Pasta salad with chicken and pesto
35 min · 50 g protein · 506 cals / serving
The Swedish lunch-box classic: fusilli and juicy chicken in a creamy basil pesto, with sweet cherry tomatoes, chewy sun-dried tomatoes, crisp sugar snap peas, peppery ruccola, toasted pine nuts and shaved parmesan. Kvarg stretches the pesto into a thick dressing that clings to every spiral.
Ingredients
Chicken
- 1 1/3 lb chicken breast, kycklingfilé
- 1 tsp olive oil
- 3/4 tsp salt, divided
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
Salad
- 4 oz pasta, fusilli
Pesto dressing
- 3 1/2 tbsp pesto, basil pesto
- 1 packed cup leaves fresh basil
- zest of 1/2 lemon lemon zest
- 3/4 cup quark
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 2 tbsp water
Salad
- 1 3/4 cups grape tomatoes, körsbärstomater, halved
- 2 1/2 cups sugar snap peas, sliced on the diagonal
- 1/4 cup sun-dried tomatoes, drained if in oil, chopped
- 1/2 small red onion, thinly sliced
To finish
- 2 1/2 cups rocket (arugula)
- 1 1/2 tbsp pine nuts, toasted
- 1/4 cup shaved parmesan (grana padano), 29% fat
Steps
- Season the chicken with the oil, half the salt and the pepper and fry in a hot pan over medium-high heat for 5–6 minutes per side, until golden and 165°F inside. Rest 5 minutes, slice and let it cool. (A ready grillad kyckling works too: pull the meat off and drop the skin.)
- Cook the pasta in well-salted water for 1 minute longer than the package says, rinse under cold water and drain very well.
- Blend the pesto, basil leaves, lemon zest, kvarg, lemon juice, water and the rest of the salt with a stick blender into a smooth, thick, bright green dressing.
- Toss the pasta with half the dressing so it seasons the pasta right through, then fold in the chicken, cherry tomatoes, sugar snaps, sun-dried tomatoes and onion. Divide among four boxes and spoon the rest of the dressing into four small jars.
- Toast the pine nuts in a dry pan for 2–3 minutes until golden, and cool. Pack the ruccola on top of each box, and the pine nuts and parmesan in a small cup. At lunch, stir in the dressing, then scatter over the ruccola, pine nuts and parmesan.
Good to know
How long does it keep?
Three to four days in the fridge. Pasta keeps soaking up dressing as it sits, which is why half the dressing waits in a jar until lunch.
How do I pack it?
Ruccola on top of the box, not mixed in, or in a separate bag if you make it on Sunday; pine nuts and parmesan in a little cup so the nuts stay crisp. It is best cold or at room temperature, so no microwave needed.
Store-bought pesto?
Works just as well, at about the same score. A jar of grön pesto is usually a little saltier, so taste before adding the last of the salt.
Per
- Calories
- 118
- Protein
- (41%)
- 12 g
- Fat
- (30%)
- 4 g
- Carbohydrates
- (29%)
- 9 g
- of which sugar
- 2 g
- Fiber
- 2 g
- Sodium
- 164 mg
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Computed from the ingredients with our published formula, not yet kitchen-tested. How
As written, 2023 kcal goes into the pot and 1697 g of ingredients comes out as about 1710 g of food: 118 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.