The star of this big, juicy Pasta Salad is the dressing – it’s made using the flavour infused oil from the Sun Dried Tomatoes. Never throw away free flavour – especially when it’s this good! Quick to make and a big crowd pleaser, this can be as diverse as you want it to be!
According to Google, there are 433 million results when you’re searching for a Pasta Salad.
So what makes this one different?
A MUST-TRY PASTA SALAD DRESSING
It’s the Dressing. 🙂 It’s a vinaigrette, and it’s made using the oil from the jar of sun dried tomatoes. And it’s not only infused with sun dried tomato flavour, it’s got a bunch of other flavourings as well, all things we love – garlic, herbs, sugar, salad and pepper.
So I use the flavour infused oil from the jar as the base for the Pasta Salad Dressing, then add other usual suspects – vinegar, garlic, mustard – plus a healthy dose of dried herbs.
There will always be a place in my heart for creamy dressings like this Chicken Pasta Salad, but there’s no denying that I find pasta salads tossed with vinaigrettes more appealing. They’re just fresher and lighter, and it means I can enjoy them day after day and not feel weighed down / guilty about excess mayo consumption.
WHAT INGREDIENTS GO IN A PASTA SALAD??
In this pasta salad, we’ve got cooked pasta, chicken, sun dried tomato, baby spinach, tomatoes and onion with a pasta salad dressing. But as with most pasta salad recipes, this is adaptable to what you’ve got on hand or whatever you want to put in it!
This is a particularly great pasta salad for taking somewhere or making ahead because it keeps exceptionally well.
I know you hear that often – that pasta salads keep well. But in this case, it really does – because it’s light on fresh veggies. Just tomatoes and baby spinach which does wilt once dressed but then seemingly becomes more integrated into the pasta salad, rather than being off-puttingly limp like when it’s in a normal salad.
I’m probably doing myself a major disservice here by saying that it’s light on fresh veggies, it doesn’t make it sound very summery, does it? 🙂
But actually, this is a terrific year round pasta salad because it’s lovely served warm too. Try it! – Nagi x
WATCH HOW TO MAKE IT
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Pasta Salad with Sun Dried Tomatoes and Chicken
Ingredients
- 375 g / 12 oz spiral pasta , or other pasta of choice
- 220 g / 7 oz jar sun dried tomato strips in oil
- 2 cups (packed) shredded cooked chicken
- 250 g / 1 1/2 cups cherry tomatoes , halved
- 75 g / 2.5 oz baby spinach (2 big handfuls)
- 1 small red onion, quartered and finely sliced
- 1 tsp mixed dried herbs (Note 1)
- 100 g / 3 oz feta, crumbled
Dressing:
- 1/3 cup / 85 ml oil from sun dried tomatoes
- 2 tbsp white wine vinegar
- 1 garlic clove , minced
- 1 tsp dijon mustard
- 1 tsp white sugar
- 1 tsp mixed dried herbs (Note 1)
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp pepper
Instructions
- Drain oil from the jar of sun dried tomatoes.
- Measure out 1/3 cup of the oil, top with extra virgin olive oil if short. Reserve excess oil for another purpose.
- Add remaining Dressing ingredients. Mix well.
- Cook pasta in a large pot of salted boiling water per packet directions.
- Drain, then rinse briefly under cold water. Leave to cool.
- Transfer into large bowl. Add spinach, chicken, tomato, onion, pour over Dressing.
- Toss well, sprinkle with dried herbs, toss again.
- Just before serving, sprinkle with crumbled feta. Best served at room temperature.
Make ahead PRO TIP (Note 2):
- SCOOP OUT a mug of pasta cooking water just before draining. Add 3 tbsp water to Dressing, shake well. Use this Dressing per above, but reserve 3 tbsp to freshen up pasta salad on Day 2 onwards.
- Freshen up pasta salad: Bring to room temp or briefly microwave (cold pasta = dry) to warm gently. Toss with Reserved Dressing then serve.
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
LIFE OF DOZER
He spends a lot of time peering out the window nowadays…. watching passer-byers, the birds that flit around in the trees, newspaper swirling in the wind on the driveway (especially fascinated by this…….)
