Chicken Pasta Salad Recipe combines elbow macaroni and cooked rotisserie chicken with the flavors of crispy smoked crumbled bacon, grape tomatoes, diced avocado, and green onions in a creamy mayonnaise dressing with a touch of honey, garlic, and mustard. This delicious side dish is ideal for a spring or summer lunch or light dinner. It also makes for a great potluck, family reunion, neighborhood social, or pool party dish.
Let’s Spill The Tea
- Cuisine Style: American
- Taste and texture: creamy, smooth, salty, and crunchy
- Effort and skill: ridiculously easy
- Pros: Total time to prepare is about 25 minutes
- Cons: you will want to eat the whole bowl
Chicken Pasta Salad Ingredients
- Pasta: my go-to pasta for this recipe is elbow macaroni, but you can use other medium pasta like rotini, cavatappi, medium shells, or bowtie.
- Chicken: any cooked chicken.
- Bacon: cooked
- Vegetables: grape tomatoes, green onions, avocado, and garlic.
- Lemon: for juice
- Seasoning: kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
- Mayonnaise: my favorite is Duke’s
- Honey
- Dijon mustard: you can substitute yellow mustard or spicy brown mustard
- Worcestershire sauce
How to make Chicken Pasta Salad
This is just the nutshell version of the recipe. See the recipe card below for ingredients and complete directions.
- Cook pasta according to package directions and drain well
- Whisk together the mayonnaise, pressed garlic, honey, mustard, vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, and black pepper.
- Combine the drained pasta, chicken, bacon, tomato, and green onion in a large bowl.
- Toss the avocado with the lemon juice and add it to the bowl.
- Pour in the dressing and toss to coat.
Recipe Tips for Perfect Chicken Pasta Salad
- You can use any cooked, diced, or shredded chicken, including rotisserie, poached, grilled, or baked.
- Cook the pasta slightly al dente, which means slightly undercooked or a little bit firm, so it holds up well to being stirred with other ingredients and a moderately thick mayo dressing.
- Do not skip the step of gently tossing the avocado with lemon juice. This really slows down the avocado browning process.
What to serve with Chicken Pasta Salad
Sometimes, I like to serve a little soup, like gazpacho or creamy asparagus soup. Fruit salad and four bean salad are also delicious with it. Or something cool and refreshing like cherry lemonade or strawberry mimosas.
Frequently Asked Questions
The dressing can be prepared up to 24 hours in advance. Store in an airtight container in the fridge until ready to combine. You can prepare the salad up to 1 day in advance; however, for best results, do not dice or add the avocado and the bacon until right before serving.
Instead of a mayonnaise-based dressing, try a vinaigrette. I love this mustard vinaigrette and this ginger vinaigrette.
Let’s Recap
- This is a quick and easy, flavorful pasta salad.
- It is a welcome addition to any picnic, potluck, or party.
- For ease, prepare up to 24 hours in advance. Do not cut or add the avocado and the bacon until right before serving.
Chicken Pasta Salad
Ingredients
Pasta Salad
- 16 ounces elbow macaroni
- 3 cups cooked chicken
- 6 slices bacon cooked crispy and crumbled
- 1 cup grape tomatoes halved
- 2 green onions thinly sliced
- 1 avocado peeled seeded and diced
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- salt and pepper to taste
Dressing
- 1 cup mayonnaise
- 3 cloves garlic pressed
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 1 tablespoon Dijon Mustard
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Cook the elbow pasta (al dente) according to package directions and drain well.
- Meanwhile, in a medium bowl whisk together the mayonnaise, pressed garlic, honey, Dijon mustard, cider vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, kosher salt, and fresh ground black pepper.
- In a large bowl, combine the drained pasta, cooked chicken, crumbled cooked bacon, halved tomatoes, and green onions. In a small bowl, gently toss the diced avocado with the lemon juice and add it to the bowl. Add the dressing and toss to coat. For best results, serve promptly.
Notes
Nutrition
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Christine
YUM!!! I love a good pasta salad, especially in the summer. Everyone really enjoyed this recipe and it was quite easy to make! Thanks for sharing.
Richelle Milar
That looks absolutely delicious and tasty! I would really love to try this recipe!
Beth
This chicken pasta salad was delicious! It is my new go to meal and perfect for a summer.
IceCreamnStickyFingers
This was so good. I am going to bring it to the 4th of July celebration. I love simple dishes they can be thrown together quickly.
Tasheena
My family loved this pasta salad, looking forward to making this recipe on a regular basis!
Katie C.
This sounds delicious! I love how much protein is in this as well. I think I’ll try this with my favorite grain free pasta
Beth Pierce
Sounds like a great plan! Enjoy!!
Kathy
This looks so good. I’m always up for making a pasta salad. I’ve actually been looking for a new recipe, so I’m going to save this to try later.
Beth Pierce
Thanks so much! Enjoy!!
Tara Pittman
This looks so delicious. I need to make it for my husband’s work lunches.
Amber Myers
Yum, I tried this last week. It was really tasty. I just love pasta salads.
Erik
Yum! Everyone really enjoyed this!
Catalina
Chicken and pasta are so great together! Absolutely delicious!
Catalina
I’ve made this pasta salad and my family loved it! Yum!
Beth Pierce
Thanks Catalina! So glad that they liked it!
Sandra
This is a great recipe! Everyone loved it!
Beth Pierce
Thanks Sandra!!
Erin | Dinners,Dishes and Dessert
I need to try this Chicken Pasta Salad ASAP!
Faith Stephenson
This recipe looks so easy to make because of the step by step directions! Thanks for sharing
Beti | easyweeknightrecipes
This was incredible!! My whole family really enjoyed it. I added a little celery to it for added crunch.
katerina @ diethood.com
Oh my goodness! I love how creamy and delicious this pasta salad is!! Thanks for sharing.
Juliane
Oh my! My dad would surely love this!