This is a big batch Chicken Pasta Salad with plenty of creamy dressing, lightened up using a combination of sour cream and mayonnaise so it’s not excessively oil. Make it today, enjoy it for days!
After a no-mayo version? Use a creamy Yogurt Dressing instead.
About this Chicken Pasta Salad
This is an old-school Chicken Pasta Salad that comes with a creamy mayonnaise-based dressing, and lots of add-ins. Carrot, celery, capsicum (bell peppers), green onion, BACON, cheese and even avocado, if you so choose.
What I really like is that it’s nice and “moist”. That is, plenty of dressing, but you won’t feel weighed down after scoffing down a big bowl of this because the dressing is made with a 50/50 combination of both mayonnaise and sour cream.
It makes such a difference – all the creaminess, far less oil!
What goes in the Chicken Pasta Salad Creamy Dressing
Here’s what you need for the lightened-up-but-still-creamy dressing:
Mayonnaise – Use whole egg mayonnaise, for the best flavour. It’s smoother and richer-tasting than non whole-egg mayonnaise. My favourite brands are Hellman’s and S&W. If you don’t have whole-egg mayonnaise, cut down on the cider vinegar slightly, otherwise the dressing is a bit vinegary (in my opinion);
Sour cream – As noted above, it’s used to cut down on the mayonnaise but still leave you with a lovely creamy dressing;
Dijon mustard and garlic powder – Flavourings. Everybody knows I’m a Dijon mustard tragic!;
Cider vinegar – For the tang; and
Sugar – Just a touch, for balance and because that’s the old-school way!
What goes in my Chicken Pasta Salad
And here’s what I put in this pasta salad:
Chicken – Buy it cooked or poach your own. Then shred or finely chop into sort of baton shapes – see below for photo. It melds better with the pasta and eats more easily than having chunky cubes;
Macaroni (also called elbow pasta) – The original pasta salad shape. But really, you can use any short pasta you want: penne, ziti, bow ties, spirals etc;
Green onion – For freshness and nice bits of green colour;
Carrot and celery – Standard creamy pasta salad vegetable add-ins;
Capsicum/bell pepper – For lovely, crunchy little specks of red throughout;
Avocado – Optional. I chose “yes”, but they were sadly far too firm to use. So they aren’t in the finished dish photos, or recipe video for that matter;
Shredded cheese – Because I always have and always will; and
Bacon – For great little pops of salty goodness. Ham also works really well (bonus: no need to cook it).
How to make Creamy Chicken Pasta Salad
It’s really nice and simple:
Pasta – Cook pasta in salted water. Do not skip the salt in the water, it really makes a difference with pasta salads;
Dressing – Mix it up, and set aside for 10 minutes or so, to let the flavours come together;
Cook bacon until golden and crisp, then drain on paper towels;
Toss – Toss everything together really well. Devour!
No-mayonnaise creamy dressing option
Also, I would be remiss not to mention some terrific no-mayo creamy dressing options! Whether you’ve got mayo-haters in your life (I seem to have a bizarre number of these) or simply as a lower fat alternative, try a Creamy Yogurt Dressing instead. Use either the Yogurt Ranch or Yogurt Potato Salad Dressing, both are terrific for pasta salad.
Serve at room temperature
This is a really great summer staple. It can do duty as a big batch picnic dish that is at home at every BBQ spread, as a handy quick meal, a dinner side or work lunch.
My one big tip is to serve it at room temperature. There are few things in life that are better fridge cold (perhaps beer), and cold pasta salad is not one of them. The pasta is firm, the dressing is a bit pasty and you just can’t taste the flavours as well.
So take it out of the fridge at least 30 minutes before you plan to serve it to take the fridge chill out of it.
Enjoy! – Nagi x
Watch how to make it
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Chicken Pasta Salad with Creamy Dressing
Ingredients
- 500g / 1 lb macaroni / elbow pasta (or other pasta of choice)
- 1 tbsp salt (to cook pasta)
Pasta Salad:
- 3 cups cooked chicken , shredded or finely chopped (Note 1)
- 150g / 5 oz bacon , chopped
- 2 celery stalks , finely sliced
- 1 red capsicum / bell pepper , finely diced
- 2 green onions , finely sliced
- 2 carrots (medium), shredded using standard box grater
- 2 cups shredded cheese (cheddar, tasty, Colby)
- 2 avocados (small/medium), cut into bite size pieces (optional)
DRESSING:
- 1 cup mayonnaise , whole egg best (Hellmann’s, Best Foods, S&W or other whole egg mayonnaise)
- 1 cup sour cream , full fat (low fat ok too)
- 3 tbsp cider vinegar
- 1 tbsp Dijon mustard
- 4 tsp sugar
- 1 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp pepper
Instructions
- Cook pasta: Bring a large pot of water to the boil. Add salt, then cook pasta per packet directions. Drain well, let cool.
