Japanese Pasta Salad – simple pasta salad with a lot of flavor
It’s been called many things: Japanese Pasta Salad, Japanese Spaghetti Salad, Japanese Macaroni Salad… They are all simple salads that use the different types of pastas. But they all have one thing in common. Yep, you guessed it: Japanese Mayonnaise. Kewpie Mayonnaise being the most predominate brand.
What’s different about Japanese mayonnaise?
Japanese mayonnaise tends to be slightly thicker because it only uses the egg yolks instead of the whole eggs. Yet it’s milder because of the type of vinegar – mainly rice vinegar – used instead of distilled vinegar. And…it is more flavorful because it contains a hint of other spices such as mustard or dashi, plus monosodium glutamate, or MSG.
In a pinch, you can always substitute the American mayonnaise for the Japanese mayonnaise in recipes. The only exception being when it’s called for as a topping, such as in the okonomiyaki recipe. In those cases, you may lose the bit of authentic flavor if you don’t use the Japanese mayo.
Japanese pasta salad, Americanized!
The majority of these pasta recipes are very simple: Just the pasta, a few additional ingredients – mainly cucumbers, onions, ham – and Japanese mayo. It’s very similar to the Japanese potato salad in terms of the ingredients, and typically served much in the same way as the Japanese potato salads – mainly as a delicate, nominal side dish on a dinner plate or in a bento box.
But just as I added a little more flavor to the Japanese potato salad to make it even more suitable for loading it up on your plate in an American style, I packed this Japanese Pasta Salad with more flavor! But still using the traditional Japanese ingredients. Now you can take a big bowl of it with you to potlucks and cookouts and you can expect to return only with an empty bowl!
Pasta Options
Pasta salads in Japan tend to be either spaghetti or macaroni only because those two are the primary types of dry Italian-style pastas readily available in Japan. With so many more options in the U.S., I personally like bow-tie pastas mainly for the showy, presentation effect of it. But you can use any variety. If you do use spaghetti for this recipe, break the pasta at least in half before boiling them. And with one, 1 pound box of spaghetti, you may need to make and add more mayonnaise dressing to get to the consistency you want since it was a little dry for my taste.
Japanese Pasta Salad Recipe
Japanese Pasta Salad
Ingredients
- 1 lb bow-tie pasta or any other kind of pasta
- 2 hard boiled eggs peeled and chopped
- 1/2 onion, thinly sliced
- 4 – 5 slices ham
- 1 1/2 cups English cucumbers, seeded and partially peeled
- 1/2 white onion, medium sliced thin
- 3 green onions finely chopped
- paprika, ground cayenne powder or Shichimi pepper optional
Dressing
- 1 cup mayonnaise Japanese, regular, or blend the two
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce, low sodium
- 2 teaspoons sesame oil
- 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
Instructions
- Cook the pasta al dente according to the package directions. Rinse under cold water and drain.
- Slice the onion thinly and sprinkle with a generous pinch of salt. Massage the salted onions and let it sit for about 10 minutes. Rinse with water then squeeze the washed onions to get as much moisture out.
- Cut up ham into small strips. Seed and partially peel the cucumbers (leaving some green peel for color) then slice them into matchsticks.
- In a large bowl, whisk together all the ingredients for the dressing. Add pasta, cucumbers, ham and onions into the dressing. Mix to coat the dressing.
- Garnish with hard boiled eggs and green onion.
- Cover and refrigerate at least 1 hour before serving. (Optional: sprinkle Shichimi or paprika pepper right before serving.)
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Debbie | 11th Sep 19
A very lovely site. I’ll be coming back to see what else you have! I love the story of the dragonfly!
admin | 12th Sep 19
Thank you so much for your kind words, Debbie! And thanks for checking out my ‘about’ story! I really appreciate it when people take time to read that!
beth | 29th Aug 19
Oh, I just want to make some of this right now! You make everything sound so tasty from the mayo to the dish itself.
admin | 29th Aug 19
Beth, you are so kind. My food presentation is pretty basic so I have to make sure that it at least tastes good (or sound like it might taste good!) 🙂 I’m always so grateful of your support, Beth! Thank you!