CashewChicken Pasta Salad is a creamy pasta salad recipe that's full of texture and flavor. Grapes, pineapple tidbits, celery, green onion, cashews, and chicken in a creamy ranch dressing sauce and spiral pasta noodles.
Course Salad
Cuisine American
Keyword chicken pasta salad, pasta salad recipe
Prep Time 20 minutesminutes
Cook Time 8 minutesminutes
Servings 16servings (1 cup each)
Calories 445kcal
Author Jessica
Ingredients
Chicken Pasta Salad
1box(16 oz) rotini pasta
3cupscooked chicken(shredded or chunked)
1can(20 oz) pineapple tidbits, drained(reserve juice from can)
1cupsliced celery
1cupred seedless grapes, halved
1cupgreen seedless grapes, halved
1cupsliced green onions
2cupslightly salted cashew halves & pieces(chopped smaller if wanted)
Creamy Dressing
1cupranch dressing
1cupmayonnaise
1/3cupreserved pineapple juice
1/2teaspoon salt(more or less to taste)
Instructions
Cook pasta according to package instructions. Drain and rinse the pasta under cold water.
Combine the cooked pasta, chicken, drained pineapple tidbits (reserving the juice for the dressing), celery, grapes, green onions, and cashews into a LARGE mixing bowl. Stir together.
In a smaller bowl, combine all the creamy dressing ingredients and whisk together until smooth. Pour over the pasta salad and stir everything together until combined.
** It's best to use cold ranch dressing and cold mayonnaise so that the salad stays cold and you can serve it right away. This salad is best served right away or within 1-3 hours of making it. Leftovers are fabulous but the salad will dry out the longer it's in the fridge. Add additional mayonnaise and/or ranch to moisten.
Notes
Use your favorite store-bought ranch dressing OR try my homemade ranch dressing recipe.You can use all one color of grapes if needed. I love the combination of both for looks and flavor which is why it calls for both colors. You can use the cashews straight from the container OR place them inside a Ziploc bag and crush them into smaller pieces. You don't want crumbs but if you prefer the smaller pieces then this is a great way to get them. I always chop them up a bit before adding into the salad.