Chicken Pesto Pasta Salad is the ultimate Summer salad with pesto coated pasta, sautéed marinated chicken, and fresh veggies all thrown into one bowl. It's super easy to make in under 40 minutes and will be a crowd favorite!
Pasta Salads are a must make for Summer and this one is even better, because we've added chicken for protein. It's a full meal in one bowl. This recipe is amazing to serve for lunch, dinner, or as a cookout side dish!
I have a giant plant of basil growing in my garden, so I made my homemade pesto recipe, which I highly recommend if you have the extra time. It only takes 10 minutes and tastes so much better than store-bought.
For more pasta salad recipes check out this Grinder Pasta Salad, Street Corn Pasta Salad, Protein Pasta Salad, and Orzo Pasta Salad.
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Why You'll Love This Pasta Salad:
- Easy to Make. Pasta Salad is simple to make with minimal prep work and can be made ahead too!
- Summer Flavors. This recipe is light and filled with fresh flavors like pesto and lemon.
- Filling. Adding grilled chicken to this pasta salad makes it feel like a meal and is super satisfying.
- Healthy. Loaded with nutrients from the veggies and pesto and high in protein from the chicken breast.
For more recipes with pesto, try this Chicken Pesto Orzo, Asparagus Pea Pesto Pasta, Chicken Pesto Sandwich, and Pesto Gnocchi.
Ingredients:
Pesto Sauce: Homemade Pesto Sauce is always going to taste better because of the fresh ingredients, but store bought is still good.
Rotelle Pasta: This is the wagon wheel shaped pasta and is really fun for this recipe. The pesto sauce sticks in the pasta holes and tastes amazing.
Juanita Piquante Peppers: I always call these Peppadew Peppers, but they are the most delicious sweet and spicy peppers. If your grocery store has them, they are either in the olive section near the roasted red peppers, or sometimes you can find them in the olive bar area at stores like Whole Foods. Also, try them on pizza!
*Find the full recipe ingredients and quantities in the recipe card below.
Substitutions and Variations:
- Want a vegetarian version? Leave off the chicken.
- For easy shortcuts, use store bought pesto and/or grab a rotisserie chicken and add over the pulled chicken (without the skin) at the end.
- The rotelle pasta can be substituted with any small to medium sized noodles, like fusilli, small shells, mezze penne, etc.
- Feel free to add in more veggies, like halved cherry tomatoes and diced yellow onion.
For more Summer cookout recipes, try these Smoked Baby Back Ribs, Dill Pickle Potato Salad, Ground Beef Baked Beans, and Hawaiian Macaroni Salad.
How to Make Chicken Pesto Pasta Salad:
Step 1: If you're making my homemade pesto recipe, start with that first. Chop the mozzarella cheese into 1 inch cubes, dice up the roasted red peppers and give the piquante peppers a rough chop. Set aside.
Step 2: Slice each chicken breast down the center (through the width) to create two thinner chicken breasts, 4 cutlets total.
Step 3: Add the chicken into a medium sized bowl and pour in 1 tablespoon olive oil, lemon juice, salt, pepper, garlic powder, oregano and basil. Toss to combine, then allow to marinate for 5 minutes. Bring a large pot of water to a boil for the pasta. Add in the pasta and cook until al dente, according to the package instructions.
Step 4: While the pasta is cooking, in a large skillet over medium heat on the stovetop, pour in the remaining 1 tablespoon of olive oil and add in the chicken, making sure the chicken isn't overlapping. Cook for 3-5 minutes on each side until the internal temperature reaches 165 degrees. Transfer to a cutting board and tent with foil. Allow to cool to room temperature.
Step 5: Once the pasta is cooked, drain the excess water in a colander then rinse the pasta with cold water. Give the colander a good shake to remove all the excess water.
Step 6: Transfer the cooled pasta into a large bowl. Stir in the spinach, mozzarella cheese, roasted red peppers, piquante peppers and pesto sauce until combined. Place in the fridge for 15 minutes.
Step 7: Cut the chicken into thin strips.
Step 8: Pour the pasta salad into a serving bowl. Top with chicken and serve. Enjoy!
Expert Tips:
- Don't overcook the pasta. It always taste better al dente (firm when bitten into) in pasta salads.
