Filipino chicken macaroni salad
Sweet and creamy Filipino holiday macaroni salad with chicken, pineapple, raisins, cheddar and carrots, a sweet-savory cold lunch that makes plenty for 4 days of lunches.
- 90 min total
- 25 min hands-on
- Anyone can make this
- Serves 8
- About $1.22 a serving
- 440 calories
- Good the next day
Dolly says: Make the full amount. It’s just as good for lunch the next day.
Ingredients
For 8 servings.
- 8 oz elbow macaroni
- 2 cups rotisserie chicken, shredded
- 1 carrot, finely diced
- 2 stalks celery, finely diced
- ¼ yellow onion, finely diced
- 4 oz cheddar cheese, cut into small cubes
- 1 can canned pineapple chunks, drained well
- ⅓ cup raisins
- ¾ cup mayonnaise
From your pantry
- 1¼ tbsp salt, divided
- 1 tbsp sugar
- ¼ tsp black pepper
Each serving has about 440 calories, 17 g protein, 41 g carbs and 24 g fat, and costs about $1.22 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No elbow macaroni? Penne works.
- No yellow onions? White onions or red onions work.
- No cheddar cheese? Shredded cheddar or Monterey Jack cheese or Mexican blend cheese works.
- No raisins? Dried cranberries work.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
Bring a large pot of water on high and add 1 tablespoon of the salt.
Bring to a boil. It means heating a liquid on high until it’s fully boiling before you move on. A lid on the pot gets it there faster, which makes it a good moment to chop something.
How you’ll know: Big bubbles break all over the surface, and they keep coming when you lift the lid.
High heat
Cook the macaroni 7 to 8 minutes, until tender, then and under cold water until cool.
Drain. Draining means pouring off liquid, like tipping pasta into a colander or spooning extra fat out of the pan. Pour hot grease into a can or jar, not the sink, where it hardens and clogs the pipes.
How you’ll know: Only a few drips are left, and the food isn’t sitting in a puddle.
Rinse. Rinsing means running cold water over rice or canned beans in a strainer while you swish them around. It washes off loose starch and can liquid, so rice cooks up fluffy and beans taste clean.
How you’ll know: The water running out goes from cloudy to mostly clear; it doesn’t have to be perfect.
High heatTimer: 7 min 30 sec
the chicken into bite-size pieces.
Shred. Shredding means making thin strips, either on the big holes of a grater or by pulling cooked meat apart with two forks. Shreds soak up sauce and mix evenly through a dish.
How you’ll know: Cooked chicken pulls apart into strands with little effort, and cheese comes off in long, loose strips.
Food safety: Rotisserie chicken, deli meat, canned tuna and cooked shrimp are already cooked. Keep them cold until you use them, and heat them until steaming hot if the recipe warms them.
Finely the carrot, celery and onion, the cheddar, and the pineapple well, pressing out the juice.
Dice. Dicing means cutting food into small, even cubes, usually a quarter to half an inch across. Pieces the same size cook at the same speed, so nothing burns while the rest catches up.
How you’ll know: Your pieces are little cubes about the size of a chickpea, and they all look close to the same.
Cube. Cubing means cutting food into chunky, even squares, usually three quarters of an inch to an inch. Same-size cubes cook at the same speed and brown on every side.
How you’ll know: Your pieces look like a handful of sugar cubes, a little bigger than diced, all close to the same size.
Drain. Draining means pouring off liquid, like tipping pasta into a colander or spooning extra fat out of the pan. Pour hot grease into a can or jar, not the sink, where it hardens and clogs the pipes.
How you’ll know: Only a few drips are left, and the food isn’t sitting in a puddle.
Dolly’s tip: Press the pineapple in a strainer with a spoon. Extra juice makes the dressing thin and watery.In a big bowl, the mayonnaise, sugar, pepper and the rest of the salt.
Stir. Stirring means moving food around with a spoon or spatula so it cooks evenly and doesn’t stick. Unless the recipe says constantly, every so often is plenty, and it gives food time to brown.
How you’ll know: When you drag the spoon across the bottom, nothing is sticking or scorching.
Add the macaroni, chicken, vegetables, cheese, pineapple and raisins and until everything is coated.
Fold. Folding means mixing gently by scooping from the bottom and turning it over the top, instead of stirring hard. It keeps light mixtures airy and soft things like berries or herbs in one piece.
How you’ll know: You use slow, wide strokes and stop as soon as there are no streaks left.
Cover and chill at least 1 hour before serving.
Timer: 60 min
Dolly’s tip: Sweet and savory together is the whole point. It keeps 3 days, so pack it with an ice pack for lunches.
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
Dollop puts this dinner on a night that suits your week, lists only what you still need to buy, and walks you through each step while you cook.
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