Easy Chicken & Pea Pasta Salad

It's crunch time!! In less than 10 days, I'll be off on vacation with my hubby (YAY!!) but until then, I've got work to do. Having a hectic schedule can make it difficult to find time for a lunch break! A favorite go-to recipe for busy days is this Easy Chicken & Pea Pasta Salad. It's a favorite for three reasons: #1 - It's easy to make, #2 - It's a quick serve and #3 - It calls for simple ingredients. And totally delicious so … I guess that's really four reasons! Once made, chill and then just serve a bowl when the need to feed comes about. Simple…like I said.

This is a recipe I've been making for years! I used to pack it for lunch when we'd go for outings or conventions because it's filling and all you need is a bowl and a fork. My hubby likes to eat this with a few crackers but I've always loved it as is. It's creamy and a little tangy, which is all good in my book!

Keeping things bite sized (or petite) makes this recipe all the easier. There's no knife needed…just a fork. With each bite, you'll taste a little of everything…the flavorful pasta, the tender chicken, the sweetness of the peas and the crunch of the celery. Not to mention, the little hint of dill in the background.

This recipe makes quite a large amount which works really well if you have a large family and/or if you don't mind having leftovers for a day or two. But if that doesn't suit you, then you can halve the recipe just as easy.

Prepping the Chicken & Pea Pasta Salad

A short cut to keeping things simple, use a fully cooked rotisserie chicken. They can be found in most grocery stores nowadays or even at your local Sam's Club Deli Department. The deli clerk had just deboned some rotisseries for packaging, so to further simplify this, I bought two containers of deboned rotisserie chicken then I just chopped it up! I love to use mini bow tie pasta in this dish but use whatever shape you prefer, just keep it mini sized. While you boil the pasta, boil the eggs at the same time. And as those are cooking, place frozen petite peas in a bowl of cold water to thaw and chop up the celery.

Once pasta is ready, drain and place in a large mixing bowl. Add rest of ingredients and gently stir to combine well. As a precautionary tale, be sure to take it slow while stirring otherwise, you'll have peas on the wall. NOT that it happened here! Then just transfer to a storage bowl and allow to chill out in the fridge. When hunger strikes, grab a bowl and ta-da…Lunch is served! That's all it took. Easy Chicken & Pea Pasta Salad is just that … easy!

Having a hectic schedule can make it difficult to find time for a lunch break. A quick and tasty solution is this Easy Chicken & Pea Pasta Salad! Tender chicken, flavorful pasta and a pleasing crunch make it the perfect pack and go lunch every time!

Ingredients

• 1 lb Mini Bow Tie Pasta
• 12 cups Water
• 3 cubes Chicken Bouillon Cubes
• 1 tbsp Salt
• 4 Hard Boiled Eggs, chopped
• 1/2 cup Petite Peas, frozen
• 3 cups Rotisserie Chicken, deboned and chopped
• 1/2 cup Celery, small diced
• 1 tsp Dill Weed
• 1/2 cup Greek Yogurt
• 1 cup Mayonnaise
• 1 tsp Dijon Mustard
• 1/4 tsp Black Pepper
• 1/2 tsp Salt

Instructions

1. Bring water, 1 tbsp salt and bouillon cubes to a boil. Add pasta and cook according to directions. In a separate pot, make hard boiled eggs. Place frozen peas in a bowl and cover with cold water. Set aside.
2. In the meantime, dice celery and chop chicken. Set aside. Measure out all other ingredients.
3. Drain pasta water and transfer to a large mixing bowl. Peel and chop eggs then add to pasta. Strain peas and add them to the pasta along with all the other ingredients.
4. Gently stir to combine everything together. Refrigerate then enjoy chilled.

With Spring just around the corner, it's time to get more salads into our diets. This delicious Spring Pasta Primavera is loaded with delicious roasted vegetables and of course, this Quinoa Fruit Salad fits the bill for those looking for a sweet yet healthy salad!

Cori - xoxo