A Crowd Favorite Every Time!

✨ Simple, flavorful, and always the first dish gone. This Grilled Chicken Caesar Pasta Salad has marinated chicken, cold bow tie pasta, and that creamy Caesar flavor everyone loves. Serve it at a shower, pack it for a picnic, or make it part of your weekly rotation. If you feed them… they will come.

Not your normal Caesar Salad…even better

Whether it’s for a potluck, or family dinner, this Grilled Chicken Caesar Bow Tie Pasta Salad is a crowd favorite every time! Two things really take it to the next level: marinating and grilling the chicken, and using a really good Caesar dressing. You can definitely take some shortcuts if you’re in a pinch, but these two steps make a big difference. This bow tie (farfalle) chicken Caesar salad is about to be a new Spring/Summertime favorite! Just ask those of us who have tried it!

I served this salad at my daughter’s bridal shower, and afterward, several friends reached out asking for the recipe. Then, at her wedding two months later, guests from the groom’s side—some I had never even met before—came up to me asking if I was the one who made that salad. They said they hadn’t stopped thinking about it since the shower!

Just a heads-up: if you toss it all together with the dressing (like a typical Caesar salad), the lettuce starts to get soggy after about an hour. So I like to keep the dressing and croutons on the side to keep everything fresh. It also helps if you’re serving anyone with allergies—you can let guests build their own salad with the ingredients they’re comfortable with. Plus, storing any leftovers is so much easier this way!

So what is it that makes this chicken Caesar bow tie salad different?

• Pasta
• Lettuce
• Chicken
• Tomatoes
• Grated Parmesan Cheese
• Croutons

These ingredients don’t seem abnormal. Normally you’d mix a combination of them together, but for this, you mix them all. Followed by a good Caesar dressing, and YUM!

Directions

Chicken

Find recipe and instructions for our Italian Chicken

https://mamalisaskitchen.com/2021/05/14/grilled-italian-chicken/

I like to marinate the chicken overnight, or at least for 6–8 hours when I have the time. This marinade is so full of flavorful seasonings, so I like to cut my raw chicken into smaller tender size pieces. That way you get a nice coating on each piece of chicken to give it even more flavor. I use boneless skinless chicken breasts or tenders, but you could also use thighs.

Grill on medium heat until done (see attached picture of temperature and time at that temperature). Let stand for 3-5 minutes to let the juices redistribute, allowing for a more moist chicken, before slicing into bite size pieces. An electric knife can make this easier if you have a large amount of chicken to cut.

Pasta

Bow tie pasta, aka Farfalle, which means butterflies in Italian, works great for this salad. It coats with dressing, and is bite sized without any extra work. Cook al dente for it to have a little bite to it. Make sure to rinse well, and let cool.

Salad & mix ins

Chopped Romaine lettuce is the base, along with grape tomatoes, grated parmesan, and croutons to give it a crunch. These can be mixed all together or, kept separate to let people build their own salad mix

Dressing

I’ve found that there are not a lot of options for Caesar dressing. After purchasing multiple kinds, and trying out a few recipes, I landed on a clear winner! If you have Litehouse dressings in your area, do yourself a favor and buy the Caesar to bring this salad up another level. You’ll find it in the refrigerated section (usually with the produce). If not, you can add your favorite Caesar dressing.

Ready to serve your salad

There’s not a right or a wrong way to serve your chicken caesar bow tie salad. The most important part is that it works for you!

One way to serve is to mix it all together and add dressing just prior to eating. Keeping everything separate for everyone to build their own salad is another. Or you can go somewhere in between with part mixed in, and add in the extras.  Because of multiple food allergies, I tend to keep everything separate and let everyone add in what the can/want to eat.

Add a piece of garlic toast and you have a perfect meal for those warm days that you want something refreshing for dinner!

Bow Tie Chicken Caesar Salad

Print Recipe

5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star

No reviews

This easy Chicken Caesar Pasta Salad is loaded with flavor, simple to prep, and perfect for parties, potlucks, or weeknight dinners.

• Author: Lisa

Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

2–3 lbs grilled Italian Chicken sliced

Find Chicken recipe here

https://mamalisaskitchen.com/2021/05/14/grilled-italian-chicken/

3–4 Romaine lettuce hearts

1 lb bow tie pasta

1/2–1 lb grape tomatoes

4 cups croutons

1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese

Caesar dressing (I prefer Litehouse brand)

Cook Mode Prevent your screen from going dark

Instructions

Chop and wash lettuce

Cook bow tie pasta according to directions for al dente, rinse in cold water

Add lettuce, pasta, tomatoes, croutons, and chicken

Toss, then add Caesar dressing, and parmesan cheese

Toss again and serve immediately

 

Notes

Salad and all toppings can be served separately to build your own. This saves lettuce from becoming soggy from the dressing, and allows you to save leftovers.

Recipe Card powered by