This Chicken Pesto Pasta Salad is an old time favourite, it has simple ingredients that marry together beautifully – pesto is so nice in a pasta salad! Pasta salads are actually one of my favourite lunch options, they are filling and more importantly perfect for meal prep! And of course a great picnic or camping food as they are designed to be eaten cold.
Chicken Pesto Pasta Salad
🍴 Servings: 5 – 6
🕒 Hands-on: ~ 20 minutes
🎛 Cooking/total time: ~ 30 minutes
INGREDIENTS
- 3 raw chicken breasts (400-500g)
- 300g fusilli
- 125g bacon (5-6 streaky bacon rashers)
- 200g green pesto
- 200g tomatoes (about 15 baby plum/cherry tomatoes)
- 70g walnuts
- 30g rocket
- 1 – 2 tbsp olive oil
Plus for the chicken
- ½ – 1 tbsp oil
- ¾ – 1 tsp salt
- ¼ – ½ tsp black pepper
- ⅛ – ¼ tsp white pepper
STEPS
1 Add the bacon rashers onto a cold frying pan and turn up the heat to medium high. Fry the bacon until crispy, for about 10 minutes. Flip as needed, ideally a couple of times at least. Once cooked, set aside.
2 Scrape off any burnt bits from the frying pan and add a glug of oil. Then, add whole chicken breasts onto a hot pan and cook for about 15-20 minutes (check out my method of cooking juicy chicken!). Once cooked, leave to rest on a chopping board for at least 5 minutes before cutting.
3 While the chicken is cooking, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add pasta and cook al dente according to package instructions. Drain cooked pasta and transfer into a large dish.
4 Next, chop the bacon rashers into small 1-2cm long strips and quarter the tomatoes. Also chop the chicken into bite-size chunks.
5 To assemble the pasta salad, pour the pesto over the pasta and toss until all pasta is evenly coated. Add bacon, chicken, tomatoes and rocket and toss again to combine. Finish with halved walnuts (if using whole walnuts you can break these with your hands straight onto the pasta salad) and a little bit of olive oil. Ideally leave the pasta salad in the fridge for a few hours before serving!
Notes:
- Bacon — Since bacon is a fatty meat, you shouldn’t need to use any oil. As it cooks, the fat will render and bacon will naturally release from the pan. Also, adding bacon onto a cold pan allows the fat to slowly render which will help the bacon to crisp up. Bacon also splatters a lot less when put onto a cold pan!
- Chicken — I’d strongly suggest using my bulletproof chicken cooking method, it makes chicken so juicy! Just note that for that method you will need a lid for the frying pan (or something heatproof to cover the pan after flipping the chicken)
- Dish — Make sure your serving dish is big enough, otherwise it’s impossible to stir the pasta salad! This may sound like a silly tip, but trust me so many times I’ve used a dish that ends up been too small once all ingredients are in
- Pesto — The amount of pesto may seem like a lot, but once refrigerated the pasta will get a little drier, so resist decreasing the amount of pesto. If the pasta salad is in the fridge for a few days, I sometimes even add a bit more olive oil when eating
ALLERGEN & DIET INFO:
🔷 Walnuts add a lovely crunch and texture, but they can be left out!
Main equipment:
Large frying pan (+ lid)
Large saucepan/pot (3L)
Sieve (optional)
Tongs
Chopping board & knife x 2
Large dish (at least 2L)
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