- Dressing: Mix Dressing ingredients in a bowl. Set aside 10 minutes+.
- Cook bacon: Place bacon in a cold non-stick skillet (Note X). Turn stove on to medium high, then cook bacon until golden. Drain on paper towels.
- Toss! Place cooked pasta in a large bowl along with all the Pasta Salad ingredients, reserving some bacon for garnish. Pour over Dressing, then toss well.
- Set aside for 20 minutes. Transfer to serving bowl, sprinkle with remaining bacon. Serve!
- Storage: Keeps for 3 – 4 days in the fridge. Best to bring to room temp before serving!
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
Life of Dozer
Hi food catching chest hair back in action – chicken from today’s shoot.
Look at him, licking his licks in anticipation of a treat, completely oblivious to the snack tangled up in his chest hairs! 😂
Absolutely delicious. It’s a great make ahead dish – we ate if for 3 days – with sausages and steak at dinner and by itself for lunches. I added a bit of Vegeta chicken seasoning but didn’t change anything else, delightful! Thank you Nagi.
Oh this was so tasty! I left out the avocado, spring onion and incidentally the cheese but it was in no way lacking in flavour. I did add bacon because everything is better with bacon. This will be in my regular rotation of my “go to” salads over summer!
This is delicious and so easy! I needed a dressing for my rotini and chicken to make pasta salad and this was perfect!
Awesome! I made it exactly as written and served it alongside fresh sliced tomatoes for an easy , stress-free dinner. The dressing to ingredient ratio was great because I hate dry pasta salad. Well done, everyone loved it!!
This recipe is to die for! Made it yesterday and tasted it and then had a small bowl this evening (saving for lunches this week). Made it per the recipe poaching the chicken per Nagi’s recipe and it’s simply amazing! Thanks again.
I used shell noodles because I didn’t have any elbow and this turned out so delicious. The dressing is so good! It definitely makes a lot but that isn’t a bad thing. It’s great for pot-lucks!
I fried a few chicken breasts with spices – salt and pepper, italian seasoning and garlic powder using cast iron frying pan. I don’t like red pepper so I skipping that. The pasta and the sliced chicken breast taste very good on its own or together. We love this recipe.
Oh Yum! I made mine with Duke’s Mayo (no added sugar). Just delicious! Also, I deleted 1 t. salt and 1 t. sugar in the dressing. It makes almost 5 qts. of salad but that’s a good problem.
This is absolutely delicious. It makes a ton so plan on sharing with friends or neighbors. It’s also very adaptable – if you don’t have one of two of the ingredients, substitute with something else. I used halved grape tomatoes instead of celery and carrots and it was a total success.
It was 33 deg here in Cape Town, South Africa, last night and I prepared this amazing dish for supper! Quick, tasty, and just right on a hot summer’s evening! Thanks, Nagi for another hit!
Hi Nagi,
Question for you. With your macaroni salad you state that you can freeze it okay but not with this chicken version. Why is that? For the life of me I cannot see why it wouldn’t freeze well.
Yummy. Still lovely the next day. So easy.
Thank you for the 1: 1 mayo and sour cream ratio. I used your poached chicken recipe. However I was making a Filipino macaroni salad today. My bug bear all these years was the amount of mayo used in the salad and its so unhealthy.
I will make your macaroni chicken salad another day. I am sure hubby will love it. Its just that I was craving the Filipino salad. And made a Korean potato salad with Fuji apples, sweetcorn, carrots and hard boiled eggs with Kewpie mayo.
Made this for dinner tonight and it was a winner (no surprise there, all your recipes are!). Unfortunately my avo wasn’t ripe enough. I used chargrilled marinated capsicums which were delicious. I think it will add some chopped rocket next time. Delicious and easy meal!
This recipe makes a very rich-tasting pasta salad – almost like a BLT! The dressing, on its own, with the pasta is particularly tasty! I could dip cooked pasta in that dressing and snack on that all day! The cider vinegar gives it just the right amount of tang.
If I were to make this again, I’d probably go heavier on the veggies, lighter on the bacon, and not add cheese, to keep the salad a little less rich to make it easier on the stomach. I think the onions are a must.
Can’t wait to try the no-mayo option!
Love this recipe. I always add gherkin relish and it makes this salad really, really good.
love this recipe & have made it a few time, but am now at a time in my life that i have to count carbs, calories, etc. – there is no serving size suggestion, so hard to tell what the nutrition facts amount to. any thoughts?
Great salad to have at a BBQ!
Hi Nagi ! I love all the recipes I have tried from this site. The meatloaf is my favorite. With this recipe , is the cider vinegar apple or some other kind? I want to make sure before I try this.
Yes Vic, it’s apple cider vinegar! N x
Made this a few days ago and it was super easy to make and just so tasty. Didn’t think it was possible but the salad tasted even better the next day after being in the fridge overnight. This has instantly become my go to chicken pasta salad recipe!