Hawaii just has the very best themes ever! Aloha
From activities to décor to place settings to drinks to food, Hawaii has a little something for every category and interest!
While a full-blown Luau is quite the feast, this post is designed to bring a bit of that experience to your kitchen.
The smells, the flavors, and the presentation will pull together a fun evening for family or friends.
While traditional Hawaiian foods revolve around the staples of fish and poi, these recipes will embrace a wider selection, including Hawaiian-inspired foods.
If you have ever wanted to escape from your daily life for just a few brief moments on a weeknight, this Hawaiian inspired recipe is just what you need.
The marinating step can be for as little as 10 minutes or as long as overnight!
Grilling both the pork chops and the pineapple rings give you an amazing meal as well as a beautiful plate!
This Hawaiian inspired recipe will undoubtedly make you feel like you’ve arrived in the tropics.
Just ponder a moment the combination of these ingredients: pineapple juice, soy sauce, garlic, and ginger.
Tangy, sweet, delicious, and the leftovers will be just as fantastic! Go the slider route or lettuce wraps for a refreshing crunch.
Plan for the pork to have a full eight hours to slow cook for maximum deliciousness.
Mainlanders tend to think of Hawaiian foods as all having pineapples or macadamia nuts.
Some do, but some do not.
This Hawaiian dinner salad has a specific ingredient list but is also one of those dishes you can add pretty much anything to but the kitchen sink.
Start with elbow macaroni, onion, and carrots, but feel free to add in pineapple bits, green peas, pancetta, diced celery, crab, or anything else you have on hand.
It is tangy; it is creamy; it is going to be a new favorite salad!
Most of us have been to a potluck dinner of some sort where dishes were grouped by categories, such as veggie, protein, salad, and the ubiquitous dessert table.
No one ever knew where exactly to put the fruit salads like this Hawaiian inspired dish.
Was it a salad or a dessert? I still do not know the answer to this question.
Put it wherever you like! A quick, simple combination of canned fruits makes this the perfect option when you are seriously short on time.
It just needs an hour to chill. Don’t we all?!
Colorful cabbage is a must have for a stunningly beautiful salad.
Add in the flavors of the big island for a Hawaiian inspired side salad.
You had me at ginger-soy lime vinaigrette! And the heart shaped carrots are beyond adorable!
Now we are cooking with gas with this best Hawaiian recipe for Hawaiian chicken salad!
It includes the signature ingredients of coconut, pineapple, and macadamia nuts alongside perennial favorites of chicken, grapes, celery, and water chestnuts.
As with all these yummy salads, letting them chill for an hour or a day allows the flavors to blend beautifully!
Serve it in a hollowed out half pineapple or make a lettuce wrap!
You will be the talk of the town!
Marinating for six hours brings these teriyaki strips to life in this Hawaiian recipe!
It might be one you return to again and again!
Quick cooking time and tons of uses like lunch plates or stir-fry night!
Give that homemade teriyaki sauce a try!
If you have never visited or lived in Hawaii, you may not know that many Hawaiian dinner recipes include SPAM.
This twist on traditional fried rice includes SPAM (chopped up ham works too), pineapples, eggs, carrots, corn, green beans, and soy sauce.
The trick to learn here is to use cooked rice that is one day old. Interesting!
Here we are with another Hawaiian dinner recipe, this time a whole skillet dinner!
Get your taste buds prepared as we are taking it up a notch here with SPAM, bacon, pineapple, mango, with a wide variety of seasonings!
This could be served over rice or with veggies! SOOO la-la!
Three ingredients in this Hawaiian inspired entrée! We’ve got this!
After it hangs out in a slow cooker for three to six hours, it can be served up as an entrée on rice, OR you can serve it with bites of kielbasa and pineapple on toothpicks as a tantalizing appetizer (just be sure to add more pineapple so there is enough to go around).
Brilliant!
This Hawaiian inspired treat is more akin to smooth sweet lemon bars than textured granola bars.
The magic ingredient is Passion fruit puree.
There are two layers, a crust and a filling.
After baking and cooling, it is kept in the refrigerator and served chilled.
Meatballs also get their turn here to be prepped in the Hawaiian inspired style.
Slow cook the meatballs, colorful bell peppers, pineapple chunks, and sauce for three to four hours!
Serve with rice or any way you see fit!
Pineapple and coconut take center court here in this Hawaiian dessert recipe.
Why is the work poke in the recipe, you ask? NO, it is not the diced raw fish served in native Hawaiian cuisine!
It is because you poke holes in the cake and fill it with something super yummy!
If you are a pie person and someone who enjoys baking, you must try this Hawaiian dessert recipe!
Haupia Pie is a rich, flaky, buttery, nutty, chocolatey, creamy, oh-so-satisfying pie!
Lots of steps are involved, but the outcome may just rock your little pie world!
This Hawaiian recipe is popular on the festival Malasada Day, also known as Fat Tuesday before lent begins.
It was a Portuguese dessert brought to the islands by immigrants.
These light donut-style bites are deep-fried and coated in sugar and certainly are a treat!
Bread that is not quite usable for sandwiches will be perfect for this best Hawaiian bread pudding recipe!
Tropical, fruity, and caramel are flavors included in this delicious bread pudding dessert!
That caramel sauce on top is pure gold!
If sushi is a meal you enjoy, then this Hawaiian dinner recipe of Poke is calling your name!
In Hawaiian “poke” means “to cut,” and this meal got its start long before fish could be stored with refrigeration.
Usually made with Ahi tuna or salmon, this marinated raw fish is standard fare on the islands and now in your kitchen!
The bottom line
Hawaii holds a certain fascination, living on an island and all that is entailed with such a lifestyle.
The Hawaiian’s culture and heritage are equally unique, as are the people, language, and foods.
I hope these recipes inspired you to experiment a bit, try something new and savor the moment.
A hui hou — until we meet again!
17 Heavenly Hawaiian Foods
Hawaii is a place but it’s also in the heart. Try some of these Heavenly Hawaiian Recipes to put you in the land of flowers and sun, if only at the dinner table!
Ingredients
- Grilled Hawaiian Pork Chops
- Slow Cooker Hawaiian Pulled Pork
- Hawaiian Macaroni Salad
- Hawaiian Fruit Salad
- Hawaiian Coleslaw
- Hawaiian Chicken Salad
- Hawaiian Beef Teriyaki
- Hawaiian Pineapple Fried Rice
- Hawaiian SPAM Skillet Dinner
- Glazed Hawaiian Kielbasa
- Hawaiian Passion Fruit Bars
- Crockpot Hawaiian Meatballs
- Easy Hawaiian Pineapple Coconut Poke Cake
- Haupia Pie with Macadamia Crust
- Easy Hawaiian Style Malasadas
- Hawaiian Bread Pudding
- Authentic Hawaiian Poke
Instructions
- Pick your favorite recipe on the list.
- Gather the ingredients and start making them.
- Share your Hawaiian inspired foods with us.
emily
Tuesday 11th of January 2022
just because you put pineapple on a meal does not mean it’s hawaiian. these recipes are not local at all, this is an embarrassment. the social standard of the Hawai’i islands having coconut bras, hula skirts and pineapple pizza is WRONG. get educated.