Thai Chicken Pasta Salad
A delicious, flavorful pasta salad, loaded with shredded chicken, crunchy vegetables, and fresh herbs. This healthy gluten free pasta salad is tossed with a Thai-style "peanut" dressing, made nut-free with sunflower seed butter.
Servings: 6 servings
Calories: 476kcal
Ingredients
- 8 ounces gluten free pasta brown rice or a quinoa/brown rice blend, cooked, rinsed and drained
- 2 cups shredded chicken
- 2 cups red cabbage shredded
- 2 cups carrots shredded
- 2 cups cucumbers chopped
- 1/4 cup green onions chopped
- 1/4 cup cilantro chopped
- 1/4 cup basil chopped
Thai "Peanut Sauce" Dressing
- 1/2 cup SunButter No Sugar Added
- 1/2 cup coconut milk full fat
- 1/2 cup rice wine vinegar unsweetened
- 6 tablespoons coconut aminos sub 3 tablespoons of tamari or soy sauce + 3 tablespoons water
- 2 tablespoons sesame oil
- 2-3 tablespoons sriracha paleo, if possible - this makes a spicy dressing!
- 1 tablespoon honey or maple syrup
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
Instructions
- Add the pasta, chopped veggies, and chicken into a large salad bowl.
- Add all the dressing ingredients into a blender, and process until a creamy dressing is formed.
- Pour the dressing over the pasta salad, and toss to combine. I start with 1/2 of the dressing, and then add more to taste, or serve the salad with extra dressing on the side.
- Garnish the salad with fresh herbs and optionally, with toasted sunflower seeds, cashews, or almonds.
- Serve the salad right away. Gluten free pasta does not keep well and will dry out in a day.
Video
Notes
*Nutrition facts are for the salad using all of the dressing. They are less if you only use 1/2 of the dressing.
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.
Nutrition
Calories: 476kcal | Carbohydrates: 48g | Protein: 21g | Fat: 23g | Saturated Fat: 7g | Cholesterol: 35mg | Sodium: 746mg | Potassium: 459mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 7g | Vitamin A: 7668IU | Vitamin C: 26mg | Calcium: 76mg | Iron: 3mg