High Protein Pasta Salad
This high-protein pasta salad is packed with chicken, chickpeas, veggies and protein pasta. It's ready in under 30 minutes. Perfect for meal prep or a main entree!
Servings: 10 servings
Calories: 394kcal
Ingredients
- 12 oz chickpea pasta or alternative high protein pasta
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 lb chicken breast cooked, chopped into cubes and cooled
- 1 can chickpeas
- 8 oz fresh mozzarella cheese balls or cut from a cube
- 1 cucumber small
- 3 bell peppers red, orange or yellow
- 12 oz cherry tomatoes
- 1 small purple onion
- 1 cup black olives optional!
- 1 tablespoon basil fresh, chopped
Vinaigrette Dressing
- ½ cup olive oil extra virgin
- 6 tablespoon red wine vinegar
- 2 tablespoon dijon mustard
- 2 tsp italian seasoning
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
Instructions
- Cook the pasta according to the directions on the box. Do not overcook!
- Add 1 tablespoon of olive oil to the cooked pasta and allow it to cool in the refrigerator. The olive oil prevents it from sticking together while cooling.
- Chop the mozzarella cheese, cucumber, bell peppers, cherry tomatoes, purple onions and black olives into small peices.
- Combine the chopped vegetables, cheese, chickpeas, chicken and pasta in a large bowl. Mix until combined.
Vinaigrette Dressing
- Combine the olive oil, red wine vinegar, dijon mustard, salt, pepper, lemon juice and italian seasoning in a small bowl.
- Mix until combined.
- Drizzle the dressing over the pasta salad and mix until combined.
- Serve cold.
Notes
Tip:
- Cook and cool the chicken breast before adding it to the pasta salad to prevent cheese from melting if warm chicken is added.
- Cook and cool the pasta before adding it to the salad to prevent it from melting the cheese and absorbing all of the dressing.
- Add 1 tablespoon of olive oil to the noodles after cooking to prevent them from sticking together while cooling.
- Add extra chicken breast to increase the protein content .
- Noodles: use any brand of high protein noodles. A couple of my favorites are the high-protein noodles or these high protein chickpea noodles (gluten free).
Nutrition
Serving: 1.33cups | Calories: 394kcal | Carbohydrates: 26g | Protein: 25g | Fat: 24g | Saturated Fat: 5g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 12g | Cholesterol: 47mg | Sodium: 732mg | Potassium: 426mg | Fiber: 7g | Sugar: 6g