Pool Party Pasta Salad

15 Reviews

Prep: 20 min
Cook: 10 min
Ready In: 30 min

“This Pasta salad is a nutritious and light summer meal or side dish. My 4 yr old loves the veggies in this. I regularly use up grilled leftovers (chicken and veggies) in this salad.” - by JACKSMOM

Directions

Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add pasta, and cook until tender, about 8 minutes. Add broccoli florets and asparagus to the boiling water during the last 5 minutes. Drain, and run under cold water to cool.
In a large serving bowl, stir together the diced chicken, kidney beans, black olives, green pepper, cherry tomatoes, feta cheese and Italian dressing. Stir in the pasta, broccoli and asparagus. Season with salt and pepper to taste. I like it pretty heavy on the pepper. This salad is best if chilled for a couple of hours before serving.

Reviews (15)

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Chris in Montreal

Jul. 16, 2004

"This is a nice recipe, however, by adding some chopped fresh basil or coriander/cilantro..it becomes outstanding. Green peppers tend to have a stronger flavour, so try substituting red peppers, or bet..." See moreter yet..roasted peppers!! Bottled Italian dressing is usually salty, pungent and generally nasty. Suggest that a vinaigrette such as Dijon, Lemon or Balsamic be used as a better tasting and wonderful alternative. Throwing in some chopped sun dried tomatoes is also a nice addition. Pasta salad is so versatile that it lends itself to a variety of additions."

RANCHGIRL_59714

Sep. 24, 2005

"The quality of the outcome of this recipe depends SO MUCH on the dressing used....I used a Garlic Herb Italian Vinegrette, and it was great!! Also subbed canned asparagus for the fresh(none to be fou..." See morend at the market),, a roasted red pepper for the green(more mellow taste), regular hothouse tomato instead of cherry(ditto on the lack thereof), frozen broccoli florets(added to pasta water), added a few secret spices of my own, and used asiago cheese(more mellow flavor, and not EIGHT DOLLARS A POUND!). After sampling, sold for $25 at our Kiwanas auction. Definately a keeper with tweaking! "