Mom's High-Protein Chicken Pasta Salad Recipe (8 Ingredients, 25 Minutes) by Donna John
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While at my mom's house, my mom made "chicken stuff" for lunch for us. Chicken stuff? It turned out to be a delicious, creamy chicken pasta salad. To my surprise, the recipe started with a box of Suddenly Salad™. She doctored that box of pasta salad up and created a tasty and craveable high-protein meal. This hearty pasta salad is filling and the perfect lunch or dinner on busy days.
To make this shortcut recipe for chicken and pasta dish you will need the following ingredients: a box of Suddenly Salad (choose your favorite variety) plus ingredients to make it, cooked shredded chicken breast, a carrot, mayonnaise, fresh chives, fresh dill and garlic powder. For serving, grab some Parmesan cheese and hard-boiled eggs. Prepare the salad mix according to package directions, adding grated carrots to the boiling pasta during the last minute of cooking time, then add mayonnaise, fresh dill and chives and garlic powder.
Health Check: The hard-boiled eggs are optional, but add even more protein to this easy recipe. Read about the health benefits of protein and how to make cook eggs in the Instant Pot™.
My mom served this high-protein chicken salad with pasta sprinkled with Parmesan cheese, black pepper and hard-boiled eggs on the side. This light but hearty recipe has found its way into my recipe rotation now, though I have a few more ingredients I may throw into the mix.
Serve this pasta salad for lunch or dinner, or even as a side dish. It packs up nicely, too, in lunch boxes.
Cuisine: American
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 10 to 15 minutes
Total Time: 25 minutes
Servings: 4
Ingredients
- 15.5 ounces (1 box) Suddenly Salad, plus ingredients to make it
- 1 - 2 cups shredded or chopped cooked chicken breast
- 1 carrot, grated
- chopped fresh chives
- chopped fresh dill
- garlic powder, to taste
- mayonnaise
- freshly grated Parmesan cheese, for serving
- hard-boiled eggs, for serving (optional)
Here's how to make it:
- Prepare the Suddenly Salad according to package directions. (My mom used Sweet Basil Suddenly Salad, but you could use whatever variety you enjoy.)
- Add the grated carrot to the boiling pasta during the last minute of cooking time.
- Add chicken breast, chives, dill and garlic powder to taste. (Add whatever fresh herbs you have on hand. Other ingredients you could stir into the salad include chopped green onion, chopped red onion, red bell pepper and jalapeno, for a little spice.)
- Stir in mayonnaise until you reach desired creaminess. Even after adding the amount of mayo called for on the box of salad, you will still need more because of the added ingredients. If your variety of Suddenly Salad doesn't call for mayonnaise, you will want to add it anymore for a creamy finished product.
- Spoon into serving bowls and top with grated Parmesan cheese and black pepper. (Instead of sprinkling the salad with Parmesan cheese, you could stir it into the salad.)
- Serve with a hard-boiled egg, if desired. I like to add some slices of fresh sliced avocado on the side.
Recipe cooking times, nutritional information and servings are approximate and provided for your convenience. However, 30Seconds is not responsible for the outcome of any recipe, nor may you have the same results because of variations in ingredients, temperatures, altitude, errors, omissions or cooking/baking abilities. Any nutritional information is provided as a courtesy and it is up to the individual to ascertain accuracy. To ensure image quality, we may occasionally use stock photography.
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