Real Recipes From Real Home Cooks ®

pasta chicken salad

(1 rating)
Recipe by
Tommy Curtis
Sharps Chapel, TN

I can't handle MSG which is in almost every store bought pasta salad and is loaded in ranch dressing. I came up with this and it was a big hit. Any cool dish in the summer is a plus but you can enjoy this year round.

(1 rating)
yield 4 -6
prep time 1 Hr
cook time 30 Min
method Stove Top

Ingredients For pasta chicken salad

  • 1 bag
    grilled chicken breasts
  • 1 1/2 c
    grated parmesan cheese (shake top can)
  • 1 lb
    small shells pasta
  • 1 pkg
    frozen peas and carrots (steam in bag)
  • 1 1/2 c
    light mayo
  • 7 slice
    good quality bacon (i use uncured applewood smoked)
  • 1
    small sweet onion
  • 3 clove
    garlic
  • 6 Tbsp
    salt free seasoning
  • 1 Tbsp
    dill
  • 1 tsp
    oregano
  • 2 tsp
    lemon juice
  • 2 tsp
    sea salt
  • 1 tsp
    basil

How To Make pasta chicken salad

  • 1
    Take the chicken breasts out of the package and place on cooking sheet. Preheat oven to 350.
  • 2
    Sprinkle with lemon juice and then the salt free seasoning. Top each breast with a small amount of Parmesan cheese.
  • 3
    Bake for 20 minutes, take out and let cool. Cook your bacon until its crisp.
  • 4
    That's the longest part of the prep. Once cooled, cut into slices as thick or thin as you like, you can even have them on the side of the salad.
  • 5
    Chop the onion, you can rough chop and slice the garlic. Chop up the bacon too.
  • 6
    Start your water for the pasta and add a little lemon juice, salt, the onion and the garlic to the water along with your pasta. Gives the pasta a great flavor. I also add a little bit of bacon grease (about 1 tablespoon)to the water.
  • 7
    Once pasta is done, put the pasta and the peas and carrots in a colander and run cold water over it until cool.
  • 8
    In a large bowl add the mayo and all the rest of the spices. Also add the rest of the parmesan. Mix well. You can do this earlier in the process, it helps merge the flavors better.
  • 9
    Put the cooled pasta and veggies in the bowl with the mayo, add the bacon and mix well. If you let this set for about twenty minutes in the fridge it tastes even better.

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