Filipino Chicken Macaroni Salad

Chicken Macaroni Salad is made by mixing cooked shredded chicken, cooked macaroni, cooked carrot, white onion, cheese, pickle relish, celery stalks, pineapple tidbits, raisins, salt and pepper in a sauce made with mayonnaise, all purpose cream and condensed milk. This pasta salad recipe made creamier and better with meaty and tender chicken. Chicken Macaroni Salad is a popular holiday dish in Philippines, holidays or not, lets try one today

WHAT IS MACARONI SALAD AND WHY DO WE LOVE IT?

Pasta is a type of carbohydrate source which you can exchange if you dont feel like eating rice. Whats best about pasta is its wide variety of shapes and sizes. With all the options, you’ll never ran out of choices on what will fit the sauce you made.

The featured pasta in this article is the macaroni pasta. The unique feature of this pasta is that they are tubular and are curved.

This pasta is believed to have gotten its name after a Greek goddess Macaria which is also associated with the barley-flour and water mixture which are used to make this pasta during the old times. Now, macaroni pasta are made using durum wheat.

There are actually two types of macaroni pasta:

Regular macaroni pasta: They are used in savoury pasta dishes like baked macaroni and mac and cheese.

Elbow macaroni pasta: a bit shorter and smaller than the regular macaroni pasta. They are usually used in a much sweeter and creamier dishes (usually for dessert salads).

CHICKEN MACARONI SALAD

In most homes, ham is their staple during the holiday season. But in ours, it is the chicken macaroni salad.

I have eaten a lot of macaroni salad in other places but as they say, nothing felt like home. My mom literally makes the best chicken macaroni salad in the whole world!!

What makes my mom’s chicken macaroni salad the best is the chicken. My mom is one of the thriftiest people I know but when it comes to macaroni salad, she would really spend a lot to make it yummy. Usually, she boils a WHOLE CHICKEN and shreds this chicken for a kilo of macaroni salad. Imagine how meaty that is!!

My mom always cares about the colors and overall presentation of what she cooks. Although unique for some, my mom adds celery stalks, some pickle relish, A LOT OF RAISINS, and a whole lot more ingredients. Most of the time, we felt that the macaroni pasta is not the main ingredient anymore due to the variety of add ons.

All the effort pays off after we finally toss up our giant bowl of macaroni pasta. Although this dish is best served chilled, once well mixed, all of us in the family immediately attacks and devours the chicken macaroni salad. We were like hungry zombies!

What I truly love about this dessert is that it is very satisfying after eating. It has the fulfillment brought by the carbs of the pasta, and the cleansing power of the sweetness from the cream. Actually, we rarely eat this as a dessert and enjoy it as a whole meal.

If you wanna know how we make our chicken macaroni salad at home, read and follow the recipes below. Have fun!

HOW TO COOK CHICKEN MACARONI SALAD

You’ll easily now a good chicken macaroni salad when it has got a wide variety of ingredients to it. Don’t be intimidated with the long list of ingredients. For this salad, basically what you need to do is to prepare the ingredients and toss them all in one bowl until they come together as one.

The secret on making the best chicken macaroni salad is the chicken. If you have a lot of time for preparation, I highly suggest to follow my mom’s technique on boiling a whole chicken and then shred them. If you want a faster chicken, you can do what I did in this recipe where I opted to buy boneless chicken breast which are very easy to shred when boiled.

For the rest of the ingredients of the macaroni salad, you are very free to add or omit from the ingredients list I have below (but I highly recommend them all!). Some macaroni salads has no cream in it but believe me, it adds a certain layer of flavor to the salad.

Lastly, chill them first before serving, unless your family is already abangers to devour this delicious pasta salad. Yum!

Related Holiday Dishes

• Maja Blanca

Chicken Macaroni Salad Recipe (TAGALOG)

Mga Sangkap:

• 500 grams elbow macaroni
• 500 grams pitso ng manok (walang buto)
• 2 tasa ng mayonnaise
• 1 pack (250 ml) ng all purpose cream
• 1 malaking carrot (hiniwa ng cubes)
• 1/2 tasa ng cheese (hiniwa ng cubes)
• 1 sibuyas na puti (hiniwa ng sobrang liliit)
• 2 kutsara ng sweet pickle relish
• 2 kutsara ng celery stalks (hiniwa ng maliliit)
• 1/2 tasa ng pineapple tidbits
• Asin at paminta
• 1/4 tasa ng raisins (optional)
• 1/4 tasa ng condensed milk

Paano Gawin:

1. Magpakulo ng tubig sa pot at budburan ng konting asin. Ilagay ang elbow macaroni at sundin ang packaging instructions. Lutuin ito hanggang maging al dente. Kapag luto na, idraine ito at palamigin. Isantabi.
2. Ihanda ang pitso ng manok at ilagay ang mga ito sa isang pot. Budburan ng konting asin. Lagyan ito ng tubig hanggang matakpan ang mga manok. Takpan ang pot at hayaan itong maluto hanggang maging malambot. Ilipat ito ng lalagyan at isantabi.
3. Gamit ang pinagpakuluan ng manok, pakuluan ang carrots at iblanch ito ng 2 – 3 minuto. Saka ito ilipat sa bowl na may malamig na tubig at yelo.
4. Nitnitin ang pinakuluang manok gamit ang dalawang tinidor.
5. Ilipat ang macaroni pasta sa malaking bowl. Sunod na ilagay ang carrots, sibuyas, sweet pickle relish, pineapple tidbits, celery stalks, raisins, cheese at manok. Haluin ito ng mabuti.
6. Ilagay ang mayonnaise at all purpose cream. Budburan ng asin at paminta.
7. Do a taste test and balance the taste using condensed milk. You can also add more grated cheese.
8. Tikman ito at balansehin ang lasa gamit ang condensed milk. Pwede ka ring magdagdag pa ng grated cheese (super yummy!!).
9. Palamigin ang macaroni salad ng 2 hours bago ito ihain. Enjoy!