Best Chicken Pasta Salad
Carrie’s Chicken Pasta Salad
My husband and I love a really good pasta salad, so I tweaked and experimented and created the Best Chicken Pasta Salad, which I named after me:)
With it’s creamy perfectly balanced flavored dressing, crisp tart apples, smoky Gouda cheese, velvety avocado, crunchy almonds; combined with the other scrumptious ingredients, we think you will agree too that this is the Best Chicken Pasta Salad!
This will generously serve 4-6 adults with a loaf of crusty bread.
It’s a great recipe for a picnic, just be sure to keep it cold because of the mayonnaise and the chicken.
Carrie’s Chicken Pasta Salad
Salad Ingredients:
2-3 green apples, cored and cut into small bite-sized pieces; my handsome hubby prefers I peel the skin off, so that’s a personal preference too (the tart balances the other flavors and compliments the smokey cheese)
3-4 cups of cooked chicken, A rotisserie chicken is fabulous here and what I generally use.
3/4 – 1 cup celery, chopped into small pieces
8-12 oz. Gouda cheese, cut into small pieces (the package of sliced is the usually the most cost effective, just dice it up)
2-3 avocados, diced
2 cups seedless red grapes, cut in halves (they look pretty, but can use green grapes if they are sweeter and in season)
1 cup sliced almonds, toasted* and cooled
16 oz / 1 lb. package of Rotini style pasta (corkscrew type to hold all the good dressing in and sturdy enough for the other ingredients – use a GOOD brand or it falls apart when you add in the other ingredients. I prefer Barilla pasta)
Dressing Ingredients:
16-18 oz. light mayonnaise (2 – 2 ¼ cups), only real mayo here, please don’t use Miracle Whip. You can use regular if you’d prefer over light
1/2 cup light sour cream (you can use regular instead of light)
1 ½ Tbl. poppy seeds
2 Tbl. honey
5 Tbl. lemon juice (bottled or fresh)
3 Tbl. seasoned rice vinegar
1/2 tsp. Montreal Steak Seasoning
1/2 – 1 tsp. roasted garlic seasoning, optional, but balances the sweet nicely – I use McCormick Grill Mates Roasted Garlic & Herb
1/2 tsp. Emerill’s original seasoning
Directions:
First toast the nuts as shown below*
Cook pasta as directed on package.
When the pasta is al dente (not mushy or too soft), rinse and drain to remove the starch so it isn’t sticky and clumpy later after it sits.
While the pasta is cooking, combine the salad ingredients in a large bowl.
Combine all the dressing ingredients in a small bowl and mix well.
Pour the dressing ingredients over the salad ingredients and combine gently.
Gently toss in the pasta and fold till all mixed through.
It is best to serve this salad chilled for at least an hour. It sits well over night too.
*To toast nuts, pour them into a non-stick pan and cook over medium to high heat, stirring constantly until the nuts are a slightly browned.
It only takes a few minutes but it brings out a delicious deep flavor.
My Carrie’s BEST Chicken Pasta Salad would be perfect to take to a neighbor, friend or family member in need. If you’d like to know more, I have this post: What You Need To Know About Taking In A Meal They Will Want To Eat
And even more information at How Can I Help When Someone Is Sick And Show I Care?
Carrie’s Chicken Pasta Salad
Copyright Carrie Groneman, A Mother’s Shadow, 2015, 2018
Copyright and recipe by Carrie Groneman, A Mother’s Shadow, 2013, 2018
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This is a wonderful salad, Carrie! I love the fruits in it!
I hope you enjoy it as much as we do. The cheese, fruit, dressing all combine in….nummyness! Thank you for stopping by!
This looks awesome!!! We would love it if you would link up at our linky party:
http://www.lifewiththecrustcutoff.com/two-girls-and-a-party-link-up-22/
Live every Wednesday to Sunday.
Hosted by:
http://www.lifewiththecrustcutoff.com/ Parrish @ Life with the Crust Cut Off
http://thissillygirlslife.com/ Dana @ This Silly Girl’s Life
We hope to see you there!
Thank you and hope to see you soon!!!
Thank you for the invite and hope to see you soon!
Such a beautiful and delicious looking salad!
I’d love to have you share this and/or any other recipe at Wednesday Extravaganza – A Foodie Link Party! Hope to see you there 🙂
http://www.hungrylittlegirl.com/1/post/2013/06/wednesday-extravaganza-34.html
Thank you so much! I’ll be there Wednesday!
I love chicken salad, but I especially like that yours has Gouda! Looks delicious! Thanks for sharing at Katherine’s Corner where I’m co-host today.
So glad we could ‘share’ and hope you try it out!
This looks so yummy! I’m pinning it to try sometime soon.
Thanks,
KC
You know, I have never put avocado in my chicken salad…but it looks GREAT!
Visiting from Mouthwatering Monday.
I LOVE the addition of toasted nuts in this salad! What a clever idea! Thank you so much for linking up with me this week at Tasty Tuesdays! I’ve pinned this & shared it with my followers! Please be sure to stop back by the party and check out some of the other links!
So glad we could link up and I appreciate the pin!
This recipe looks fabulous! I love the combo of the chicken with the grapes and apples, what fun flavors! I just pinned this one. I’ll have to try it out this summer! Thanks so much for sharing this with me 🙂 Krista @ A Handful of Everything
I hope you do try it and it feeds 4 adults easily – or great leftovers! Thanks for ‘pinning’!!
I love this salad – thank you.
Always looking to try new pasta salads and I am so going to try this one soon. Love that you included apples and gouda cheese 🙂
Carrie,
I made chicken salad a lot, but have never thought of adding pasta. My family would love this. I enjoy pasta salads because they are ready when you need them. You can make them ahead of time. All you need to do, is just pull them out of the refrigerator and enjoy.
Blessings,
Diane Roark
This pasta salad looks amazing, Carrie. I love how you’ve included gouda and avocado. I can’t wait to try it.
You have me at Gouda!!
Fruit and chicken salad just seem to go together. We are going camping in a couple weeks with all the kids. I think this salad would make a perfect quick and simple lunch. Thanks for sharing!
This salad looks so yummy! Love all the different flavor combinations! pinned to try. Have a great weekend!
Mmmmm…that salad looks SO delicious! Pinning!
P.S, Found you through the Let’s Get Real Party
What a fabulous salad~and so pretty with the grapes and almonds! Thanks for sharing ont he Four Seasons Blog Hop!