Few dishes capture the essence of seemingly-effortless summer dining quite like a pasta salad. While many pasta salads feel like an afterthought, this one has a zesty hominess that allows it to take center stage in a casual setting.
Pasta Salad with Chicken and Avocado
6
large servings25
minutes20
minutesIngredients
1 lb chicken breasts
Coarse salt
¼ cup + 2 Tbs olive oil, divided
1 lb penne or fusilli
10 oz red grape tomatoes, quartered
4 scallions, thinly sliced
¼ cup sliced bread and butter pickles
3 Tbs dried parsley
3 small avocados, peeled, seeded, and diced
Juice of 1 lemon, poured through a fine-mesh strainer
2 cloves of garlic, peeled and finely minced
1 Tbs dried oregano
Coarsely ground black pepper
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Pat the chicken very, very dry with paper towels; set aside. Preheat a large, heavy, oven-safe skillet over high heat. Sprinkle the chicken generously with salt. Add the oil to the pan, then add the chicken, salt-side down, using the first breast to spread the oil all around the pan. Top the pan with a spatter screen and let the chicken sear for 4 minutes. Flip, salt, cover with screen, and sear for another 4 minutes. Insert a probe into the thickest part of the thickest breast, set a temperature alarm for 160ºF (or your preferred temperature), and transfer the pan to the oven. Once it comes to temperature, transfer the breast to a cutting board, allow to cool for a few minutes, then slice into bite-sized slices.
- Meanwhile, cook the pasta in salted water, according to package directions for al dente. Strain it, return the pasta to the empty pot, and cover the pasta with cold water. Strain again.
- Meanwhile, add the tomatoes, scallions, pickles, parsley, and avocado to a large mixing bowl. Add the chicken and pasta. Toss.
- Add lemon juice, ¼ cup of olive oil, garlic, oregano, 1 tsp coarse salt, and pepper to a 1-cup capacity, tightly sealable container and shake violently. Pour it over the salad, and toss thoroughly.
- Serve while the chicken is still warm, or serve at room temperature.
Notes
- Substitutions: 1/4 cup of capers, strained thoroughly, for the pickles; fresh parsley for the dried
This pasta salad is exceptional. While the concept might feel familiar, the execution is on another level. It’s a fantastic balance of crunch, zest, and umami that feels incredibly satisfying without being overly complex.
Friend-Worthy
“Guest-worthy” dinners are the kind that are meant to be special, like holiday or birthday dinners.
But what about the ones that you make for everyday or even spontaneous occasions? These everyday meals might be gorgeously wonderful and highly memorable, but they’re defined by being casual. I nonetheless want to serve amazing food for meals like these, even if I want to vibe to be laid back. These are what I call “friend-worthy” meals. I want to serve something that has a strong homemade aura, but I want it to be the kind of thing most people – unless they’re really good cooks – don’t usually have in their own homes. This pasta hits that mark right on the nose. You could fancy things up with warm rolls and butter, something delicious to drink like homemade lemonade, cherryade, or iced tea, and maybe you could include some in-season, fresh fruit and/or a substantial dessert.
Ingredient Notes
- I didn’t call for red pepper flakes in the ingredient list, even optionally … but I don’t think I’d mind them in this salad.
- This salad could probably also take on whatever you have on-hand, such as celery, bell pepper, or even raisins. However, it doesn’t need any of these things.
- Don’t fear the raw garlic. Just try the salad with it, and see what you think. It may surprise you. It’s not overwhelming or over-the-top. It’s fabulous. No kidding, though, it will give you serious garlic breath – but that’s the only drawback, and it’s worth it.
- The pickles are the real genius of this salad, especially if they’re best-quality. If they’re sliced so thinly that they’re all bendy, they can go into the salad as they are. Otherwise, you should coarsely chop them. If your pickles have other things in among them, like onions, definitely include them. Remove the pickles from the jar with a fork, but don’t try too hard to strain them. A bit of brine will be wonderful in the salad.
Cooking Notes
- There’s nothing essential about pan-frying the chicken. Grilled, rotisserie, baked, or broiled chicken would be wonderful. And it could easily be leftover chicken. Poached, though, I think, would be a bit too plain.
- Do your own homework about safe chicken temperatures, and remember not to take my advice when it comes to the temperatures that I like.
- If you know you’ll have leftovers, add the avocado to individual servings (½-avocado per serving) rather than to the bowl, because avocado doesn’t leftover well.
Leftovers
This salad isn’t at its best stone-cold from the fridge. Microwave individual portions not so much to heat them up, but just to take the chill off: about 1 minute at 30% power. Pro move: dust leftovers with a tiny bit of salt and pepper, and a couple drops of olive oil.
Serving Sizes:
If you divide this into six servings, you’ll have generous, meal-sized servings. You could easily stretch it to seven. As a side, you could double that, but I don’t really see this as a side salad.
Pasta Salad
Credit for images on this page: Make It Like a Man! This content was not solicited by anyone, nor was it written in exchange for anything. References: Irma S. Rombauer, Marion Rombauer Becker, and Ethan Becker, “Pasta Salad with Grilled Chicken and Avocado,” in The Joy of Cooking (New York: Scribner, 1997), 226. Thank you, Kesor. Thank you, ⌘+C. Make It Like a Man! is ranked by Feedspot as #2 in the Top 30 Men’s Cooking Blogs.
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