- Try and remove as much of the liquids as possible when assembling the pasta salad. Make sure the pasta water is mostly removed from the noodles and that the peppers don't have a ton of excess juices (you can sit them on paper towels to remove it).
- Rinse the pasta to cool it off well before adding it to the bowl and assembling with the cheese. We don't want the cheese melting.
- Allow the chicken to cool to room temperature before adding it into the pasta salad.
If you love Italian inspired recipes, try this Pastina Soup, Zucchini Risotto, Spaghetti Alfredo, and Oven Baked Chicken Thighs.
Recipe FAQs:
Serve it cold for the best taste. I like to let the chicken cool to room temperature before serving with the cold pasta salad.
Yes! I find it stays freshest to store the grilled chicken separately in the fridge until serving. Also, you may want to have a few tablespoons of extra pesto sauce to stir in at serving because the pasta soaks it up a bit.
Store in a sealed container in the fridge for up to 2-3 days.
More Summer Salad Recipes to Try:
If you tried this Chicken Pesto Pasta Salad Recipe or any other recipe on my website, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how it goes in the 📝 comments below. I love hearing from you!
PrintRecipe
Chicken Pesto Pasta Salad
- Total Time: 40 minutes
- Yield: 6 servings 1x
Description
Chicken Pesto Pasta Salad is the ultimate Summer salad with pesto coated pasta, sautéed marinated chicken, and fresh veggies all thrown into one bowl. It's super easy to make in under 40 minutes and will be a crowd favorite!
Ingredients
- 2 chicken breasts, about 1 lb, patted dry and trimmed
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- juice from ½ a lemon
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ⅛ teaspoon black pepper
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon dried basil
- 3 cups dried pasta, rotelle (wagon wheels), fusilli or small shells
- 8 ounce mozzarella cheese
- ½ cup roasted red peppers, diced
- ⅓ cup piquante peppers (peppadew), roughly chopped
- 1 ounce baby spinach (a small handful)
- ½ cup pesto sauce, homemade pesto or store-bought
Instructions
- If you're making my homemade pesto recipe, start with that first. Chop the mozzarella cheese into 1 inch cubes, dice up the roasted red peppers and give the piquante peppers a rough chop. Set aside.
- Slice each chicken breast down the center (through the width) to create two thinner chicken breasts, 4 total cutlets.
- Add the chicken into a medium sized bowl and pour in 1 tablespoon olive oil, lemon juice, salt, pepper, garlic powder, oregano and basil. Toss to combine, then allow to marinate for 5 minutes. Bring a large pot of water to a boil for the pasta. Add in the pasta and cook until al dente, according to the package instructions.
- While the pasta is cooking, in a large skillet over medium heat on the stovetop, pour in the remaining 1 tablespoon of olive oil and add in the chicken, making sure the chicken isn't overlapping. Cook for 3-5 minutes on each side until the internal temperature reaches 165 degrees. Transfer to a cutting board and tent with foil. Allow to cool to room temperature.
- Once the pasta is cooked, drain the excess water in a colander then rinse the pasta with cold water. Give the colander a good shake to remove all the excess water.
- Transfer the cooled pasta into a large bowl. Stir in the spinach, mozzarella cheese, roasted red peppers, piquante peppers and pesto sauce until combined. Place in the fridge for 15 minutes.
- Cut the chicken into thin strips.
- Pour the pasta salad into a serving bowl. Top with chicken and serve. Enjoy!
Notes
- Don't overcook the pasta. It always taste better al dente (firm when bitten into) in pasta salads.
- Try and remove as much of the liquids as possible when assembling the pasta salad. Make sure the pasta water is mostly removed from the noodles and that the peppers don't have a ton of excess juices (you can sit them on paper towels to remove it).
- Rinse the pasta to cool it off well before adding it to the bowl and assembling with the cheese. We don't want the cheese melting.
- Allow the chicken to cool to room temperature before adding it into the pasta salad.
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Category: salad
- Method: stovetop
- Cuisine: Italian
Holly says
This was so good and I love the wagon wheel pasta!
Tara Smithson says
Yay!! Thanks Holly and I love the pasta too.