WATCH: How To Make Wendy's-Style Macaroni Salad Recipe Hack

Remember when its salad bars were popular?

By Yummy.ph team | Dec 29, 2021

There was a time when salad bars were the go-to all-you-can-eat of the fast food restaurants, namely at Wendy's. It took creativity and skill to master the art of the towering salad stack. If you miss creatively piling it on in the resto, this is a great hack to make at home.

The macaroni salad that you used as the glue to hold that stack together is indeed delicious and nostalgic in taste. It was a classic macaroni salad but made better with cubes of gelatin that burst in your mouth and fruit pieces that you can add as much as you wanted. However, times have changed and the macaroni salad is no longer available in the extinct salad bar.

So if you're craving the taste of this salad, you need to try this version. It's a salad recipe that hits all the right flavors.

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Wendy's-Style Macaroni Salad Recipe Hack

Takes 15 minutes plus cooling and chilling
Makes 6 servings

Wendy's-Style Macaroni Salad Hack Ingredients

For gelatin:
1 10-gram packet unflavored gelatin powder
2 tablespoons water
1 cup hot water, divided
1/4 teaspoon red gel food coloring
1/4 teaspoon green gel food coloring

For dressing:
1 1/4 cups mayonnaise
1 135-gram bottle sweet pickle relish
1 tablespoon yellow onion, grated
1/2 cup carrot, diced small
200 grams elbow macaroni, cooked according to package directions and cooled
1 cup pineapple tidbits, drained, divided
1 cup raisins, divided
1/4 cucumber, sliced thinly, divided
1 cup cheddar cheese, grated, divided
Salt, to taste
Ground black pepper, to taste

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For the Thousand Island dressing:
1/2 cup mayonnaise
2 tablespoons sweet pickle relish
2 tablespoons ketchup

How To Make Wendy's-Style Macaroni Salad Hack

1 Make gelatin cubes: Bloom gelatin in cold water for 5 minutes. Divide hot water between 2 bowls. Color one bowl red; the other green. Divide gelatin evenly between the two bowls and mix until gelatin is completely dissolved. Pour into square containers and let cool completely then chill until set. Slice into large bite-sized cubes. Keep chilled until ready to serve.

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2 Make macaroni: Mix together mayonnaise, sweet pickle relish, grated onion, carrots, and cooked macaroni. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Toss well. Chill until ready to serve.

3 Make the dressing: Whisk together mayonnaise, onion, sweet pickle relish, and ketchup. Chill until ready to serve.

4 When ready to serve, in a large bowl, arrange macaroni in a pile in the center. Arrange and tuck green and red gelatin cubes, raisins, and drained pineapples around the macaroni. Top the macaroni with cucumber slices and sprinkle with grated cheese. Serve with Thousand Island dressing on the side as desired.

Want to know what other resto hacks we have tried to mimic? Here are the recipe videos of some of our best-tasting ones: