One of my favorite easy meals is this super simple chicken pesto pasta salad! It's light, fresh, and comes together in less than 20 minutes! With creamy pesto and mascarpone cheese, grilled chicken, spinach, and tomatoes it's the perfect summer lunch!
Jump to:
Why You'll Love this Pasta Salad!
This chicken pesto pasta salad will be your new go-to weeknight meal!
- It comes together in just 20 minutes.
- Is delicious either warm or cold!
- Has less than 10 simple ingredients!
You might also like this Tuscan chicken orzo or this Caprese pasta salad!
Ingredient Notes
You just need a handful of simple ingredients to make this chicken pesto pasta salad!
Short Pasta - Such as fusilli, rigatoni, cavatappi, rotini, etc. Use a high-quality die cut pasta like Delallo or De Cecco for the yummiest results.
Cherry or Grape Tomatoes - If I can find them, I like to use heirloom cherry tomatoes because they have the best flavor in my opinion. But any cherry or grape tomato will do! You could also do sundried tomatoes instead.
Mozzarella Balls - I love using ciliengine or mozzarella pearls, but if you can't find either you can just use a large mozzarella ball and cut it into chunks.
Mascarpone Cheese - Mascarpone is an Italian cheese that's very similar to American cream cheese. It's smooth and soft but more neutral in flavor compared to tangy cream cheese. But you could also use ricotta, it's just not as creamy.
Bacon - This is optional but definitely one of the best parts! I just love the crunch it adds to the pasta salad!
Grilled Chicken - You can use your favorite grilled or roasted chicken or just use leftover rotisserie chicken.
Fresh Pesto - I use my either my homemade fresh pesto or my spinach pesto! But if you have a different fresh pesto recipe you prefer, feel free to use that instead! I generally don't recommend using store-bought pesto but that said, Trader Joe's vegan kale and cashew pesto is really good and a great option!
The complete list of ingredients and amounts is located in the recipe card below.
How to Make Pasta Salad
In a large bowl mix together the mascarpone cheese and pesto until fully combined. Set aside.
Cook your pasta according to package directions. Make sure you heavily salt the water and cook the pasta for about 1-2 minutes less than the listed time for perfect al dente pasta!
Drain the pasta and immediately add to the bowl of sauce. [Do NOT rinse the pasta, as the starch will help the sauce cling to the noodles and the residual heat from the pasta will melt the mascarpone a bit making the sauce extra creamy.]
Gently toss the pasta in the sauce until all the noodles are fully coated.
Mix in the spinach and stir a few times until it wilts slightly from the heat of the pasta.
Then stir in the diced chicken, bacon, sliced tomatoes, and mozzarella balls.
Garnish with fresh basil and serve immediately while warm, or let chill in the fridge and serve cold!
This chicken pesto pasta salad will keep in the fridge for a few days, but the noodles with soak up the sauce the longer it sits. So after 2-3 days, you might want to add in a little extra pesto!
Recipe FAQ's
Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days!
Fresh homemade pesto is best but you can use your favorite fresh store-bought pesto instead (Trader Joe's vegan kale pesto is a great choice for this pasta salad)!
Yes! This chicken pesto pasta salad is delicious warm right after making, but equally as good served cold!
Tips for Success!
For best results I always recommend using weight measurements (especially when baking) because it's the most accurate. Kitchen scales are super affordable and also reduce the number of dishes you have to do! However, all my recipes also include US customary measurements for convince. Use this chart to convert measurements for common ingredients!
Substitutions: In all my recipes, I've included substitutions that I know will work, but I cannot guarantee results if you substitute ingredients that I have not recommended. [For example, granulated sugar and honey are indeed both sweeteners but they have very different properties so they can not always be swapped 1:1. Using honey in a cookie recipe that calls for granulated sugar will yield a giant mess.] In the recipe card you'll find links to the specific ingredients/brands that I use.
A note on salt: I almost exclusively use Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt because it's the best all-purpose salt for cooking and baking. If you're not using kosher salt, consult this handy guide for a conversion chart! When in doubt, if you're using table salt just reduce the amount by half for baked goods. When cooking, I prefer to under-salt because you can always add more! If you've over-salted, adding a little bit of acid (like lemon juice) can help.
More Recipes You Might Like!
If you love this recipe, please leave a star rating at the bottom of the page! This provides helpful feedback to both me and other readers.
Also be sure to add us as a trusted site on Google so that our recipes show up more in your searches!
For more delicious, scratch-made recipes you can subscribe to my newsletter and follow along on social media!
Recipe Card
Chicken Pesto Pasta Salad
Ingredients
- 16 ounces short pasta
- 8 ounces mascarpone cheese
- 1 cup pesto*
- 2 cups fresh spinach
- 2 cups grilled chicken, diced
- ½ cup bacon, cooked and crumbled
- 1 cup fresh mozzarella balls, halved
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
- ¼ cup fresh basil, sliced
Instructions
- In a large bowl mix together the mascarpone cheese and pesto until fully combined. Set aside.
- Cook your pasta according to package directions. Make sure you heavily salt the water and cook the pasta for about 1-2 minutes less than the listed time for perfect al dente pasta!
- Drain the pasta and immediately add to the bowl of sauce. [Do NOT rinse the pasta, as the starch will help the sauce cling to the noodles and the residual heat from the pasta will melt the mascarpone a bit making the sauce extra creamy.]
- Gently toss the pasta in the sauce until all the noodles are fully coated.
- Mix in the spinach and stir a few times until it wilts slightly from the heat of the pasta.
- Then stir in the diced chicken, bacon, sliced tomatoes, and mozzarella balls.
- Serve immediately while warm, or let chill in the fridge and serve cold!
- This chicken pesto pasta salad will keep in the fridge for 3 days, but the noodles with soak up the sauce the longer it sits. So after 2-3 days, you might want to add in a little extra pesto!
Video
Notes
Nutrition
The nutritional information on this website is only an estimate and is provided for convenience and as a courtesy only. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Michelle E Engstrand says
This salad had nice flavor and came together quickly. People added a little salt and pepper to their individual servings based upon their taste buds. Thank you for sharing.
N says
Made this for my daughter’s lunch, she messaged me to say, ‘this is very slay!’ I also had some and was very yummy! I added the addition of some toasted pine nuts n some roasted cherry tomatoes for some acidity, squashed them to let the juices flow all over! Yummers!!!!
Stacey says
Perfect for an easy meal to take to work.
Lisa says
Great flavors! I'd make a half batch next time becuase it was a lot of leftovers.
MJ says
delicious!!!
Alex T says
i skipped the chicken and added extra pesto and loved it. This definitely tastes more like pesto pasta than pasta salad but it was simple and flavorful
Tamar says
So. Freaking. Amazing!!!
Andrea says
Made for work potluck. Got several compliments on it.
Susannah says
An indulgent pasta salad! Can chuck in load of leftovers too which is always a win.
Cinnamon says
added bell peppers and olives