Pesto Chicken Salad
This Pesto Chicken Salad is light, healthy and packed with the perfect pesto flavor Great for BBQs, brunches, baby showers and more It's sure to become a go-to recipe all Summer long
This Pesto Chicken Salad is light, healthy and packed with the perfect pesto flavor Great for BBQs, brunches, baby showers and more It's sure to become a go-to recipe all Summer long
- Carbohydrate 2.88249249944156 g
- Cholesterol 8.34375000705339 mg
- Fat 4.60582000770319 g
- Fiber 0.612000020393783 g
- Protein 1.90241750051368 g
- Saturated Fat 1.80343400213258 g
- Serving Size 1 1 Serving (62g)
- Sodium 233.989937933925 mg
- Sugar 2.27049247904777 g
- Trans Fat 0.490469376028216 g
- Calories 58 calories
Step-by-step
- Cook the bow-tie pasta according to package directions in a large pot of salted water. Drain the pasta and run it under water. Drizzle with olive oil and stir around.
- Put the pasta in a large serving bowl and stir in the pesto and Italian dressing. Add the spinach, chicken, tomatoes and feta cheese. Toss to combine. Salt and Pepper to taste.
- Cover the pesto salad and refrigerate. If the pasta seems dry before serving, you can stir in another tablespoon of olive oil.
The ingredient list hides the reality of starch retrogradation. When bow tie pasta cools, its starches recrystallize and firm up, which radically changes how much dressing the dish absorbs. Rinsing cooked pasta under cold water stops the cooking process immediately and washes away surface starch that would otherwise make the noodles clump into solid masses. Jarred pesto relies on preserved basil paste, while homemade versions use raw leaves crushed with oil and cheese. Substituting homemade pesto requires an extra pinch of salt because jarred varieties often carry higher sodium levels from commercial preservation methods. Italian dressing adds vinegar and emulsified oil to thin the thick pesto sauce, allowing the coating to slip into the folds of the farfalle rather than sitting as a heavy clump on top. Rotisserie chicken provides pre-cooked protein with built-in salt, whereas plain grilled chicken breasts need aggressive seasoning before dicing. Whole wheat bow ties absorb nearly twenty percent more liquid than refined white pasta, meaning the dish may demand an extra splash of olive oil after two hours in the refrigerator. Feta cheese introduces moisture and crumbly texture, but goat cheese works as a direct one-to-one swap if you prefer a sharper tang. Cherry tomatoes should be halved rather than left whole to release their internal juices into the dressing, building a more cohesive flavor profile across the entire bowl.