* For those playing catch up, Dozer completely ruptured his ACL and had to undergo surgery. We’re 3 weeks into a 3 – 4 month recovery period. Challenging for this highly active dog ☹️
I made this recipe using up a mixture of leftover mild and hot salami as I had no chicken. Absolutely delicious!!
I adore this salad. I’ve made it for Christmas the last two years and it’s always a hit. The flavour is just perfection. This year, knowing there would be so much meat on the Christmas table already, I made it without the chicken and it was still amazing. It makes quite a large amount so I actually leave the spinach out until I have split it up as I like keep some for my household to enjoy in the days after.
This is hands down, the BEST pasta salad I’ve tasted. The whole family enjoyed this (and leftovers were delicious straight out of the fridge the next day too) 5 Stars Nagi!!
The recipe was delicious. I was a little confused to either use 12oz of cooked pasta or dry? I end up cooking half a box and then measuring out 12oz cooked pasta.
Can you confirm if it should of been 12oz dry pasta?
Pretty sure it’s 12oz dry pasta. Recipes usually indicate with “cooked” after the amount, (Ex. 12 oz cooked pasta”) if it needs to be cooked and then weighed.
Incredible! Restaurant-quality salad. I made some substitutions based on availability: sundried tomato paste instead of whole dried tomatoes (used a few heaping tablespoons and added some plain olive oil) and apple cider vinegar in place of the white wine vinegar. It’s also delicious without the feta (pricey where I am).
I really liked the flavors of this salad. I added 2 cloves of garlic, left out the chicken and used fresh lemon juice
Love this recipe. Made this a few times now.
Hi Nagi,
This sounds perfect for lunch! Just wondering how long you think the pasta will keep for?
Thanks!
Hi Nagi, Quick question, is the pasta weight cooked or uncooked?
Has anyone tried making this with rocket instead of spinach?
It will be amazing Vi! Enjoy! N x
It was sooo good. I also doubled the Feta though…
Love this recipe however, my husband is allergic to fresh garlic, what would be a good substitute?
Made this recipe per directions and it was a hit! I took it to a cookout and they gobbled it up! My husband doesn’t like pasta salad but loved this one. My son said I HAVE to make it again. I think it’ll be going in his school lunch this week! Thanks for sharing this recipe!
This was sooooo delicious. It will definitely be a regular at our table. We have made so many of your recipes while we have the time during lockdown & every one of them have been fabulous, thank you so much for sharing them.
Made this for Christmas Day. My taste tester loves it. Thank you for sharing your recipies.
I love this pasta salad! I poach my chicken first and then shred it. I also throw in olives but that’s because I love them. I make this at least twice a month for my lunches during the week.
This was absolutely delicious! So easy to make, and it was also my first time poaching chicken.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t find any sun dried tomato strips, so I used pesto sun dried tomato instead, but it still tasted delicious!
Thank you for this awesome recipe. I love that you can eat this at room temperature. Hence why I will be cooking this to take with me for lunch when I go out.
Hi Nagi,
My sister and I are basically the family cooks now a days, and this recipe is a huge hit in our household! We made it once to rave reviews and it has been a weekly staple ever since. There are FODMAP sensitivities in our house, so we use green onion and asafetida as red onion and garlic substitutions and it is still very good.
This is wonderful! I did not have white wine vinegar, so I used the lightest of my red wine vinegars and I chopped the baby spinach, as I knew I would be eating it over a few days. The tips for keeping the salad fresh and not dry for leftovers were spot on. Thank you for another winner!
Hi Nagi! I made this Pasta Salad with Sun Dried Tomatoes today and it tasted PHENOMENAL! And i cant believe how easy it was to make such a delicious dressing! So much better than store-bought ones! This recipe is a keeper! And I’m definitely trying out the other recipes on this blog to save myself from weekday dinner madness! Ur a life saver! Lots of love from Singapore 🙂
I made your sun-dried tomato/chicken salad for an after bike club ride (Ontario Canada) individual picnic yesterday. We are having these now as safe, distanced get togethers due to covid-19 and your dinner salads are so wonderful. We can’t have our usual restaurant lunches or pot lucks at members’ houses so we bring our own and sit in a big, big circle outside. Your dinner salad recipes are tasty and lightly filling for this. Thank you for making life easier and tastier during these difficult times.