Thai Chicken Pasta Salad

A creamy and spicy Thai Chicken Pasta Salad, an easy weeknight dinner or a healthy dish to share at gatherings! A nutty, spicy Thai inspired dressing coats the pasta and veggies in this dish and gives it the best flavor.

*This post is sponsored by SunButter, a sunflower seed spread perfect for allergy-safe baking and cooking! Thanks for supporting the brands that keep Sunkissed Kitchen running.

The Perfect Pasta Salad

Mix up your pasta salads this summer with a fun Asian twist! This Thai style chicken pasta salad is loaded with fresh, crunchy vegetables, flavorful herbs, shredded chicken, and a super flavorful Thai style spicy dressing.

We make this with brown rice pasta, but I also love this quinoa and brown rice option. If you don’t need to make this gluten free, feel free to use whatever pasta your family enjoys.

Pick up an organic rotisserie chicken, and this meal is ready in 20 minutes! Basically, all you need to do is blend up the dressing, chop a few veggies, boil the pasta, and toss it all together.

You’ll love this Thai Chicken Pasta Salad because:

• It’s super simple! Buy a pre cooked chicken to save time. It’s a great weeknight dinner, especially in the summer when you want to keep cooking to a minimum!
• It’s LOADED with crunchy vegetables and fresh herbs — healthy and delicious!
• The DRESSING – a creamy combo of coconut milk, SunButter sunflower seed butter (a great alternative to peanut butter!), rice wine vinegar, sesame oil, and coconut aminos. It’s SUPER flavorful, and gives this salad an authentic Thai flavor.

We adore using SunButter sunflower seed butter in sauces and dressings. It’s a healthy, allergy friendly alternative to peanut butter, but thickens up sauces and gives them a delicious nutty flavor — perfect for “peanut sauce” style sauces.

I use the SunButter No Sugar Added variety the most often. Check out their website for more products and recipe ideas!

Try these other Healthy Thai Recipes:

• Thai Chicken Lettuce Wraps
• Thai Steak Salad Wraps
• Thai Noodles
• Paleo Pad Thai
• Thai Red Curry Soup with Zoodles
• Thai Chicken Satay

How to Make Thai Chicken Pasta Salad

Step 1: Add all the dressing ingredients into a blender, and process until smooth and creamy. You can shake the ingredients up in a jar, but it doesn’t get as light and creamy this way.

Step 2: Layer the cooked pasta (rinsed and drained), the chicken, and the veggies into a large salad bowl.

Step 3: Drizzle the dressing onto the salad and toss to combine. I use about 1/2 the dressing, and then add more to taste, or serve the salad with extra dressing on the side. Add fresh herbs and garnish with toasted sesame seeds, cashews, or sliced almonds, if desired.

Tips for Making the Perfect Pasta Salad

Prepping Ahead: If you are using gluten free pasta, don’t prep the pasta ahead of time. Gluten free pasta dries out quickly and isn’t easy to revive. Prep the rest of the veggies and make the dressing, and when ready to serve, boil, drain, and rinse the pasta and combine with the chicken, veggies, herbs and dressing.

Make this Peanut/Nut Free: The Thai “peanut sauce” style dressing is nut free because it uses SunButter sunflower seed butter instead of peanuts. Top this salad with crunchy, toasted sunflower seeds.

Mix up the Veggies: Blanched (still slightly crunchy) green beans, broccoli, or cauliflower would work great in this salad. Using sliced red peppers would also be delicious! Experiment with the veggies you have on hand.