A summer salad, definitely, that can be enjoyed as a light lunch or dinner, as a snack or a side dish.
Make this cheesy chicken pasta salad by tossing diced bell peppers, black olives, walnuts, pineapple, cooked pasta and chicken with a dressing made by whipping softened cream cheese and mayonnaise together.
Cheesy Chicken Pasta Salad
Recipe byIt’s how the contrasting flavors and textures makes this salad work like magic — the sweetness of the pineapple, the tanginess of the olives, the crunch from the bell pepper and the walnuts… And then there’s the dressing. All that cream cheese! Add all that to the neutral-tasting pasta and chicken, and you’ve got a delicious salad that can be your main meal.
Ingredients
- ¼ cup cream cheese (65 grams) softened to room temperature
- ¼ cup mayonnaise
- 2 cups cooked pasta
- ½ cup chopped cooked chicken meat (or more, if you like)
- ⅓ cup diced bell pepper
- ⅓ cup roughly chopped walnuts
- ⅓ cup roughly chopped pineapple drained
- 4 to 6 pitted black olives halved
- salt (herb salt, if available)
- ground white pepper
Instructions
- Make the dressing. With a wire whisk, whip together the softened cream cheese and mayonnaise until smooth.
- In a large mixing bowl, toss together the pasta, chicken, diced bell pepper, walnuts, chopped pineapple and black olives with herbed salt and ground pepper.
- Add the dressing and toss to blend.
- Taste and add more herbed salt and pepper, if needed.
- Chill well for several hours.
- Stir, taste and adjust the seasonings, if needed (see notes after the recipe), before serving.
Notes
Unless you cooked your pasta in generously salted water, it will soak up the salt after you toss the salad. As a result, the flavor balance may be a bit off after chilling the salad. So, it’s highly recommended that you taste the salad and adjust the seasonings before serving.
Updated from a recipe originally published in April 29, 2016
Updated from a recipe originally published in April 29, 2016
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