Healthy Chicken Pasta Salad with Avocado – Chicken Pasta Salad Recipe — Eatwell101

Healthy Chicken Pasta Salad Recipe – Packed with flavor, protein, and veggies! This healthy chicken pasta salad is loaded with tomatoes, avocado, and fresh basil. If you’re looking for a nutritious salad for lunch or recipes ideas for a potluck, this chunky chicken pasta salad will be one of the best options in your arsenal. Enjoy!

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Ingredients list for the Chicken Pasta Salad Recipe

Dressing

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How To Make This Simple Pasta Salad

This chicken pasta salad recipe is super easy to make. It’s ready in under 20 minutes from start to finish. That’s great, especially when you know you can keep this pasta salad in the refrigerator for up to 3 days! We used rotisserie chicken to make the pasta salad, but feel free to roast or grill chicken breasts on your own or use chicken leftovers in your fridge. Put all the ingredients together in a large salad bowl and make the vinaigrette-style dressing.

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What’s the Best Pasta for the Chicken Pasta Salad? 

We like a classic rotini pasta salad because rotini holds the dressing pretty well, but any sturdy pasta will work! Avoid spaghetti and long pasta such as tagliatelle. Rotini, bow tie, penne, and macaroni are all good alternatives for this chicken pasta salad recipe.

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Why you’ll love this pasta salad recipe

• This chicken pasta salad recipe is easy to make and requires minimal cooking, making it perfect for a quick and simple meal.
• Combining fresh vegetables, flavorful herbs, and protein-packed chicken creates a delicious and nutritious dish.
• The homemade dressing adds a burst of tangy and herby flavors that perfectly compliments the other ingredients, taking this chicken pasta salad to the next level. Plus, the dressing can be customized to suit individual tastes by adjusting the amount of vinegar or seasoning used. See below for more tips about the dressing!

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The Dressing for the Pasta Salad

The dressing is an important part of this pasta salad recipe. Our pasta salad dressing has only five ingredients, including salt and pepper.

To make the pasta salad dressing, whisk white wine vinegar, extra-virgin olive oil, Italian seasoning, and a pinch of salt and pepper. This dressing is pretty simple, but when mixed with pasta, chicken, tomato, avocado, and other ingredients, the flavor is amazing!

To customize your pasta salad dressing, add a tablespoon of Greek yogurt, or use apple cider vinegar for a milder taste.

Photo credit: © Eatwell101.com

Photo credit: © Eatwell101.com

Photo credit: © Eatwell101.com

Directions

How to make chicken pasta salad:

1. Add the shredded chicken, pasta, onion, avocado, cherry tomatoes, and basil in a large bowl.

2. In a jar, combine the ingredients for the dressing: vinegar, Italian seasoning, Olive oil, salt and pepper.

3. Drizzle your chicken pasta salad with the dressing. Toss gently until all the ingredients are combined. Serve the chicken pasta salad immediately, or chill for later. Enjoy! ❤️

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Tips for the chicken pasta salad

This chicken pasta salad is healthy, perfect for busy nights, and makes a big enough batch so you can plan for work or school lunches. Since there’s no mayo it’s great for potlucks, picnics, and parties.

• Additional add-ins that go well with this salad would include chopped cucumber, crispy bacon, corn, olives, black beans…
• To keep the avocado from turning brown, coat the avocado in either lemon juice or lime juice. It will act as an antioxidant.
• Being a cold chicken pasta salad makes it perfect for summer, picnics or potlucks. You can make it up to a day in advance, leaving the avocado and tomato until you are ready to serve the chicken pasta salad to keep the ingredients as fresh as possible.

Can I grill chicken instead of using rotisserie chicken?

Yes, of course, you can grill chicken for this salad. Make sure to grill chicken breasts or pan-sear on medium-low heat, so chicken doesn’t burn while undercooked in the inside. When out of fresh chicken, we like to use a bag of frozen grilled organic chicken breasts that we heat up in a skillet and use for the salad.

How to Store the Chicken Pasta Salad?

This chicken pasta salad keeps in the fridge for up to 3 days if stored in an air-tight container. Don’t keep it for more than that because the avocado will turn brown. You may have to toss the chicken pasta salad leftovers to redistribute the dressing before serving. If you want to make it ahead of time, omit the avocado, you’ll add them at the very last minute.

What other readers say about this chicken pasta salad

“This was so good and the perfect lunch. Changes: I added black olives, cucumber and matchstick carrots. I forgot to add the basil and it was fine without it.” – Maureen

“Just made this chicken pasta salad for our dinner. Will definitely make it again. Perfect for summer. Added some fire roasted corn and served the dressing on the side with croutons.” – Nancy

“Delicious! Husband loved it! Will be making it again!” – Laura

“The boys ate three plates each, this salad is a keeper!” – Deja

“Easy, healthy and cheap recipe; delicious! Added extra lemon juice and a touch of balsamic in the end. Will definitely be making this chicken salad again!” – Jamie

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