This Chicken Caesar Pasta Salad recipe came to be for two reasons – one, I was craving pasta salad and two, I wanted a creamy pasta salad without using mayonnaise. I despise pasta salads made with mayo but I often find that dressing based pasta salads made with gluten free pasta is often too dry. I also wanted to make the dish filling enough for a meal and not just a side at a summer cookout. Thus this extra creamy, protein-packed gluten free chicken caesar pasta salad came to be! It hits everything you need in a well rounded meal – protein, carbs, and fats and it is also delicious!
Jovial Bowties are my gluten free pasta of choice for this recipe!
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 25 minutes
Total Time: 35 minutes
Serves: 8
Ingredients:
12 oz Bowtie Pasta (Jovial is my personal favorite!)
15 oz Garbanzo Beans
1.5 lbs Chicken Breast or Rotisserie Chicken
1 tbsp Italian Seasoning
½ tbsp Garlic Powder
Salt & Pepper to taste
1 cup low-fat Greek Yogurt
½ cup Lite Caesar Dressing
Prep your chicken – you can either cube chicken breast and cook it in a pan on the stove, on a sheet in the oven, or you can use a rotisserie chicken. If you choose to go the route of cooking your chicken, toss your chicken with a bit of olive oil, Italian seasoning, salt, and pepper.
Put a pot of water on to boil for your pasta. Once it has boiled, cook your pasta for a minute less than what the box calls for.
Open and drain your garbanzo beans and toss in Italian seasoning, Garlic powder, and salt & pepper.
In a large mixing bowl, stir together greek yogurt and lite caesar dressing. Mix in the garbanzo beans and chicken until well coated. Gently fold in the cooked and drained pasta – it should still be warm enough to help the dressing slide across but not so warm that it turns to mush.
Immediately cover the dish and place in the fridge for at least 2 hours or overnight for everything to set.
Serve as is or over a bed of romaine lettuce or lettuce mix of your choosing.