Creamy Spinach Pasta Salad with Chicken

Creamy Spinach Pasta Salad with Chicken is a sensational salad that can be served as an appetizer, side dish, or main meal.  Loaded with flavor it is a pasta salad you will love.

Pasta Salad

One of the greatest things about pasta salads is how much you can add to them and the flavors just keep getting better and better.  This Creamy Spinach Pasta Salad with Chicken is such a great recipe.  It is easy to make, feeds a ton of people and tastes so refreshing. 

The mandarine oranges take me back to the good ole days and add the right amount of sweetness that make this pasta irresistible.

What goes into a pasta salad?

The great thing about salads in general is the versatility of them.  You can add and subtract according to your likes and dislikes and essentially use any kind of pasta you like.  Some great things for pasta salads are:

• Cheese, cubed or shredded
• Onions; red, white, green
• Cranberries, raisins, prunes
• Chicken, steak, shrimp, tofu
• Fruit, garden vegetables, potatoes
• Nuts and seeds

This Creamy Spinach Pasta Salad can be made ahead of time and kept in your refrigerator.  Just leave the dressing off so it doesn’t get soggy and add it just before you are ready to serve.

For this pasta salad recipe I grilled 4 chicken breast and then sliced them up, but to make this salad come together faster you could also buy the frozen pre-cut chicken breast and warm in microwave or use the breast meat of a rotisserie chicken.  Either way the chicken is such a great way to make this salad more of a meal than a side or appetizer.  You could also leave the chicken out to make it vegetarian or more of a side.

How do you make creamy pasta salad?

1. Cook pasta according to package directions.
2. Grill 4 chicken breast and cut up into 1 inch or so pieces.  You can also use pre-cooked chicken meat or a rotisserie chicken.
3. In a large bowl mix cooked pasta, chicken, parsley, green onions, dried cranberries, honey roasted pecans, mandarine oranges, and spinach.
4. For the dressing: in a small bowl whisk to combine canola oil, garlic salt, sugars, white wine vinegar, teriyaki sauce, and pepper.
5. When ready to serve pour dressing over the salad toss to coat well and sprinkle with feta cheese and pepper (optional) serve with warm sourdough bread.

There is a great mixture of flavors and textures going on in this pasta salad and it has a refreshing taste about it.  Furthermore, I love making salads and experimenting with flavors and I think you are really going to enjoy every ounce of this Creamy Spinach Pasta Salad with Chicken.  Served as a side or a meal it will be a sensational pasta salad that will sure become a favorite in your home.

Looking for main dish recipes to serve with this salad?

• Sweet and Sour Chicken
• Maple Glazed Salmon
• Skillet Lasagna
• Slow Cooker Beef Tips with Mushrooms
• Garlic Honey Dijon Chicken Skillet

Creamy Spinach Pasta Salad with Chicken

Yield: 5 servings

Total Time: 15 minutes

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes

Creamy Spinach Pasta Salad with Chicken is a sensational salad that can be served as an appetizer, side dish, or main meal.  Loaded with flavor it is a pasta salad you will love.

Print Recipe

Ingredients:

For the Salad:

• 12 oz box bow tie pasta
• 4 chicken breast, grilled or you can use rotisserie chicken breast meat from one chicken
• 2 medium cans mandarine oranges, drained
• 1/2 cup fresh parsley, chopped
• 2 cups baby spinach, tightly packed
• 3/4 cup green onion, chopped
• 1/2 cup dried cranberries, roughly chopped
• 1/2 cup chopped honey roasted pecans
• 1/2 cup feta cheese

For the Dressing:

• 1 cup canola oil
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
• 3 Tablespoons sugar
• 3 Tablespoons brown sugar
• 2/3 cup white wine vinegar
• 2/3 cup Yoshidas teriyaki sauce (or sauce of choice)
• 1 teaspoon pepper

Directions:

1. Cook pasta according to package directions, drain and set aside.
2. Grill 4 chicken breast and cut up into 1 inch or so pieces.  You can also use pre-cooked chicken meat or a rotisserie chicken.
3. In a large bowl mix cooked pasta, chicken, parsley, green onions, dried cranberries, honey roasted pecans, mandarine oranges, and spinach.
4. For the dressing: in a small bowl whisk to combine canola oil, garlic salt, sugars, white wine vinegar, teriyaki sauce, and pepper.
5. When ready to serve pour dressing over the salad toss to coat well and sprinkle with feta cheese (optional) serve with warm sourdough bread.

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