Easy and delicious Caesar pasta salad perfect for picnics, grilling, potlucks, or to be served for dinner! It has all the creamy goodness of a classic Caesar salad, but it’s made with pasta to make it more filling, and extra veg for brightness, freshness, and extra flavor!
If you love Caesar salad as much as I do, try this Caesar pasta salad for a complete meal! It’s made with creamy homemade Caesar dressing, grilled chicken, creamy avocados, and tangy cherry tomatoes. A great meal for the whole family!
This recipe is one of my family’s favorite summer dishes, it’s kid-approved and can be thrown together in just 20 minutes.
How to Make Pasta Caesar Salad
It’s such a simple pasta salad, and can be thrown together in under half an hour. Here’s what you’ll need:
The Ingredients
Feel free to change things a little as this pasta salad is so versatile, but here’s what I normally use:
- Homemade or store-bought Caesar dressing – I usually make my own dressing at home, it’s so easy and good, and here’s the perfect recipe for you! It’s incredibly delicious!
- Lettuce – Caesar salad is usually made with romaine/cos lettuce or romaine hearts, as it’s crispy and doesn’t go soggy when covered in the dressing. But if you can’t find it, then I recommend using iceberg lettuce.
- Parmesan cheese – a Caesar salad essential.
- Croutons – making garlicky croutons at home is so easy, healthier, and cheaper than store-bought! Check out my classic Caesar salad recipe to learn how to make homemade croutons. So simple and quick!
- Chicken – grilled chicken, seared chicken, shredded chicken, or rotisserie chicken. Use what you have available.
- Cherry tomatoes, and avocado – optional but good!
The Directions
Start by cooking the pasta according to the package directions. Most pasta cooks in 9-10 minutes, and for this recipe, it’s best to cook the pasta to “al dente” so cook for 1 minute less than what’s written on the pasta package.
Make sure that you salt the water that you will be cooking your pasta in, once the water starts boiling, add the pasta and let it cook.
Chop, rinse, and drain the lettuce, it’s important that you dry the leaves from water to avoid getting a soggy salad. I use this awesome salad spinner, and it does an amazing job! Then slice the cherry tomatoes, and avocado.
Assemble the salad as shown below, toss with the Caesar dressing, and serve!
Expert Tips
- Use any pasta shape that you like, but I prefer fusilli or penne for this pasta salad. Cook it until just “al dente” and that’s what I recommend when making all types of pasta salad.
- The anchovies in the dressing and the parmesan cheese are quite salty, so don’t season with salt before tasting the salad. Do a taste test and adjust the seasonings.
- Make sure that the lettuce leaves are totally dry for a crispy and fresh salad, use a salad spinner. When salad leaves are wet, you will end up with a soggy salad.
- Use a large bowl to toss the salad before serving. If you use a small bowl, you will end up bruising the romaine salad leaves which can ruin your salad and make it soggy.
- High-quality cheese is what will take this dressing to the next level. Try to find cheese that is labeled as Parmigiano Reggiano rather than just Parmesan.
For more great pasta salad recipes, check out my Greek Orzo Salad, and this kid-friendly pasta salad!
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Caesar pasta salad
Ingredients
- 2 cups pasta
- 1 large cooked chicken breast rotisserie chicken, pan-fried or grilled chicken breast or leftover chicken.
- 1 head romaine lettuce or 2 romaine hearts – shredded
- 2 cups croutons
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes sliced into halves
- 1 avocado sliced
- ¾ cup Caesar dressing
- ⅓ cup parmesan cheese finely shredded
Instructions
- Start by cooking the pasta according to the package directions. Cook in salted water until just "al dente". Cook for 1 minute less than what it says on the package.
- You can use rotisserie chicken, but if you have raw chicken breast and want to cook it. Slice a chicken breast into thin cutlets, season with salt, pepper, and garlic granules and pan fry it until it's cooked through. Slice it into strips or dice it.
- To assemble the salad, in a large mixing bowl combine the pasta, lettuce, croutons, cooked chicken, cherry tomatoes, avocado, parmesan, and drizzle with Caesar dressing. Season with salt and pepper if needed.
- Toss the salad to combine and serve.
Notes
- Use any pasta shape that you like, but I prefer fusilli or penne for this pasta salad. Cook it until just “al dente” and that’s what I recommend when making all types of pasta salad.
- The anchovies in the dressing and the parmesan cheese are quite salty, so don’t season with salt before tasting the salad. Do a taste test and adjust the seasonings.
- Make sure that the lettuce leaves are totally dry for a crispy and fresh salad, use a salad spinner. When salad leaves are wet, you will end up with a soggy salad.
- Use a large bowl to toss the salad before serving. If you use a small bowl, you will end up bruising the romaine salad leaves which can ruin your salad and make it soggy.
- High-quality cheese is what will take this dressing to the next level. Try to find cheese that is labeled as Parmigiano Reggiano rather than just Parmesan.
Nutrition
This pasta salad first appeared on Little Sunny Kitchen on April 28, 2019. But was updated with new images in July 2020. The recipe remained the same.
John
This Ceasar Salad is perfect for the picnic I’m preparing for this weekend. It’s fresh and filling and I’m sure my kids will love it!
Camilla @FabFood4All
My family would love this, we can’t have enough Caesar or pasta salads:-)
Choclette
This looks lovely and I reckon it would work well with halloumi as a substitute for the chicken.
kate @veggie desserts
The weather hasn’t been great, so when we’ve had a break and some sunshine I’ve pulled a blanket out into the garden for a picnic with the kids. They love it 🙂 Your recipe looks lovely!
Claire Jessiman
I LOVE Caesar Salad but where’s the Anchovies?? They are a must have in my book.
Kim @ Three Olives Branch
Yummy! I love turning known foods into pasta salads. This looks really good!
safira
Love caesar salad. Never added pasta to mine. Great idea! A must try!
Eileen | The Food Avenue
Chicken caesar salad is one of my favourites! Great idea to add pasta! YUM.
Helen @ Fuss Free Flavours
This is a great idea to make a caesar salad more substantial and filling. Perfect for a packed lunch.
shelby
This would be great with grilled chicken too! Looks and sounds delicious!