My Mom's Hawaiian Macaroni Salad with Cheese and Peas is the best! My husband, who spent a lot of time in Hawaii while he was a pro surfer, always requests it. It's made with macaroni, cheese, peas, celery, onion, mayo, relish, italian vinaigrette, hot sauce, and mustard.
Hawaiian Macaroni Salad with Cheese & Peas
My Mom's pretty famous for her Hawaiian Macaroni Salad with Cheese and Peas. Not only does this dish always make an appearance at family gatherings, but it might just be my husbands most favorite thing to eat!
It's rich, creamy, and so addicting!
To be completely honest, it's one of the only dishes that I can't resist.
Even when I was doing weight watchers hardcore, I'd blow all my points for a giant bowl of this stuff. It's THAT good!
To make it, all you have to do is combine cooked macaroni noodles with fresh celery, onion, peas, and sharp cheddar cheese.
Then make a simple dressing out of mayonnaise, sweet relish, mustard, Italian Vinaigrette (she always uses Garlic Expressions which is SO GOOD!) and a little hot sauce.
Then the hawaiian macaroni salad is seasoned with salt, pepper, and celery salt before serving.
I wanted to share my mom's recipe so that you could serve it as a side dish with these instant pot ribs! It's the perfect Hawaiian Barbecue combo - especially when served with this rum punch.
And what's even more fun about this recipe is that it's the first time my husband has directed one of my cooking videos! From here on out, we'll be releasing videos with pretty much every recipe I post so we're super excited!!
How to make it
Making Hawaiian macaroni salad is super easy! You can either watch the video or follow the recipe below.
- Boil water, add salt, and cook elbow macaroni until al dente.
- Meanwhile, cut up onion, celery and cheese and set aside.
- Make the mayo dressing. Mix together mayonnaise, mustard, sweet pickle relish, italian dressing, hot sauce, salt, pepper and celery salt.
- Once the macaroni is cooked, mix it with the frozen peas. Doing so will help the pasta cool down while the peas thaw.
- Add the chopped vegetables and cheese to the pasta mixture.
- Then, add the dressing and stir everything together.
- Season with salt, pepper, and celery salt until tasty.
- Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes before eating.
VIDEO: Hawaiian Macaroni Salad
Watch my video below to learn how to make my hawaiian macaroni salad!
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NmuQBRr2sPw[/embedyt]
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You should also totally check out my cookbook, too!
And if you'd like to save them for later, pin these images below!
RECIPE:
Recipe
My Mama’s Macaroni Salad with Cheese and Peas
Ingredients
- 1 lb macaroni noodles
- 1 8 ounce block sharp cheddar cut into small cubes
- 1 small sweet onion finely diced
- 3 stalks celery finely diced
- 1 cup mayo Duke's is best!
- 3 tablespoon Garlic Expressions Vinaigrette or your favorite Italian dressing
- 3 tablespoon Sweet Pickle Relish such as Wickle's Pickles Relish
- 1 teaspoon hot sauce Frank's is our favorite
- 1 teaspoon dijon
- ¼ teaspoon celery salt
- salt
- 2 cups Peas frozen or defrosted will work
- pepper
Instructions
- Begin by boiling a giant pot of salted water. Add elbow macaroni and cook until al dente.
- Meanwhile, dice up onion, celery and cheddar cheese and set aside.
- Make the dressing. Mix together mayonnaise, italian dressing (garlic expressions), sweet pickle relish, hot sauce, mustard and celery salt.
- Once the macaroni is cooked, strain it and rinse it with cold water. Immediately mix the warm pasta with the frozen peas. Doing so will help the pasta cool down while the peas thaw out.
- Next, add the chopped vegetables and cheese to the pasta and pea mixture. Then add the sauce and stir everything together. Season with salt and pepper then cover with plastic wrap.
- Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes before eating.
Kelsey
Thank you for the easy recipe! A little different from my normal macaroni salad which I liked! Made with the cast iron skillet meatloaf and it was a delicious meal.
Kaeti Kincaid
This is delicious, even for my onion phobic husband. I would like to say that the six portion indicated at the top of the recipe is a bit of an underestimation, unless of course you’re feeding 6 linebackers. Once I was mixing everything, my largest Pyrex bowl was barely able to hold as I mixed to combine. As a side dish, this recipe made enough for 10 people, perfect for a potluck even.
Natalie
This macaroni salad was fantastic! I will definitely be making it again in the future. I might even add some chopped up bacon or ham!