Mirlandra
I’m so glad you love the restaurant the way we do! We have a recipe for “Da Sauce” too. Just check the Recipe Index. Enjoy!
Teresa
I have been to the redturant many times as my husbands son is a OS student would love the recipie for the da sauce. We buy it when we come down but since he is done with college I haven’t been back and ran out
Mirlandra
I have it on the blog! https://mirlandraskitchen.com/recipe/teriyaki-sauce-marinade/
Bruce Hammond
I just made this today, and I have to say it is as close to Local Boyz of all the mac salad recipes I’ve tried to make. Thanks for your many trial and errors. This salad was fantastic.
Mirlandra
Thank you! It is a real family favorite these days. I am so glad you enjoy it also!
Bali Tour
very nice..
Thank you for the recipe.. 🙂
Mirlandra
I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
Tracy Shafer
I just moved to Corvallis a few months ago! I will definitely try out the place! And thanks for the recipes!
Mirlandra
Welcome to my home town! It really is a beautiful place to live. If you are on the hunt for great food I would also recommend the French Bakery, Le Patisserie on Circle Blvd. The make a pretty amazing pastry. We find they sell out early but whenever we visit Corvallis we make a special trip for the cream cheese filled pastries. For Chinese King Tin on 9th street is amazing and our favorite tacos / burritos are found at La Roca also on 9th st. Happy eating!
Tracy Shafer
Thank you! I have tried King Tin, and did not like it. I still haven’t found a chinese place I like here yet..But I lived in Ohio all my life, so I knew where to find the good ones! I love french pastery, so will def try out the bakery.
Mirlandra
I hope you find something you love there!
Rupert
I’m kinda a cooking novice, but before you combine the mixture with the pasta what should the consistency be of the mixture? Runny? Thick?
Mirlandra
I’m so glad you are experimenting in the kitchen! That is how I learned to cook. Sometimes the stuff I made was a disaster but over time I had fewer disasters and more awesome meals! Before you combine the sauce and pasta it will be very runny. The pasta will soak up some of the sauce and the final results will be magic. Enjoy!
SueAnn
So excited to find this! We moved in August to Pennsylvania from the West Coast and we miss Hawaiian the most and Mexican second. While we’ve been able to find some “eh” Mexican places (though most people have never heard of tostadas or the movie Nacho Libre!!!) there isn’t a single Hawaiian place to be found. 🙁 My husband is an OS alum and we bleed black and orange. We had to give up our season football tickets with the move (more tears) and EVERY football game we would go to King Tin, absolutely our favorite Chinese food. We would always say, “You know it is authentic by the clientele and when they bring out whole fish with the heads still on to them.” 😉 Before we moved we had a softball game in Portland and we took a “detour” to Corvallis for one last King Tin trip before heading back to western Washington. We also ate Hawaiian one last time in Portland.
Mirlandra
It can be so hard after a move to miss all of your favorite places! My husband and I are both OSU alums and we still have family in town so we get to go back a lot. King Tin has been a favorite of both of ours since we were kids! We had our wedding rehearsal dinner there and always visit when we are in town! Sometimes I even ask family to pick up food and bring it to us in Boise!!! They know us well there and laugh at our 500 mile take out! I will never forget the first time my husband ordered the whole sweet and sour fish! It was a real experience. I hope you find some great new places to eat and fun new recipes! I guess that is always the up side of moving 🙂
Minda Sapp
Thank you so much for posting your recipe! I adore Corvallis, we lived there years ago and how I miss Local Boyz Mac Salad. I am curious…. Miracle Whip or Best Foods? LOL The debate of the century and a HUGE debate still in our household…
Mirlandra
I use Best Foods – I’m not a big Miracle Whip person in general 🙂 Seems to be a very personal choice in all that I know! Good luck…
leslie frost
Hi, do you use whole milk?
Mirlandra
I use whatever I have in the kitchen. Generally 2%. I think this salad is not too picky and you could probably get away with any fat level except maybe skim? I have not tried it with skim so no promises.
Maria
We just got back from a trip to Maui where Hawaiian mac salad was the first thing my kids wanted to eat. They were very disappointed in the three mac salads they had during the week because they didn’t live up to this recipe. We just arrived home and this mac salad is already chilling in the fridge for dinner! Thanks for a great recipe!
Mirlandra
Oh thank you! This made my day 🙂 I guess when we head over to HI we might have to skip the salad!
Dustin
Hi, I am a bit confused after making this today,
The recipe call for 2.75 cups of Noodles, but the 16oz bag i bought contains a total of 5.25 cups approximately…
So that would mean for 1 16oz bag of noodles I am using approximately 5 cups of mayo and 1.5 cups of milk?
Either way, wouldnt this be approximately 3cups of sauce/mixture to 2.75 cups of uncooked noodles?
Or am i misreading this?
2 3/4 cups macaroni noodles uncooked
2 1/2 cups mayo can use light mayo
¾ cup milk
1 Tablespoon brown sugar
1 Tablespoon garlic powder
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons fresh ground black pepper
¾ cup sweet onion minced
Mirlandra
Oh goodness! That sounds really complicated. (Or maybe I just need another cup of coffee!) If you want to make more salad I would suggest doubling the recipe and not trying to figure out the numbers by the size of the bag of pasta that you have. If you do recipes like this a lot and it works well for you great but otherwise I’m not sure that will turn out.
I will note that there is a lot of sauce to the pasta and it will look soupy at first. Putting the sauce in and letting it soak into the noodles is part of what makes this pasta salad so amazing! Enjoy 🙂
Courtney
We live in Corvallis and frequent Local Boyz. We always drown our Local Boyz mac salad with “Da Sauce” and with your recipes for both this is spot on! Thank you!!
Mirlandra
Thank you for letting me know! This is such a staple in our house! Have you tried marinating beef in it and then grilling???? AMAZING! I should post a recipe for that too! But it is really simple and if you are a Local Boyz fan this will hit home!