My Favorite Pasta Salad With Chicken

Name: Pasta salad with chicken and pesto
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 10 min
Total time: 15 min
Ingredients: 100 g penne; 100 g smoked chicken breast ( cut into pieces); 100 g bell pepper ( cut into pieces); 1 spring onion ( cut into rings); 1/2 cucumber ( diced); 2 tbsp parsley (chopped ); Salt and pepper to taste; 3 tbsp mayonnaise; 1 tbsp pesto

A good pasta salad is the perfect recipe for those times when you want something to eat quickly and easily. You can either use this for a take away lunch or an easy dinner. Also works perfectly for a picnic on a hot summer day!

Pasta Salad With Chicken

The first time I made this pasta salad was years ago when I always made a fairly healthy lunch for Tom whenever he had a market day. I didn’t want something with leafy vegetables as those would just wilt without any fridge to store anything in. This pasta salad with chicken has been made countless times since. Not always the same. I like to vary with the ingredients (see for tips on that below) but it’s a great salad for many different things. Lunch, a side dish for a barbecue or dinner with a green salad on the side.

I used chicken breasts this time but you can even make the same pasta salad with tuna.

Pasta Salad With Chicken
Recipe Ingredients
How To Make Pasta Salad
Dressing for the pasta salad
FAQ Pasta Salad With Chicken
Additions and variations

Recipe Ingredients

You don’t need all that many ingredients for making this pasta salad.

Chicken – I used smoked chicken this time as it keeps better and is even quicker. You can also use leftover rotisserie chicken. Probably even more tasty too! Or use marinated chicken with something like an easy teriyaki sauce.
green onions – delicious but can easily be replaced by red onion if you want
Penne – for this creamy pasta salad with chicken I went with mini penne. I like that for a lot of pasta salads, but obviously you can use another type of pasta too.
cucumber – Especially in summer I love adding some fresh cucumber to the pasta salad. Cherry tomatoes can also be added
Red Bell pepper – I went with a red pepper for some color and crunch. Obviously you can use orange bell peppers or yellow bell peppers as well.

If you want to can swap the penne for gluten free pasta. I am a fan of regular but it is easy to change if you’re eaten gluten free.

How To Make Pasta Salad

Apart from the ingredients listed you will need a large bowl to mix it all together. But for the rest you just cook pasta in a large pot of salted water, drain and rinse under cold water. Sprinkle the pasta with some extra virgin olive oil. The chicken pasta salad recipe uses either smoked or rotisserie chicken so there is no need to cook that. Of course if you don’t have or can’t find it you can also bake chicken breast golden brown and add to the cold pasta salad. Totally an option.

Dressing for the pasta salad

As with any pasta salad, the dressing is super important. It makes or breaks the flavor. In this case, I just used mayonnaise and mixed it with the pesto. I love of the ease of use of this dressing. And it’s super tasty. You can add some fresh herbs if you want to or other Italian seasoning of choice. For a spicier version of the dressing you can eat one or two teaspoons of crispy chili oil or sriracha.

Now while you can wait and let the chicken pasta salad get to room temperature before eating but no one says you have to eat this cold. You can just use it as a main dish and eat it warm. No one will complain!

No matter if you eat it warm or cold I love adding some parmesan cheese to it. Or cheddar cheese if that is more your thing.

FAQ Pasta Salad With Chicken

Nou de naam van mijn blog zegt heYes, you can. In fact, I often find that the flavors taste even better after a day because they have had time to soak in. You can keep it in the fridge for 2-3 days. You can also freeze it for later use. If you do, keep the dressing separate or make it later when you defrost. Making the dressing takes just one minute or so. Easier and tastier to do that after defrosting.t al meteen; ik ben Simone, food fotograaf en eigenaar van Simone’s Kitchen.

Yes and no. Because you’re using smoked chicken breast in the pasta salad, you can keep it pretty well, but if it’s 35˚C outside, it’s wise to keep it in the fridge. It won’t wilt immediately, but at high temperatures you’re more likely to get bacteria. So don’t. You can keep it well chilled in a small cooler bag with a cooling element inside. It won’t work for days, but half a day will do. If you’re scared the chicken will go bad you can leave the chicken out and add some extra vegetables instead.

You can use any short pasta. Macaroni, penne, farfalle, rotini pasta and the like will all do. My favorite for this pasta salad is mini penne, but macaroni is a close second.

Additions and variations

The beauty of an easy pasta salad is that you can vary to your hearts content. Add some kalamata olives for next time or a teaspoon or more of dijon mustard for a spicy kick. Crispy bacon makes everything taste better so would be a good choice too. Artichoke hearts will work as well and a little sprinkle of lemon zest will freshen things up too.