Italian Chicken Pasta Salad

Make this incredible Italian Chicken Pasta Salad for your next meal prep. This Italian dressing pasta salad is hearty, filling and bursting with flavor.

Make a homemade italian dressing for a chicken marinade and a pasta salad at the same time!

This chicken pasta salad is simply perfect for meal prep or any potluck, picnic or barbecue that you plan to attend! It is bursting with fresh flavor and is hearty and filling enough to be a full meal.

The coolest thing about this recipe is that you are going to make a homemade dressing and use it twice. First to marinate the Italian dressing chicken AND then for the pasta salad.

I love a simple, tangy Italian dressing so if you’ve never made it at home, now is the chance to try it out. Blend up this simple dressing and delight family and friends by serving this Italian dressing pasta salad.

Kitchen tools

• Measuring spoons and measuring cups
• Liquid measuring cups
• Blender or immersion blender for dressing
• Mixing bowls
• Large pot for boiling pasta
• Saute pan
• Sharp knife and cutting board

How to serve

I think that this bow tie pasta salad would be the perfect addition to a weekly meal prep. You can prep it once and enjoy many times as a quick lunch or side dish.

Some other recipes I like to use for meal prep are:

• Roasted Vegetable Salad
• Kale Cranberry Quinoa Salad
• BLT Chicken Salad
• Easy Pan Seared Chicken Breast

Italian Dressing Ingredients

• Garlic cloves
• Red wine vinegar
• Lemon
• Sugar
• Salt
• Oregano
• Crushed red pepper
• Extra virgin olive oil

Chicken pasta Salad Ingredients

• Boneless skinless chicken breasts
• Bowtie pasta
• Bell pepper
• Cherry tomatoes
• Low moisture mozzarella cheese
• Sliced black olives
• Fresh parsley

Ingredient substitutions

This recipe makes for a perfect bow tie pasta salad. BUT if you aren’t a fan of bow tie pasta, you can use any pasta shape. You could even use pearl couscous or orzo.

You can use fresh, full fat mozzarella in place of the low moisture mozzarella. If you aren’t a fan of black olives, you can use a different or kind or omit them completely.

I love this using simple homemade Italian dressing for this chicken pasta salad. If you don’t want to spend the time to make one, you can instead use about 2 cups of a store bought dressing.

You can use fresh basil in place of or in addition to the fresh parsley.

How to make this italian dressing pasta salad

Step 1: Prepare italian dressing chicken

To begin, prepare homemade Italian dressing by grating garlic cloves into a blender. Then, pour all ingredients except olive oil into the blender and blend.

With the blender running, slowly pour in the olive oil in a steady stream so the dressing will emulsify.

Next, cut chicken breasts in half longways so you have two thinner filets. Pour about half of the Italian dressing over the chicken, toss to coat, cover and place in the fridge for at least 1 hour or up to 6 hours.

Step 2: Cook pasta and chicken

When you are ready to cook, boil a large pot of salted water and remove marinated chicken from the fridge. Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain and rinse with cool water.

Then, heat a pan over medium heat. Add chicken to the warm pan and cook for 8-10 minutes flipping every 2 minutes. The chicken is done when the internal temperature reaches 165F.

Step 3: Prep other ingredients and toss it all together

While the chicken cools, dice bell pepper, cut cherry tomatoes in half or quarters, cube mozzarella cheese, drain black olives, and chop parsley.

Cube the chicken once it is cooled. Place in a large mixing bowl with the pasta and all other ingredients.

Finally, pour remaining dressing over the ingredients and toss to coat. Serve at room temperature or chilled!

Storage

Once prepared, transfer pasta salad to an airtight container in the fridge. Store in fridge for up to 4 days.

Serve salad chilled or at room temperature.

Check out these other Pasta salad recipes

• Shrimp Pesto Pasta Salad
• Chicken Bacon Ranch Pasta Salad
• Peanut Broccoli Pasta Salad
• Mediterranean Orzo Salad

You can find the full recipe below. If you make this recipe, please rate and review it in the comments, or share it with me on Instagram!

Recipe

Italian Chicken Pasta Salad

★★★★★ 5 from 1 reviews

Make a homemade Italian dressing for a chicken marinade and toss it into this Italian dressing pasta salad!

Recipe By: Madeline

Prep: 10 minutesCook: 20 minutesTotal: 30 minutes

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Servings: 8 servings 1x

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Ingredients

Italian Dressing Ingredients

• 3 cloves of garlic
• ¾ cup red wine vinegar
• Juice from 1 lemon
• 2 tsp sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• ¼ tsp crushed red pepper
• 1 cup extra virgin olive oil

Salad Ingredients

• 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
• 8oz (1/2lb) bowtie pasta
• 1 bell pepper
• 10oz cherry tomatoes
• 8oz low moisture mozzarella cheese
• 4oz sliced black olives
• ¼ cup packed fresh parsley

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Instructions

1. Prepare homemade Italian dressing by grating garlic cloves into a blender. Pour all ingredients except olive oil into the blender and blend. With the blender running, slowly pour in the olive oil in a steady stream so the dressing will emulsify. ** You can also use about 2 cups of a store bought Italian salad dressing**
2. Cut chicken breasts in half longways so you have two thinner filets. Pour about half of the Italian dressing over the chicken, toss to coat, cover and place in the fridge for at least 1 hour or up to 6 hours.
3. When you are ready to cook, boil a large pot of salted water and remove marinated chicken from the fridge. Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain and rinse with cool water.
4. Heat a pan over medium heat. Add chicken to the warm pan and cook for 8-10 minutes flipping every 2 minutes. The chicken is done when the internal temperature reaches 165F.
5. While the chicken cools, dice bell pepper, cut cherry tomatoes in half or quarters, cube mozzarella cheese, drain black olives, and chop parsley.
6. Cube the chicken once it is cooled. Place in a large mixing bowl with the pasta and all other ingredients. Pour remaining dressing (depending on your preference you may not want to use all of the leftover dressing) over the ingredients and toss to coat. Serve at room temperature or chilled!

Notes

• Bowtie pasta is my preference for this salad, but you can use any kind of pasta that you like. 
• If you don’t want to make your own Italian dressing, you can use about 2 cups of store bought Italian dressing.

This website provides approximate nutrition information for convenience and as a courtesy only. Nutrition data is gathered primarily from the USDA Food Composition Database, whenever available, or otherwise other online calculators.