Servings: 8 servings 1x
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
Instructions
- 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**
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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. 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.