Chicken Caesar pasta salad
30 min · 47 g protein · 503 cals / serving
A Caesar salad that works as a packed lunch: short pasta, juicy chicken, crisp romaine and cherry tomatoes in a creamy, garlicky Caesar dressing made on Greek yogurt, with lemon, parmesan and a little anchovy for the real Caesar taste. Make it on Sunday and it covers four lunches.
Ingredients
Salad
- 8 oz short pasta pasta, fusilli, rotini or penne
- 1 lb 2 oz chicken breast, halved horizontally into thin cutlets
- 1 tsp olive oil
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
Dressing
- 1 tsp anchovy paste, or 2 anchovy fillets, mashed
- 1 large clove garlic, finely grated
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 tsp Dijon mustard
- 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
- 2/3 cup nonfat Greek yogurt
- 1 1/2 tbsp light mayonnaise
- 1/2 cup grated parmesan, finely grated, divided
- 1 tsp black pepper, coarsely ground
- 4 tsp water
Salad
- 3 romaine hearts romaine lettuce, chopped
- 1 2/3 cups cherry tomatoes, halved
Steps
- Cook the pasta in well-salted boiling water until just al dente, then drain and rinse under cold water until cool. Shake it dry.
- Meanwhile, rub the chicken cutlets with the oil, garlic powder and salt. Cook in a hot nonstick or cast-iron pan for 3–4 minutes a side, until browned and 165°F in the thickest part. Rest 5 minutes, then slice or cube.
- Make the dressing: mash the anchovy paste with the garlic, then whisk in the lemon juice, Dijon and Worcestershire. Whisk in the yogurt, mayonnaise, two thirds of the parmesan and the pepper, then enough of the water to make it pourable. Taste for lemon and salt.
- Toss the pasta and chicken with most of the dressing. Just before serving, fold in the romaine and tomatoes with the rest of the dressing and scatter over the remaining parmesan.
Good to know
How do I pack it for the week?
Keep the dressed pasta and chicken in one container and the romaine and tomatoes in another, and combine them the morning you eat it. Dressed romaine wilts within hours; the pasta part keeps 4 days in the fridge.
Can I skip the anchovy?
Yes. Add an extra teaspoon of Worcestershire sauce (which contains anchovy itself) and a pinch more parmesan for savouriness. It tastes less like a classic Caesar, but it is still good.
More protein with lentil pasta?
Swap the wheat pasta for the same 8 oz of red lentil or chickpea pasta. It is firmer and nuttier and holds up well cold, at about 72 instead of 63.
Alternative
Per
- Calories
- 105
- Protein
- (38%)
- 10 g
- Fat
- (21%)
- 2 g
- Carbohydrates
- (41%)
- 11 g
- of which sugar
- 1 g
- Fiber
- 1 g
- Sodium
- 196 mg
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Computed from the ingredients with our published formula, not yet kitchen-tested. How
As written, 2011 kcal goes into the pot and 1745 g of ingredients comes out as about 1910 g of food: 105 kcal per 100 g. Cooking moves water and energy density is the score's biggest lever, so the dish is scored as cooked, not as an average of its parts. Every ingredient links to its food page, with the same data and score. The label's percentages are each macronutrient's share of the calories. The full formula.