Hawaiian Pasta Salad is a great salad for hot summer days. It is a great salad to take to a potluck. It is a great salad to take to work for easy no cook lunches. And the list can go on of the great options to enjoy this pasta salad.
This recipe of pasta salad is not your typical pasta salad. It has all of the flavors of Hawaiian Pizza in a cold pasta salad. It has ham, cheese, roasted red peppers, and pineapple. This bring the question, does pineapple belong in a pasta salad? Well, you’ll need to make it and decide for yourself.
Ingredients
The dressing is made from mayonnaise, mustard, apple cider vinegar, sugar, and onion flakes. You can substitute diced onion or onion green in place of the onion flakes. I make teh dressing while the pasta is cooking.
For the pasta, I like the rotini pasta and how it can hold onto the dressing. The fun way it looks is an added bonus. Macaroni or bowtie pasta would work great too.
I use 4 oz. of a brick of cheddar cheese. Using a cheese knife, I cut it into small cubes. I prefer really small cubes about 1/4 -1/2 inch in size. So, I can get many of the ingredients in most bites.
You can dice the ham into the really small pieces too. Or you can cheat, like I did and bought ham that was already diced.
There are canned pineapple tidbits that are drained very well.
Roast red peppers that are packed in oil are diced up and very gently added to the pasta.
Mixing
Once the pasta is cooled, you can add in the dressing, cheese cubes, ham cubes, pineapple tidbits. Mix very well coating everything int eh dressing. Then lastly gently fold in the diced fire roasted red peppers.
Serving
Let the Hawaiian Pasta Salad chill for at least an hour before serving.
If you’re making Super Easy Barbeque Ribs, this is a great side dish or salad to eat with the ribs. Another great grilled recipe to serve it with is Honey BBQ Pork Chops or Teriyaki Pork Chops.
Happy cooking!
Hawaiian Pasta Salad
Equipment
- 1 Large Saucepan
- 1 Bowl with a lid
- 1 4 cup bowl
- 1 Cutting board
- 1 Knife
- 1 Cheese cutter or cheese knife
Ingredients
- 2 cup Pasta uncooked
- 4 oz Cheddar Cheese Cubed
- 1 20 oz Pineapple Tibits Drained
- 8 oz Ham Cubed
- ¼ cup Roasted Peppers Packed in oil, Drained and Diced
- 1½ cup Mayonnaise
- 2 tsp Mustard
- 1 tsp Apple Cider Vinegar
- 2 tbsp Sugar
- 1 tsp Onion Flakes
Instructions
- Cook, drain, and cool the pasta.
- While the pasta is cooking make the dressing.
- In approximately a 4-cup bowl mix together the mayonnaise, mustard, vinegar, sugar and onion flakes. Set aside.
- Cube the cheese and the ham into ¼ to ½ inch cubes. Set aside.
- Drain the pineapple tidbits very well. Set aside.
- Once the pasta is cooled add the cheese, ham, pineapple, and the dressing. Mix well. Very gently mix in the the roasted red peppers.
- Chill for about an hour before serving.
