This vegan Hawaiian Macaroni Salad with pineapple will bring the aloha to this side dish! Sweet, tangy, & crunchy this crowd pleasing appetizer is vegan and gluten free.
Happy 4th of July weekend everyone! This salad is excellent to serve with your summer 4th cookout. Everyone in the family will love it. Today (July 3rd) is my mama’s birthday, who unfortunately I can’t be with during COVID right now, but love you mama & happy birthday (she always reads my posts)!
What’s better than a sweet and tangy salad that goes great with anything off the BBQ? This Hawaiian Macaroni Salad is a super fun take on the classic summer side dish. And because its vegan and gluten-free everyone at your table can enjoy it!
This Vegan Hawaiian Mac Salad Is:
- Creamy
- Sweet
- Tangy
- Delicious
- Crunchy
- Vegan and gluten free!
- A fun summer side dish, the perfect crowd pleasing dish for your summer BBQ, potluck, or cookout
I can’t deny it, I’m a macaroni salad lover. Absolutely and unabashedly obsessed with the stuff. Growing up in the midwest I love all creamy salads, and macaroni salad is one of my favorites that are my go-tos in the summer. For me, no BBQ is complete without pasta salad, macaroni salad, or coleslaw. The combination of crunchy veggies and a creamy tangy dressing make a BBQ complete.
This Hawaiian Macaroni salad is a super sweet and fresh take on the classic macaroni salad. The pineapple replaces the need for any sugar in the dressing. The fruit pairs so well with the crunchy veggies in the salad: fresh chopped celery, bright onions, and vibrant carrots.
Whats In This Hawaiian Pineapple Pasta Salad Recipe?
- Elbow Macaroni Noodles: You can use this gluten free version if you avoid wheat, or use normal macaroni noodles if you can eat wheat. If I’m cooking for a crowd or bringing this dish to a BBQ, I always use gluten free noodles in case anyone there is gluten sensitive… then everyone can enjoy this Hawaiian mac salad!
- Celery
- Carrots
- Bell Pepper: If you don’t have fresh peppers, these sweet roasted red peppers are a great substitute! I love adding them to breakfast bakes, sandwiches or wraps, and soups.
- Pineapple – use fresh if you have it or these great sliced pineapple chunks if you can’t find fresh. I like to stock up and keep canned pineapple in my pantry for those days when I want tropical flavors in my life. Canned pineapple is great to roast, add to curries, and even toss in a pina colada!
- Onion
- Relish: to give the dish a little sweetness! I like this Chicago style relish which has a nice crunch… and as a Chicagoan myself, I love the bright green color of this relish in my mac salad!
- Vegan Mayonnaise: this vegan mayo has such a great flavor, it’s hard to tell it from real mayonnaise! I honestly can’t tell the difference. The mayo gives this dish a little extra creaminess and classic flavor in the dressing.
- Pink Himalayan Sea Salt: I like to use a pink Himalayan Sea Salt in my kitchen, which has more natural minerals than plain processed table salt. It’s fairly inexpensive, so I’d recommend this salt if you’re looking for an easy way to level up your spice pantry.
- Tellicherry Black Pepper: Like the salt, it’s amazing the flavor difference you can get with really good tellicherry black pepper. This pepper is the same price is buying pre-ground, and has a million times more flavor! I use these really great tellicherry peppercorns, which I would definitely recommend.
You can use shredded, chopped, or spiralized carrots. I actually spiralized mine as its a super quick process and I love the fun texture of the carrot ribbons. If you don’t have a spiralizer, a food processor will work just as well.
This dish is great for entertaining as it is an easy make-ahead side dish! It actually takes better the longer it sits. This is great to make a day ahead of your cookout and just grab and go to bring it along. The flavors marry together better when left sitting a while, and the veggies don’t lose any of their crunch! I love Make Ahead Meals (I have a whole recipe collection of them here) and am all in favor of prepping anything ahead of time!
How Do I Make This Hawaiian Macaroni Salad Vegan?
-
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the macaroni and cook to package directions. Rinse with cold water, drain, and set aside until cooled.
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In a large bowl add the cooled macaroni and the rest of the ingredients to the bowl. Stir well to combine. Taste for flavor and add any additional spices, salt, or pepper as needed.
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Refrigerate overnight in an airtight container. Remove from fridge right before serving.
This is a fun dish that the whole family will love. The macaroni salad provides a little nostalgia for the creamy pasta salads of yesteryear. The sweetness and crunch will attract the kids. And since its vegan, gluten free, and dairy free, its friendly to most people with special diets.
Dietary Modifications
This recipe is vegan, because it calls for vegan mayo and dairy free yogurt, but you can absolutely make this with real dairy products if you aren’t vegan or eating dairy free.
It is gluten free if you are using GF pasta, but you ca nuse any kind of pasta you’d like. Also, you can use any shape you’d like, I prefer the classic macaroni noodle, but a small shell pasta or ditalini will work just fine.
This is also refined sugar free, since all the sweetness comes from the pineapple in this dish! If you feel you need extra sweetness you can always stir in some extra pineapple or pineapple juice.
We normally do a ton of hosting in the summer on our homestead. I love having big BBQs where we have the smoker going, the charcoals warming, and the beer chilling in the refrigerator. And everyone moves on over to the firepit at night for roasting s’mores. Since 2020 is the year of social distancing, we haven’t had any one over yet but I can’t wait to be able to put a big bowl of his Hawaiian macaroni salad out on the table for our friends.
A Few Other Favorite BBQ Side Dishes:
Vegan Tzatziki Pasta Salad (Gluten Free, Summer Side Dish)
Pot Luck Greek Salad with Homemade Vinaigrette (Vegan, Gluten Free, Party Recipe)
Avocado Grapefruit Salad (Raw Vegan, Paleo, Whole30, Gluten Free)
Coleslaw Pasta Salad (Vegan, Gluten Free, Dairy Free)
Kidney Bean Salad: Copy Cat Recipe (Vegetarian, Vegan Option)
Get the Same Ingredients I Used For My Vegan Macaroni Salad with Pineapple Recipe!
As always, if you make this Vegan Hawaiian Macaroni Salad be sure to leave me a comment, rate this recipe, and tag me @theherbeevore on Instagram so I can feature you. I love seeing all your photos of my recipe recreations!
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Vegan Hawaiian Macaroni Salad with Pineapple (Vegan, Gluten Free)
Ingredients
- 1 (16 ounce) box macaroni noodles gluten free
- 1 small onion diced
- 2 carrots shredded or spiralized
- 2 stalks celery chopped
- 1/2 bell pepper chopped
- 1 cup pineapple chopped
- 1 cup mayo dairy free
- 1/4 cup relish
- 2 tablespoons yellow mustard
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- Fresh ground pepper to taste
Instructions
- Cook macaroni noodles according to package instructions. Drain and set aside to cool.
- In a large bowl, combine the onion, carrots, celery, bell pepper, pineapple, mayo, relish, mustard, salt and pepper. Add the cool macaroni noodles and stir well to combine. Cover and refrigerate for at least an hour before serving... But overnight is best!
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