Chicken Pasta Salad with Tomato Vinaigrette

Chicken pasta salad with tomato vinaigrette is just the thing when you’re looking for a quick healthy meal. Ideal as either a lunch or a dinner option, you’ll find the delicious, tangy tomato vinaigrette perfectly versatile and an ideal way to liven up your other pasta salad recipes too!

I feel this chicken pasta salad with tomato vinaigrette may well be the last salad this year. 😐

At least that’s how I feel at the moment with the combination of the rain pouring down and the wind howling outside.

Not a great sign already for things possibly to come when we’re only just about to creep into October!

Anyway, let’s not get negative or carried away with how it is because as you know, that’s not what we do here. We just get on with things.

“Can’t change it” as Hal Elrod says. 🙂

So, this chicken pasta salad with tomato vinaigrette is a combination that I like, as opposed to that weather combination one mentioned earlier.

And, do you know when some combinations just go SO well together? Yeah? Well this salad combination with it’s zingy tomato vinaigrette does just that!

I mean OK it took me trying about 4 different combinations to get this salad together.

The actual tomato vinaigrette part I found easy. I just experimented with a few basic kitchen cupboard ingredients and voila that part came together.

But it was through trying out different combinations of potatoes and various veg with the salad that I got stuck. Finally settling on the whole wheat penne pasta which I found went perfectly with the chicken salad and tomato vinaigrette, was a relief!

I figured this chicken pasta salad with tomato vinaigrette would just be a nice and easy one today. I’ve been through the difficulties myself to make it easy for you. 😉

It’s completely versatile with the chicken and pasta being either warm or cold. too.

Plus it’s low fat, high in dietary fibre and full of vitamin C.

I guarantee this will fill you up if you had it as a packed lunch, right up until dinner time. How can I guarantee that? From experience! 🙂

When I tell you I made this a simple recipe today it’s because there’s lots afoot here and there’s an extremely busy weekend and week ahead.

And, we’re only just back from our trip to Aberfeldy!

Talking of Aberfeldy. It was a great weekend but the plans for climbing Schiehallion were somewhat scuppered.

We abandoned the hike after literally 30 minutes due to the terrible weather.

Check out this picture below to see what I mean. That’s Lynne at the front and Liam in blue at the back.

Oh, and you know how I’m always banging on in my hillwalking posts about those people in Scotland who give up their time to repair the mountain paths? Well that’s some of them in the picture, between Liam and Lynne, with their shovels!

So as the pouring rain and severe gales prevented us from climbing any higher than ground level, we did a couple of forest walks instead.

We did the Weem Forest Walk and the Birks of Aberfeldy. I’d always said when driving past those walks on the way to previous successful climbs of Schiehallion that I’d love to do those walks, so even though we didn’t manage to climb Schiehallion this time, I crossed some things off on the list!

Then there’s the car.

After the wet, muddy weekend, it needs cleaned out and valeted and although Lynne has told me just to pay someone to do it, being Scottish I’m reluctant to pay for that. Lol! So that’s going to need to be a job on Saturday.

Sunday is the Great Scottish Run. My annual 10k. I’m not setting out to knock a whole load of minutes off this year’s, like I did last year, but I have been running at a faster speed on the treadmill, so it would be great to knock a few seconds off at least!

So you see why this HAD to be this easy chicken pasta salad with tomato vinaigrette recipe today. I’m trying to take it easy with everything else going on!

Print Recipe

Chicken Pasta Salad with Tomato Vinaigrette

Chicken pasta salad with tomato vinaigrette is just the thing when you're looking for a quick healthy meal and is ideal as either a hot or cold lunch or a dinner option.

Prep Time15 mins

Total Time15 mins

Course: Dinner

Servings: 2

Calories: 332kcal

Author: Neil

Ingredients

Salad Ingredients

• 2 cooked chicken breasts , chopped (roughly 150g each)
• 150 g cooked whole wheat penne pasta
• 1 red bell pepper , sliced
• ½ small red onion , sliced

Tomato Vinaigrette Ingredients

• 2 tsp tomato paste
• 1 tbsp white wine vinegar
• 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 2 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 2 tbsp water

Metric - US Customary

Instructions

• Arrange the salad on a serving plate / bowl.
• Place all the tomato vinaigrette ingredients into a small bowl and whisk together.
• Pour the tomato vinaigrette over the salad and combine everything together, then serve.

Nutrition

Calories: 332kcal | Carbohydrates: 53.4g | Protein: 10.3g | Fat: 8.3g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Sodium: 58.2mg | Fiber: 9.7g | Sugar: 6.9g | Vitamin A: 550IU | Vitamin C: 115.5mg | Calcium: 10mg | Iron: 0.5mg

Next week I’m working in Inverness on Monday and Tuesday. Remember Inverness where Lynne and I spent a bit of time a year ago? Then Aberdeen for Wednesday and Thursday as part of a Project roll-out that I’m doing.

I’m exhausted just re-reading this!

But anyway folks you have a great weekend and check back next Thursday where I’ve a fantastic new baked turkey meatballs in tomato and chilli sauce autumnal / fall recipe that’s very appropriate if the weather continues as it is!!

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And thanks Amanda for Thursday’s thinking out loud!