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Made in under an hour, this Chicken Caesar Pasta Salad is a hearty and delicious dish that is packed with all your favorite flavors from a caser salad! A twist on a classic recipe, this pasta salad is loaded with juicy chicken, crisp lettuce, and croutons! It’s the perfect summertime recipe!
If you’re looking for an easy summertime lunch, then you’ll love this Chicken Caesar Pasta Salad Recipe! It’s simple, light, and tasty while being more filling than a traditional caesar salad. Leftovers can be eaten chilled without reheating, making it perfect for when you just want to kick back and relax for the evening!
If you want another delicious summertime recipe, you should try my Lemon Garlic Chicken Skewers, Grilled BBQ Chicken Breast, Chicken Avocado Salad. They all make for a delicious meal without requiring a lot of work! I mean, who wants to spend all day in the kitchen when you could be enjoying summer!
Why You’ll Love This Chicken Caesar Salad Recipe
- It’s simple! All you have to do is season the chicken, cook it up, and toss it with the rest of the ingredients. Easy peasy!
- It’s filling without being heavy. I love how this chicken pasta salad is super filling and hearty but isn’t going to weigh you down. Feel free to decrease the amount of pasta in the salad and increase the amount of chicken and lettuce.
- It’s flavorful. This pasta salad is packed with flavor! You can make your own caesar dressing or buy a bottle at the store!
What You’ll Need
- Chicken breast: I use boneless skinless chicken breasts for this caesar pasta salad.
- Seasoning: I season the chicken with some salt, pepper, and garlic powder.
- Olive oil: or your favorite oil of choice to cook your chicken breasts with.
- Penne pasta: or a pasta shape of your choice. Bow tie, rotini, and shells are great options as well.
- Croutons: you can use regular croutons or flavored croutons! It’s up to you.
- Romaine lettuce: I love how crisp romaine lettuce is and how well it holds up in a salad.
- Caesar dressing: feel free to use store-bought to save your time.
- Parmesan cheese: there’s nothing better than a handful of parmesan cheese on top of your salad!
How To Make Chicken Caesar Pasta Salad
- Cook the chicken: In a bowl season the chicken breast with salt,garlic powder and pepper. Heat olive oil in a medium skillet on medium heat, add the chicken breast, and sear on both sides until golden and cooked through for 8-10 minutes. Once done remove the chicken from the skillet and set it aside.
- Chop the chicken: Once the chicken breasts are cooled down, cut them into cubes and set them aside.
- Cook the pasta: Meanwhile, prepare the pasta according to the package instructions and keep it aside for cooling it down.
- Combine everything: In a large salad mixing bowl combine the chicken cubes, cooked pasta, croutons, lettuce, Caesar dressing, and parmesan cheese. Mix them all together until well combined. Transfer the pasta salad to a bowl and serve immediately.
Tips and Notes
- If you want to make this even faster, you can use a store-bought rotisserie chicken instead of making your own. This way, all you have to do is cook up some pasta and combine everything in a bowl!
- If you’ve got the grill fired up, you can grill the chicken instead!
- Feel free to swap the chicken breasts for chicken thighs or chicken tenderloin if you prefer.
- When cooking the pasta, use enough water so once the pasta begins to expand, there will still be plenty of room for the noodles to move freely.
- As soon as you drop the pasta in the water, stir it so the pasta doesn’t stick.
FAQs
While not traditional, you can add whatever you’ve got in the fridge to this pasta salad to help clean up the fridge! Try some corn, peas, grape tomatoes, bell peppers, and more! Add as many veggies as you want to this. You can also try different greens like Boston lettuce, iceberg lettuce, and spinach if that’s what you’ve got in your fridge!
This chicken Caesar pasta salad will keep well in the fridge for 3 days as long as it’s properly stored in an airtight container and not dressed ahead. Here’s no need to reheat it when ready to enjoy. Simply eat it chilled.
If the salad is dressed, it will last for about 24 hours in your fridge. You might want to add some more dressing to this before enjoying as the pasta would have soaked up a lot of it while it was stored.
A medium shape pasta works well for this recipe like rotini or shells, the nooks and ridges allow the dressing to cling well and add loads of flavor!
If you make everything yourself, then yes! Be sure to a caesar dressing that has a minimal ingredient list as some store-bought dressings have a lot of stabilizers or preservatives. You can even try lentil or chickpea pasta if you want even more healthy goodness added to this pasta salad!
Salads are best when served fresh. If you have to prep this head, I recommend keeping the dressing on the side and only mix when you are ready to eat because mixing ahead will cause the lettuce to sog.
You can easily swap chicken for shrimps or tofu for this recipe.
More Salad Recipes You’ll Love
- Greek Chickpea Salad
- Shrimp Salad
- Potato Cobb Salad
- Spinach Chickpea Salad Recipe
- Mediterranean Pasta Salad
I hope you enjoy all the recipes I share with you, including this delicious Chicken Caesar Pasta Salad recipe. I hope you try it, enjoy it, rate it, and share it with your friends and family!
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Chicken Caesar Pasta Salad
Ingredients
- 2 whole chicken breast, skinless boneless
- ¾ tsp salt
- ¾ tsp ground pepper
- ¾ tsp garlic powder
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 8 oz. dry penne pasta
- 1½ cup croutons
- 3 cups romaine lettuce, chopped
- ¾ cup caesar dressing
- ⅓ cup parmesan cheese, grated
Instructions
- In a bowl season the chicken breast with salt, garlic powder and pepper.
- Heat olive oil in a medium skillet on medium heat, add the chicken breast, and sear on both sides until golden and cooked through for 8-10 minutes. Once done remove the chicken from the skillet and set it aside.
- Once the chicken breasts are cooled down, cut them into cubes and set them aside.
- Meanwhile, prepare the pasta according to the package instructions and keep it aside for cooling it down.
- In a large salad mixing bowl combine the chicken cubes, cooked pasta, croutons, lettuce, caesar dressing, and parmesan cheese. Mix them all together until well combined.
- Transfer the pasta salad to a bowl and serve immediately.
Notes
- If you want to make this even faster, you can use a store-bought rotisserie chicken instead of making your own. This way, all you have to do is cook up some pasta and combine everything in a bowl!
- If you’ve got the grill fired up, you can grill the chicken instead!
- Feel free to swap the chicken breasts for chicken thighs or chicken tenderloin if you prefer.
- When cooking the pasta, use enough water so once the pasta begins to expand, there will still be plenty of room for the noodles to move freely.
- As soon as you drop the pasta in the water, stir it so the pasta doesn’t stick.
The recipe calls for garlic powder but it’s not mentioned anywhere in the directions.
Thanks for pointing that out. It’s for the chicken.
This was quick, easy, and SO good!!!
Glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for the review.