Asian Chicken Pasta Salad…this salad is SO GOOD!

This might be (in my opinion) the best salad recipe I know, it’s a meal in itself. It’s the kind of salad that you’d serve at a baby shower or a bridal shower, and everyone will be asking for the recipe. It’s a family favorite. Doesn’t it look so good?! We made a quick video to show you how easily this salad comes together!

We make two batches of the dressing, one for marinating the chicken and pasta in overnight, and a second batch for tossing the salad with right before serving.

Toast the sliced almonds and the sesame seeds (separately) in a dry hot pan.
Here are all the ingredients minus the dressing and the marinated pasta and the chicken in a big bowl ready to be tossed with the chicken, pasta, and dressing.

And here it is all tossed together! Oh, it’s so good. I hope you love it as much as we do!

Asian Chicken Pasta Salad

This salad is the perfect salad to serve at your next big family gathering, a baby shower...a bridal shower...even a regular Thursday...it's so good!

Author Kami | NoBiggie.net

Ingredients

Salad ingredients:

1 box bow tie pasta
4 chicken breasts cooked & shredded or all the breast meat of one large rotisserie chicken
1/4 cup green onions sliced & diced into oblivion
1/2 pack sliced almonds toasted
1 bag baby spinach stems removed
1 small bag pea pods
1 small can mandarin oranges drained

For the Salad Dressing (Double this for the marinade)

1/3 cup red wine vinegar
1/3 cup vegetable oil *or sesame oil is great here too
1/3 cup soy sauce
2 tablespoons sugar
1/4 cup sesame seeds toasted
1/2 teaspoon salt and pepper

Instructions

Toast the sesame seeds in a dry pan, remove from heat and separate into two bowls for the dressings.
Shred the chicken breast meat from a rotisserie chicken.
Mix up the two separate batches of the dressing to be used as a marinade and later as a salad dressing.
Cook the pasta until al dente (do not over cook the pasta), remove the pasta from the water.
In a large bowl while the pasta and chicken are still warm, add the dressing and toss. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator until chilled. Optional: If you'd like, you can move the chicken and pasta to a ziplock gallon sized bag to chill in the fridge for a more even marinade.
Marinate chicken & pasta in the fridge overnight, or for a few hours until chilled.
Toast the sliced almonds in a dry pan, remove from pan.
In a large bowl add the marinaded pasta and chicken and all the other salad ingredients.
Toss with the salad dressing and serve.

Recipe Notes

* It's important to under cook the pasta. It will continue to cook a little more in the marinade.
The spinach will start to wilt once the salad is mixed with the dressing, so you can add the spinach in small batches if serving this salad for a shower or party that is an open house style.

Making This Recipe? Tag us on Instagram: @NoBiggie using the hashtag #NoBiggieRecipes, so we can see what you are making in the kitchen!