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Chicken Caesar Pasta Salad

Averie Sunshine

4.77 from 13 votes

Updated: Apr 22, 2026

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🍗🥗 Chicken Caesar Pasta Salad offers everything you love about the salad with the addition of tender pasta, too! It’s easy, ready in 20 minutes, makes a large batch, and is guaranteed to be a family favorite!

Easy Chicken Caesar Pasta Salad Recipe

This chicken Caesar pasta salad screams summertime picnics, potlucks, and casual backyard get-togethers! A fun addition to any table, it pairs fabulously with other warm-weather barbecue favorites like broccoli salad, potato salad with bacon, and vanilla fruit salad. Here’s why this pasta salad has a nearly five-star rating:

• It makes a big batch, so it’s great for planned leftovers and can be served warm, at room temp, or chilled.
• Ready in 20 minutes, this chicken Caesar pasta salad has all the flavors of a traditional Caesar salad, plus pasta. Everything tastes better with pasta, right? 
• Everything is tossed in creamy Caesar dressing that’s spiked with a hint of balsamic vinegar for a touch of acidity to balance the flavor profile.

Yep, it’s a keeper! Great on these hot days. I was a little loose on the proportions but that works too.

Karin

Ingredients You’ll Need

To make this chicken Caesar salad pasta salad recipe, you’ll need:

• Olive oil: This cooks the chicken. Avocado oil works well, too
• Chicken breasts: I prefer to use boneless, skinless chicken breasts to keep the salad lean, but boneless, skinless chicken thighs also work. Or, substitute leftover poached chicken, grilled chicken, or even rotisserie chicken. You can also use salmon, shrimp, or steak if preferred
• Kosher salt and black pepper
• Bowtie pasta: Feel free to use any small-shape pasta you have on hand, such as ziti, penne, wheels, small shells, or rotini. Whole wheat pasta or gluten-free pasta would be fine in this recipe, too
• Veggies: Crisp Romaine lettuce and tomatoes. To save time, use a bag of Romaine lettuce rather than cleaning and chopping a head of it. Or, substitute spinach if preferred
• Caesar salad dressing: Use any store-bought or homemade Caesar dressing you like best
• Balsamic vinegar
• Parmesan cheese: Pre-grated Parmesan is perfectly fine for this recipe.

Note: Scroll down to the recipe card section of the post for the ingredients with amounts included and for more complete directions.

How to Make Chicken Caesar Pasta Salad

I often serve this pasta salad as a side dish at gatherings, but it also makes a fabulous main dish, especially when paired with a side of cheesy garlic bread or one-hour butter breadsticks. Here’s how it comes together in minutes:

1. Chop the chicken into bite-sized pieces, and season them with salt and pepper. Cook the chicken in olive oil over medium heat until it’s no longer pink.
2. While the chicken sautées, boil the pasta just to al dente in a large pot of salted water according to the package instructions. Drain and transfer the pasta to a large bowl.
3. Add the cooked chicken, lettuce, and tomatoes. Slowly add the Caesar dressing, balsamic, and Parmesan, and toss to combine.
4. Adjust the ingredients to taste. I often like to add crunchy croutons for extra texture, too.
5. Enjoy immediately, or chill in the fridge.

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4.77 from 13 votes

Chicken Caesar Pasta Salad

By Averie Sunshine

🍗🥗 Chicken Caesar Pasta Salad – The BEST version of a chicken Cesar salad because there’s tender pasta, too! EASY, ready in 20 minutes, makes a big batch, and a guaranteed family FAVORITE!

Prep Time: 5 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 7 minutes minutes

Total Time: 12 minutes minutes

Servings: 8 servings

Equipment

• 1 Large Pot
• 1 large skillet
• 1 Large Bowl

Ingredients 

• ▢ 3 tablespoons olive oil
• ▢ 1.75 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts, diced into bite-sized pieces
• ▢ 1 teaspoon kosher salt, or to taste
• ▢ 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, or to taste
• ▢ 1 pound bowtie pasta, ziti, penne, wheels, small shells, rotini, etc. may be substituted
• ▢ one 10-ounce bag Romaine lettuce, or as desired
• ▢ ⅔ cup diced tomatoes, I used Roma; another variety of halved cherry or grape tomatoes may be substituted
• ▢ ¾ cup Caesar dressing, or to taste
• ▢ 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar, red wine vinegar may be substituted
• ▢ ⅔ cup grated Parmesan cheese, or to taste

Instructions 

• To a large skillet, add the olive oil, chicken, season with salt and pepper, and saute for about 7 minutes, or until chicken is cooked through; stir and flip intermittently to ensure even cooking.
• While chicken is sautéing, cook pasta according to package directions, drain, and add to a very large bowl.
• Add the cooked chicken to the pasta bowl, the lettuce (See Note 1 below), tomatoes, slowly add the Caesar dressing (you can always add more but can’t remove it so add slowly), balsamic, Parmesan (See Note 2 below), and toss well to combine and coat evenly.
• Taste, and if desired, add more salt, pepper, dressing, Parm, etc. to taste and either serve immediately, or at room temp, or chill before serving. Recipe looks it’s best in the first 12-24 hours of making it when stored airtight in the fridge, but tastes just fine for up to 5 days.

Notes

1. If you add the lettuce as I instruct without first chilling everything else in the bowl, the lettuce will be more prone to wilting, which doesn’t change the taste, but isn’t as visually appealing. To prevent this, chill for 2-3 hours or as necessary. Regardless whether you chill it or not, the lettuce will still wilt in the fridge in the coming days after it’s coated with dressing, which is why I don’t bother to chill everything first, but you may wish to if you have time and plan ahead.

2. Any type of grated Parmesan cheese is fine, based on your taste preferences, such as a container of grated Parmesan-Pecorino blend or a can of shelf-stable Parm in a green can.

Nutrition

Serving: 1serving, Calories: 466cal, Carbohydrates: 22g, Protein: 38g, Fat: 24g, Saturated Fat: 5g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 18g, Cholesterol: 100mg, Sodium: 783mg, Fiber: 2g, Sugar: 2g

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

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