Caesar pasta salad

5 from 12 votes

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!

Course Salad

Cuisine Italian

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 10 minutes

Total Time 20 minutes

Servings servings

Calories 419kcal

Author Diana

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