Chicken Caesar Pasta Salad

5 from 1 vote

This easy chicken salad recipe has a creamy, tangy dressing made with buttermilk and sour cream for a healthy and flavor-packed lunch or dinner.

Course dinner, lunch, Salad

Cuisine American

Prep Time 15

Cook Time 15

Total Time 30

Servings

Calories 412kcal

Author Mihaela

Get Recipe Ingredients

Chop the chicken into bite-sized cubes.
In a medium bowl, combine all the dressing/marinade ingredients. Transfer 1/3 of it to a small jug or jar and refrigerate. This will serve as dressing and it shouldn't touch the raw chicken.
Add the chopped chicken to the bowl with the remaining dressing/marinade and stir to coat. Allow it to marinate for 15 minutes on the counter; or, if time allows, up to 1 hour in the fridge. Just before cooking, drain the marinade and discard.
Meanwhile, cook the pasta according to package directions, drain and set aside in a large bowl to cool.
Chop the lettuce and cherry tomatoes.
Heat a non-stick skillet over medium heat. Drizzle with 1/2 tablespoon of oil and add the marinated chicken.
Cook the chicken until golden brown and cooked through, around 12 minutes, then let it cool for a few minutes. Add it to the bowl with the pasta, together with the lettuce, tomatoes and parmesan cheese.
Drizzle everything with the refrigerated dressing. Toss to combine and serve!

Make sure to cut your chicken into equal-sized pieces so they cook evenly.
If you're going to marinate your chicken for longer than one hour, do so in the fridge.
It's very important that the dressing doesn't touch the raw meat, so be sure to reserve a third of the marinade and keep it in the fridge until you're ready to serve.
This is a great make-ahead recipe, just keep all of the components separate, then assemble and dress the Caesar chicken pasta salad right before you serve it.