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In my opinion, chicken pasta salad is a summer staple meal. This Tex-Mex chicken pasta salad is a nice change from my traditional chicken pasta salad. I think you’ll love it too!
In addition to the usual pasta and chicken, this salad has corn, black beans, tomatoes, red onion, and cilantro. It’s all a great combination of Tex-Mex ingredients. Chicken pasta salad is always a great way to utilize rotisserie chicken too. I used gemelli pasta for the salad, but there are so many fun shapes to use. Cavatappi is another good choice!
Next is the dressing. The base is made from Greek yogurt and light mayonnaise. If you aren’t worried about calories you can use full fat mayonnaise and sour cream instead. The flavor for the dressing comes from some cumin, chili powder, lime juice, and salt. To finish off this salad, you can top it with some fresh diced avocado. I’m not a big fan, so I left it out of the Tex-Mex Chicken Pasta Salad.
Here is what you need to make the
Tex-Mex Chicken Pasta Salad
- SHORT PASTA (I USED GEMELLI BUT CELLENTANI AKA CAVATAPPI IS A FUN OPTION TOO)
- COOKED CHICKEN, DICED OR SHREDDED
- CANNED BLACK BEANS
- FROZEN CORN
- GRAPE TOMATOES
- RED ONION
- CILANTRO
- AVOCADO (OPTIONAL, I LEFT THIS OUT)
- NON FAT PLAIN GREEK YOGURT
- LIGHT KRAFT MAYONNAISE
- LIME
- GROUND CUMIN
- SALT
- CHILI POWDER
Tex-Mex Chicken Pasta Salad
- Total Time: 1 hour 20 minutes
- Yield: 10 servings 1x
Ingredients
- 10 oz short pasta (I used gemelli but cellentani AKA cavatappi is a fun option too)
- 2 cups cooked chicken, diced or shredded
- 1 (15 oz) can black beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 cup frozen corn, thawed
- 1 cup grape tomatoes, halved
- ¼ cup red onion, diced
- ½ cup cilantro, chopped
- 1 small avocado, diced (optional, I left this out)
Dressing:
- 3/4 cup non fat plain Greek yogurt
- 1/4 cup light Kraft mayonnaise
- Lime juice, from 1 lime
- 1 Tbsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp chili powder
Instructions
- Cook pasta according to package instructions. Drain and rinse with cold water.
- In a large bowl, whisk yogurt and light mayo together. Add lime juice, cumin, salt, chili powder and smoked paprika and whisk until well combined.
- Add in the cooled pasta, cooked chicken, black beans, corn, tomatoes, red onion, and cilantro. Stir in the dressing until well combined. Cover and let it chill in the fridge for at least one hour.
- Garnish with diced avocado and more cilantro, if desired.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Category: chicken
- Method: Stove Top
- Cuisine: American
This recipe is adapted from The Pound Dropper.
