Buffalo Chicken Pasta Salad
Servings: 6 as a main (8-10 as a side)
Calories: 443kcal
Ingredients
- 1 lb chicken
- 12 oz small-shaped pasta (I used brown rice fusilli), uncooked
- 2 cups cherry tomatoes sliced in half
- 1 large avocado ripe, diced
- ½ English cucumber diced, about 1 cup
- 1 carrot shredded
- ¼ cup green onions sliced
- 2 oz blue cheese crumbled (optional)
Buffalo Ranch Dressing
- ¾ cup Greek yogurt full-fat for best flavor
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 and ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 and ½ teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon dill
- 1 teaspoon dried parsley
- ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
- ⅛ teaspoon ground pepper
- 2 tablespoon Frank's Red Hot Sauce
Instructions
- Prepare chicken breasts by cooking as per your preferred method and then dice or shred.
- In a small bowl, stir together the ingredients for the Buffalo ranch dressing. Add water or milk one tablespoon at a time if needed to reach a pour-able consistency.
- Bring generously salted water to a boil and add the pasta. Cook as per the package directions for 2-3 minutes longer than it says for al dente.Drain pasta, toss with olive oil and spread out onto a baking sheet for 5 minutes to cool slightly. Add the pasta to a large mixing bowl and mix with ¼ cup of the Buffalo ranch. The pasta will soak up a bit of the dressing while it finishes cooling so for the best flavor, will will dress it again when we add the other ingredients.
- While the partially dressed pasta finishes cooling, slice the tomatoes in half, shred the carrot, dice the cucumber, cut the avocado and chop the green onions.
- Add the vegetables, chicken, and ½ cup of Buffalo ranch to the bowl with the pasta and toss to combine. *I like to reserve about ¼ cup of the dressing to add just before serving.
- For best flavor, make this a couple of hours ahead and refrigerate it to allow the flavors time to blend.
- Remove the salad from the fridge 20-30 minutes before serving so that the pasta softens a bit. Toss with the reserved dressing, sprinkle with crumbled blue cheese and serve.
Notes
Leftovers
Store leftover salad in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
Nutrition
Serving: 1of 6 | Calories: 443kcal | Carbohydrates: 52g | Protein: 30g | Fat: 13g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 6g | Trans Fat: 0.01g | Cholesterol: 57mg | Sodium: 534mg | Potassium: 841mg | Fiber: 5g | Sugar: 5g | Vitamin A: 2163IU | Vitamin C: 22mg | Calcium: 117mg | Iron: 2mg
