Chicken Bow Tie Pasta salad is the perfect summer salad! It combines so many delicious ingredients with the crunch of cashews and creamy coleslaw dressing.
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I’m all about summer parties with their spread of fresh fruit (bring on the watermelon!), lighter appetizers (you’ve gotta try this easy mango salsa), and all the salads. Along with my favorite strawberry spinach salad with balsamic poppy seed dressing (holy candied pecans) and easy Asian ramen salad, I love making chicken bow tie pasta salad with grapes and cashews.
I also love making cheesy pigs in a blanket but they’re more about feeding my mouth than a crowd. What is it about those things? They’re like crack, I swear.
One of the best thing about this bow tie chicken pasta salad is how many people it serves. If it’s a side dish, which for us it usually is, I think it easily serves 12 people. As a main dish, it would still probably serve at least 8.
This recipe for chicken bow Tie Pasta Salad is also super easy to make, especially if you use leftover grilled chicken or rotisserie chicken. Bow tie pasta salad doubles well and keeps in the fridge for three or four days.
Oh, and when serving leftovers, sprinkle on a few extra cashews as those do get a bitsoft after a day or so. But yay for extra cashews!
Most every recipe for Chicken Bow Tie pasta salad calls for mandarin oranges. While I love fresh clementines, I can’t do canned mandarin oranges so I generally leave them out. But that’s what’s awesome about this bow tie pasta salad—you can tweak it however you’d like!
You can leave out the cashews for nut allergies or the pineapple chunks for those crazy people who don’t like the heavenly fruit. Or in my case you can nearly double the cashews.
When preparing this pasta salad recipe, I also take it a little easy on the coleslaw dressing and rarely use an entire bottle. But it all depends on how creamy you like your chicken bow tie pasta salad.
RECIPE
Chicken Bow Tie Pasta Salad with Grapes and Cashews
Chicken bow tie pasta salad is the perfect summer salad! It combines so many delicious ingredients with the crunch of cashews and creamy coleslaw dressing.
- 1 (16-oz) package bow tie pasta
- 2 cups cooked, diced chicken
- 1 cup sliced celery
- 1 (15-oz) can mandarin oranges in light syrup, drained
- 1 (20-oz) can pineapple tidbits in juice, drained
- 2 cups red grapes (whole or halved)
- 3 green onions, chopped
- 1 (16-oz) bottle coleslaw dressing
- 1 (6-oz) package craisins
- 1 cup cashews, halves & pieces
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Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain and rinse with cold water to chill.
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Combine pasta, chicken, celery, mandarin oranges, pineapple tidbits, grapes, green onions, and coleslaw dressing in a large bowl. Toss to coat evenly.
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Chill at least an hour. Add craisins and cashews before serving. Garnish with more cashews.
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