There’s nothing more comforting than a bowl of ice cold macaroni salad! Well, at least for me. Macaroni salad is one of my all time favorite foods to eat. It incorporates salty, sweet, and tangy goodness that reminds me of everything I loved about my childhood. I wanted to recreate my mom’s recipe for macaroni salad but keep the same flavor and quality.

 

Growing up in a Dominican household you’d expect almost everything drizzled with animal meat and by-products. I mean, our national breakfast consist of fried salami, fried cheese, eggs, sausage, and a buttery pile of mashed plantains. Now, I”m not a vegan that’s in denial about my past life. I look at that image and I remember the amazing taste each item has. I won’t sit here and say that it disgusting. Cause the truth of the matter is, it’s not. When I made the choice to go vegan I knew that I would be missing out on a large part of my culture and the comforts I’ve found in the kitchen with my family. There is nothing like having your mom and grandma in the kitchen cooking amazing Spanish dishes for the family.  Although macaroni salad is a simple dish, it was important for me to recreate a memory of comfort food of my past. So, here is the vegan version of my mom’s macaroni salad. I hope you enjoy!

Here is a list of ingredients you’ll need:

• Elbow pasta
• Vegan Mayo
• Red Onion
• Carrot
• Red Bell Pepper
• Green Bell Pepper
• Sugar
• Black Pepper
• Salt

Step One:

In a large pot, boil water and cook pasta using box directions. In the meantime, chop up all your ingredients. Make sure your grate your onions instead of chopping them. You want the onion flavor but not the crunch. Also, shred the carrot.

Step Two:

Once the pasta is cooked strain and put in a large mixing bowl. You’ll want to gather your sugar and carrots.

Step Three:

While the pasta is hot add the sugar and carrots into the mixing bowl. You want the sugar to melt and create a glaze over the pasta. Also, the heat of the pasta will soften the carrots. Allow the pasta to sit in the bowl until completely cool.

After you’ve allowed the sugar to melt and carrots to soften your pasta should have a glaze.

Step Four:

Now, add your peppers into the pasta and mix. You want to make sure there is enough pepper in the mix. The peppers should be easily visible in the mixture.

Step Five:

Make sure to taste your pasta at this point. The juices of the pepper should be integrated into the pasta and blended with the sugar. You want to make sure the pasta tastes sweet. Add the grated onion into the mixture, slowly. Do not add all the onion mixture at once.

Step Six:

Add your vegan mayo. You’ll want to add about 3/4 of the jar into the pasta. Why so much? The cold will make the pasta dry up and the mayo will prevent that from happening. Mix. Taste your pasta. You want to make sure  the onion taste coming through the saltiness of the mayo while still having the twang of the sugar. At this point, it’s a matter of preference. The balance of sweet, onion, and saltiness of mayo needs to be to your taste preference. I like a little extra onion taste.

Step Seven:

Place your pasta into the refrigerator for 4-5 hrs. The pasta should be nice and cold before eating.

Step Eight:

Enjoy! There’s nothing like a nice bowl of ice cold macaroni salad. If you find that the pasta is a little dry you can add little bit more mayo to your mixture. The salad should last about 5-7 days. When I make macaroni salad it last about 2-3 days in my house. It’s a family favorite.