Name: The Best Chicken Caesar Pasta Salad
Prep time: 60 min
Total time: 60 min
Ingredients: 1 pound pasta ( I prefer campanella or cellentani ); 4 cups of grilled or roasted chicken (cut into small pieces or shredded); 3/4 cup sliced almonds (toasted); 1/2 cup red bell pepper (diced into small chunks); 1/2 cup onion (minced); 1/2 cup celery (finely chopped, approx. 2 stalks); 1 cup Parmesan cheese; 1 cup mayonnaise; 1 cup bottled Caesar Salad Dressing (use whatever you have on hand); 1/2 teaspoon freshly cracked pepper; 5 ounce bag chunky salad croutons (for garnish); 2 heads of romaine lettuce (approximately 4 cups)

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This tasty Chicken Caesar Pasta Salad recipe gives you the best of both worlds! Combination of crisp fresh romaine lettuce chicken caesar and your favorite summer pasta salad all wrapped up in one! This is one of my families favorite salads. It’s perfect as the main course for a light meal, or bring it as a dish to pass at your next potluck!

large bowl in bottom half of photo has chicken caesar pasta salad in it, side dishes of parmesan and croutons to the left, blue bowl full of romaine lettuce, square wicker basket in upper right hand corner with napkins and forksss all on a red and white checkered tablecloth

Why I love Chicken Caesar Pasta Salad.

This one is for all you caesar salad fans! Something you might not know about me is that I am a chicken caesar salad connoisseur. It’s true I have tried just about every caesar salad this side of the Mississippi. Well maybe that’s an exaggeration. How about within a 50 mile radius of my home. I believe you can judge how good a restaurant is by it’s caesar salad. Because come on if a restaurant can’t serve up a decent caesar salad, what’s the point? It’s pretty basic salad, but when all the elements are just right it can be the most satisfying meal you’ll ever have. First you need fresh, cold (can I stress cold), crisp romaine lettuce that is tossed in just the right amount of creamy caesar dressing. We don’t want our lettuce swimming in dressing, just lightly covered. Tender chicken that is warm not cold. When it’s finished off with shaved parmesan cheese, fresh cracked pepper, and large, buttery, crispy croutons; then you know they’ve got it right! So all that to say, this pasta salad is all of that with pasta, and some extra veggies for crunch and color. I love this salad so much. It’s pretty much summer dinner meal perfection.

ingredient photo for chicken caesar pasta salad on parchment paper on wood cutting board

Gather these ingredients

grilled or roasted chicken
pasta noodles – see recipe card below for my favorites
romaine lettuce
caesar dressing
mayonnaise
fresh cracked black pepper
red bell pepper
celery
onion
toasted sliced almonds
Parmesan cheese
large cut croutons

How to make this tasty Chicken Caesar Pasta Salad

Grill or bake 4 chicken breasts seasoned with salt and pepper. Four chicken breasts is approximately 4 cups of chicken cut up into small pieces.

If you have a meat thermometer the internal temperature should be 165 degrees at the thickest part of the chicken before it is safe to eat. I roasted a whole chicken, I used 4 cups and the excess was lunch for someone.

hand pouring salt in a boiling pot of water, preparing for boiling pasta

While your chicken is cooking bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and cook pasta. The mistake most people make is not adding enough salt to their water before cooking pasta. Add at least 1 tablespoon. Cook past al dente. (Al dente means the pasta should have a little bit of resistance when biting into it.) Drain water off cooked pasta into a colander and allow to cool. If you are inpatient like me you can run cold water over pasta to cook it off quicker.

Spread almonds out on a baking sheet and toast for 3-4 minutes in a preheated 350 degree oven. Set a timer. I don’t know how many times I’ve burned my almonds toasting them in the oven. You can also toast them in a skillet on your stovetop. Keep moving them around in the skillet.

Chop romaine into bite sized chunks, about 2 inches. (Don’t cut lettuce too small or it won’t hold up with all the other ingredients.) Wash cut lettuce in cold water and spin to dry. If you don’t have a salad spinner lay out on paper towel to dry and then refrigerate until ready to use.

Chop red bell pepper, celery, and onion. Set aside.

washing romain lettuce in colander in kitchen sink, water is running into the colander

preparing dressing for pasta salad, photo on the left is mayonnaise and caesar salad dressing in a white bowl. Photo on the left is dressing is mixed and pepper is being added.

In a small bowl whisk together mayonnaise and caesar salad dressing, add plenty of fresh crack black pepper.

bowl with pasta, red bell pepper, onion, and celery. counter clockwise bowl with chunks of chicken, dressing for salad, bowl of romaine lettuce

Now you have all your elements it is time to toss pasta salad together. Add pasta, chicken, celery, onion, red bell pepper to a large mixing bowl. Pour 1/2 of the prepared dressing over ingredients and toss. Add almonds and mix. Now if you are going to serve this right away add in your romaine lettuce and toss. Add more of the dressing as you like it. Some people prefer their pasta salad dryer or with more dressing. You can make it to your liking. (see FAQs 1 & 5 for what to do if you are not serving right away)

chicken caesar pasta salad with ingredients to be added in order at the top parmesan cheese, caesar dressing, croutons, romaine lettuce

Finish off the the salad, by adding in parmesan cheese and croutons. Lightly mix these in. You can also serve the on the side if you prefer.

close up of bowl of chicken caesar pasta salad with parmesan spoon is in the bowl in top of picture, bowl is sitting on a red and white checkered tablecloth

Transfer to a large bowl or platter for serving. This delicious meal is the perfect girl dinner! In fact I am going to be serving this for my bookclub weekend at our cottage.

FAQs

What is the best way to transfer this salad if I’m making it ahead and bringing it to a picnic? Good question! The best way to transfer this salad is to prep meal ingredients and mix pasta, chicken, veggies, and almonds together with half of the prepared dressing. Store pasta mixture in a large airtight container with enough room to add remaining ingredients once you arrive at your destination. Place washed romaine, toasted almonds, parmesan cheese, and croutons in separate zip-loc bags. Store remaining dressing in a mason jar or something you can transport easily. Keep all of this in a cooler or cold bag. Just before you are ready to serve mix all of the ingredients together. I promise you people will be asking for the recipe to this salad. You know where to send them!
Do you recommend only using grilled chicken breasts? Actually I have used a store-bought rotisserie chicken and it is perfect, and saves me time on my meal prep as well. Every grocery store has them in their deli section, they are tasty and save on cook time! If you are grilling boneless skinless chicken breasts for another meal. I suggest that you make extra and then you can use the leftover chicken to make this salad.
I don’t really care for red bell peppers, is there any other vegetable you would suggest using? I love to add cherry tomatoes sliced in half. Get creative, add more or less of any vegetable I have listed. I think think sliced carrot discs would even be delicious in this recipe.
Do you have a homemade crouton recipe on your website? No but I put a little video on my tiktok of how to make homemade croutons from leftover bread. They are super easy.
TIP: I shared it above but in case you missed it you will get the best result if you wait to add the romaine lettuce until just before serving. Also if you prefer crunchy croutons I also advise either serving them on the side or waiting to toss them in just before serving.

I hope your family loves this salad as much as we do. If you have any questions, please reach out in the comment section below. AND of course if you make it, please share on facebook, instagram, or where ever you share your life and tag me at Eat2gather! Thanks so much for being here. XO Sheila