Here’s one of our favorites for packed lunches and dinners on busy weekdays with sports and playdates. A delicious pasta salad with pesto, chicken, vegetables, feta cheese, pine nuts, and sun-dried tomatoes. Read on to get our recipe.
Perfect for packed lunches or easy dinners
It’s no secret that we have a lot going on in our everyday lives. The kids are involved in sports several times a week, which cuts into the time we used to have for making dinner.
On those days, we love making a good pasta salad and storing it in the fridge for an easy dinner when we come home from sports. This version with chicken, pesto, sun-dried tomatoes, and feta cheese is one of our favorites.
It just tastes really good, and it’s also quite easy to make.
We often make a large portion so that there’s also enough for lunch the next day. It’s really great for that purpose too.
Ingredient notes
Pasta – You can use fusilli, penne, or whatever type of pasta you prefer in your pasta salad. It’s not that important; just follow the instructions on the package when cooking them.
Salad – Choose the type of green salad you like best. We often buy those bags of mixed green salad to get a variety.
Chicken – You can boil or roast a couple of chicken breasts, or buy pre-cooked chicken from the supermarket if time is really tight. If you have leftover chicken, this recipe works perfectly too.
Sun-Dried Tomatoes – They add a wonderful flavor to the salad, but you can skip them if you’re not a fan.
Feta Cheese – You can use feta, salad cheese, or any variation you prefer.
Pine Nuts – We love pine nuts; they add a lovely nutty flavor when toasted in a pan before adding them to the salad. They also provide a bit of crunch and texture to the salad. If you don’t have pine nuts, you can use some chopped pistachios or maybe almonds instead.
How to make Chicken pesto pasta salad?
Luckily, pasta salad is one of the easiest things you can prepare when you need to make delicious food for the family.
Start by cooking the pasta according to the package instructions. Then let it cool down and mix it with pesto.
Next, simply chop all the vegetables and mix them together with the pasta and chicken in a large bowl. Finish by sprinkling toasted pine nuts and pieces of feta cheese on top, and the salad is ready to eat.
Find the full recipe further down this page.
Frequently asked questions
Once you’ve made the salad, store it in the refrigerator until it’s ready to be eaten.
Yes. You can completely skip the chicken if you want to use the pasta salad as a side dish for a meat dish, but you can also easily replace it with, for example, strips of ham.
Other salad recipes you might like
- Pasta salad with chicken and bacon
- Danish chicken salad with bacon
- Danish potato salad
- Danish egg salad
Tips and tricks for the recipe
- Use the vegetables you have in the fridge. You can use whatever you like best or use up any leftover vegetables towards the end of the week.
- Do you have leftover chicken from the previous day? Use it in your pasta salad. You can also swap the chicken for leftover ham if you have it.
- Prepare the salad during the day if you have a busy afternoon and need to drive kids to sports activities; we often do that ourselves.
Serving suggestions
- Pack a portion for lunch; the kids will love it!
- Serve as a light lunch or dinner on busy weekdays.
Do you also love pasta salad?
Try our recipe for Pasta salad with chicken and bacon
Recipe for Chicken pasta salad with pesto
Here’s our easy and delicious recipe for a wonderful pasta salad with pesto and chicken. It tastes really good and isn’t difficult to make.
We hope you feel like trying the recipe, and feel free to make plenty because it’s also great for both kids and adults in packed lunches.
Chicken pesto pasta salad
Ingredients
- 500 g pasta such as fusilli or penne
- 180 g green pesto
- 300 g chicken breast boiled, or roasted
- 75 g mixed green salad
- 1 red bell pepper
- ½ cucumber
- 120 g cherry tomatoes
- 100 g sun-dried tomatoes
- 70 g pine nuts
- 200 g feta cheese
- Salt
- Pepper
Instructions
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Cook the pasta according to the package instructions. Then, rinse it in cold water and let it cool. Mix the cooled pasta with the green pesto and season with salt and pepper. While the pasta is cooking, prepare the other components.500 g pasta, 180 g green pesto, Salt, Pepper
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Cut the chicken into bite-sized pieces.300 g chicken breast
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Thoroughly wash the salad and cut or break it into bite-sized pieces. Dice the red bell pepper and cucumber. Quarter the cherry tomatoes.75 g mixed green salad, 1 red bell pepper, ½ cucumber, 120 g cherry tomatoes
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Cut the sun-dried tomatoes into small pieces.100 g sun-dried tomatoes
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Toast the pine nuts in a dry pan over medium heat until they turn golden. Be careful not to burn them!70 g pine nuts
- Mix the pasta with pesto together with the chicken and all the vegetables in a bowl.
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Sprinkle the toasted pine nuts and pieces of feta over the pasta salad, and it’s ready to be served.200 g feta cheese
Nutrition
How do you like the recipe?
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