This healthy and protein-packed pasta chicken salad is LOADED with all the healthy things! Gluten-free pasta, juicy chicken breast, and fresh tomatoes and cucumbers with a simple dressing. Easy and healthy eating at it's best😄
A gluten-free pasta chicken salad is THE BEST when you need an all-in-one healthy meal.
This pasta salad with chicken has it all:
- Protein-packed gluten-free pasta (I'm lovin' THIS Chickapea brand lately)
- Seasoned chicken breast
- A ton of fresh vegetables
- And a simple homemade olive oil dressing
Plus, one of the best parts of this chicken salad and pasta?
You can make this salad ahead of time and serve it the NEXT DAY. Hello major time saver!
Jump to:
- 🥗Ingredients for healthy chicken and pasta salad
- 🔪How to make chicken pasta salad
- 🔄Options for cooked chicken breasts
- 🐔Juicy Cast Iron Skillet Chicken Breast
- 🍽️What to serve with chicken pasta salad
- 🥡Storage and Leftovers
- 🙋♀️Get Meal Prepped for the Week!
- 🔄Substitutions
- Top Tips
- Grab this PDF cheat sheet of foods NOT to eat🚫
- 📖 Recipe
- 💬 Comments
Hooray for make-ahead meals, right?!
And it even tastes better the next day😎
🥗Ingredients for healthy chicken and pasta salad
- Gluten-free pasta - best pasta shapes are ones like rotini, fussili, penne, farfalle
- Chicken breasts or pre-cooked chicken breast meat
- Cherry tomatoes
- English cucumber
- Red onion
- Olive oil
- Lemon
- Italian seasoning
- Kosher salt
🔪How to make chicken pasta salad
Use pre-cooked chicken or cook chicken breasts in a cast iron pan or in an Instant Pot (see recipe below).
When the chicken is cooked, shred on a cutting board. Set aside.
While the chicken breasts are cooking, cook your gluten-free pasta according to package instructions (see tip below).
Prep and dice cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, red onion. Add to a large bowl with cooked pasta and shredded chicken breasts.
Whisk together dressing ingredients and pour over salad. Mix thoroughly to combine. Let sit in fridge for 30 minutes or serve the next day.
🔄Options for cooked chicken breasts
For this recipe you need cooked chicken, so you could use leftover chicken you have or make your own.
If you have rotisserie chicken, that works great too!
I like using my method of cooking chicken breasts in a cast iron pan.
It keeps the chicken juicy and full of flavor.
🐔Juicy Cast Iron Skillet Chicken Breast
Get the chicken recipe everyone's cluckin' about🐔
You could also use your pressure cooker for perfectly unattended cooked chicken every time😄
No time to cook the chicken? No problem!
Use pre-cooked, shredded chicken from your grocery store.
🍽️What to serve with chicken pasta salad
This gf pasta salad can be served cold or at room temperature.
Which makes this the perfect side dish for hot summer months or for spring days when the weather is finally getting nicer out.
And because this salad has gluten-free pasta and chicken AND veggies, it's an all-in-one meal. You don't even need anything else for a complete meal really.
But if you want to up the veggie factor even more, serve it along side one of these delicious gluten-free side dishes or dips:
🥡Storage and Leftovers
Store leftovers of this pasta salad with chicken in an airtight container.
Leftover pasta salad will be good for 4 days in the fridge.
This makes it perfect for a part of your lunch prep for the week!
So easy to prep lunch when you only have to make this ONE salad, pop it into containers and you're good to go!
🙋♀️Get Meal Prepped for the Week!
Grab this PDF checklist for Meal Prep Success!
🔄Substitutions
- Vegetables: If you want, you can add extra fresh vegetables like diced celery or diced red bell peppers too. Great way to clean out the fridge🙋♀️
- Gluten-Free Pasta - use your favorite brand of gluten-free pasta. There are so many out there - like brown rice pasta, chickpea pasta and just regular pasta made with gluten-free flours. Whichever you choose just be sure to cook it al dente
If you like olives, a few diced green or black olives on top of the salad would give it a nice salty punch as well.
Top Tips
When cooking gluten-free pasta be sure to follow package instructions.
Always, always, always read the instructions on the package.
Why?
Because different types of gluten-free pasta have different cooking times and things to know.
Take for example chickpea pasta. Chickpea pasta creates a lot of foam when it cooks (totally normal). But you should skim that off the top while it's cooking.
Also be sure to rinse the gluten-free pasta under cold water after cooking. This will help to prevent it from sticking together.
I hope you love this pasta and chicken salad like we do!
~April
Grab this PDF cheat sheet of foods NOT to eat🚫
Cut these foods out NOW!
📖 Recipe
Gluten-Free Pasta and Chicken Salad
Ingredients
- 3 cups chicken breast meat, cooked and shredded
- 3 cups gluten-free pasta, rotini, dry 8 oz / 227 g
- 2 cups cherry tomatoes halved
- 2 large english cucumbers diced
- ½ small red onion finely diced
- 3 tablespoon Olive oil
- 1 Lemon for juice and zest
- 1.5 tablespoon Italian seasoning
- Kosher salt
Instructions
Cook Chicken Breasts (if using pre-cooked chicken, skip this step.)
- To cook chicken perfectly in the Instant Pot (IP), set the IP to "Saute". Add 1 tablespoon of olive oil to the pot. Sprinkle some Kosher salt and Italian seasoning over chicken breasts.
- When hot, sear the chicken breasts for 3 minutes per side. Remove from pot. Add 2 cups of gluten-free chicken broth to descale the pot, scraping up any bits of chicken off the bottom.
- Hit "Cancel" on IP. Add chicken breasts back to the pot. Secure lid. Pressure cook for 8 minutes and do a quick release. Cook chicken to an internal temperature of 165 degrees F. Shred on a cutting board. Set aside.
Make the pasta and salad
- Cook gluten-free pasta according to package instructions. Run under cold water. Drain and set aside.
- While pasta cooks, get other ingredients ready: shred or dice cooked chicken, dice tomatoes, cucumbers and red onion.
- Add cooked pasta, shredded chicken breast, diced tomatoes, cucumbers and red onion to a large mixing bowl.
- Whisk together olive oil, lemon juice, Italian seasoning, and Kosher salt.
- Pour dressing over salad and toss to combine.
- Let sit in fridge for 30 minutes or up to 8 hours before serving.
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