This flavor-packed grilled chicken and vegetable pasta salad is filled with tender chicken and seasonal veggies, grilled to perfection, and tossed in a Greek vinaigrette with crumbled feta cheese. This easy recipe is ideal as a main or side dish served warm, room temperature or chilled.
With spring here and summer just around the corner, I am so excited to be cooking outside on the grill again! And shopping at my local D&W Fresh Market gives me an amazing pick of seasonal produce at its best to use in some of my favorite summertime dishes. With how busy my family gets as school gets out and the boys are home more, I love that I can easily create a grocery order online to pickup when convenient, or better yet, have delivered! Using my most recent order, I put together this delicious Grilled Chicken and Vegetable Pasta Salad that I just had to share!
Ingredients
- Rotini pasta: I love to use D&W’s brand Our Family as it’s budget friendly but still high quality!
- Olive oil: Helps to get the perfect grill on the chicken and veggies, as well as dress the pasta salad.
- Oregano: Earthy and peppery, oregano adds flavor to both the chicken and vegetables.
- Chicken breasts: A lean, accessible, affordable protein that can be bought either frozen or from the meat counter!
- Zucchini: A delicious summer squash that grills to be soft and slightly sweet.
- Eggplant: Colorful, tender, and slightly sweet, eggplant becomes a bit creamy when cooked.
- Red onion: Good cooked or raw, but grilling alongside the eggplant and zucchini adds pungent flavor to the whole dish.
- Garlic: Fresh garlic adds strong, aromatic, somewhat nutty flavor that sweetens as it cooks.
- Red wine vinegar: A staple in lots of Mediterranean cuisine, it’s tangy flavor helps to dress the pasta salad.
- Feta cheese: Continuing with the Greek or Mediterranean flare of this dish, this soft, white cheese gives rich and salty flavor to the salad.
How to Make Grilled Chicken and Vegetable Pasta Salad
Start your grilled chicken and vegetable pasta salad by cooking the Our Family rotini according to package instructions. Then drain and set aside.
Next take your chicken breasts and brush them with some olive oil.
Then season your chicken with salt, pepper, and oregano. If you want to add a bit of a kick, you could also add some chili flakes!
Then cut the eggplant, zucchini, and red onion into cubes. D&W’s weekly ad will highlight seasonal produce and any items they have on sale, so use that to tailor the dish for your family!
Then add the cubed veggies together in a bowl with some whole cloves of garlic and drizzle with olive oil.
Season with more oregano, salt, and pepper and toss until it’s all evenly coated.
Then on a grill pre-heated to high heat, grill your chicken until fully cooked, about 5 minutes per side. Once it reaches an internal temperature of 165, remove from the grill and let rest a few minutes before cutting into cubes.
Next add your veggies to the grill, also cooking over high heat for about 8 minutes, tossing regularly. If you don’t have a grill basket, you can make a one-time use grill “basket” out of tin foil.
Once chicken and vegetables are both cooked, add the cut chicken to a large bowl with the cooked pasta.
Next add in the grilled veggies.
Crumble in the feta cheese, as well as any fresh herbs you have. D&W always has a great pick of fresh parsley, basil, and chives.
Use a microplane to grate in some garlic.
Then dress with the red wine vinegar and some olive oil. Toss well to get all of the salad evenly coated. Check for seasoning, and sprinkle with additional salt and pepper to taste.
Serve cold or at room temperature, and enjoy your Grilled Chicken and Vegetables Pasta Salad!
Easy Substitutions
- Swap the veggies. Knowing my local market will have what’s in season keeps this dish accessible and affordable year round! Use whatever vegetables are in season and on sale at the grocery store!
- Make it vegetarian. You could make this pasta salad with only the grilled vegetables and omit the chicken to make it vegetarian. Take out the feta and it becomes vegan.
Frequently Asked Questions:
Can you eat cold pasta and chicken?
While it’s commonly served hot, they’re great to serve cold as well!
How long does chicken pasta salad last in the fridge?
You can make this dish a couple days in advance, if it’s kept in an airtight container in the fridge, your pasta salad will keep for up to 4 days.
When making pasta salad do you rinse the pasta?
You don’t have to, but rinsing the pasta in cold water can help to cool it down faster if you want to serve the pasta salad cold.
More Grilling Recipes
- Beef Shawarma with Cucumber Yogurt Sauce
- Rosemary Chicken Breasts
- Grilled Turkey Burgers with Pesto
- Flank Steak Tacos
- Grilled Eggplant with Tahini Sauce
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Delicious day of or next day, this easy make-ahead dish of Grilled Chicken and Vegetable Pasta Salad makes the best use of staples and seasonal produce from your local D&W Fresh Market. Give it a try yourself!
Your fork is waiting.
Grilled Chicken and Vegetable Greek Pasta Salad
Ingredients
- 1 pound Our Family rotini pasta (or any short cut pasta, prepared according to package instructions)
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 tablespoons dried oregano
- 2 teaspoons salt (divided)
- 1 teaspoon pepper (divided )
- ½ teaspoon chili flakes (optional)
- 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
- 1 medium zucchini (halved and cut in 1/2 inch cubes)
- 1 medium eggplant (cubed)
- 1 medium red onion (halved then cubed)
- 8 cloves garlic (whole, peeled )
Instructions
- Pre-heat grill over high heat.
- Prepare pasta according to package instructions and set aside.
- While pasta is cooking, mix together olive oil, oregano, half of the salt (1 teaspoon), half of the pepper (1/4 teaspoon) and chili flakes in a small bowl. Place the cubed vegetables in a large bowl and drizzle with half the oil mixture and toss well to coat; set aside. Place chicken breasts on a large plate and rub both sides with the remaining half of the oil mixture using a pastry brush.
- Grill chicken breasts 5-6 minutes per side, flipping once. Remove from heat once they reach internal cooking temperature of 165 degrees or higher. Let rest 5 minutes before cutting in to cubes.
- While chicken is cooking, place a grilling basket on the grill and grill vegetables until they are caramelized and tender, about 8-9 minutes, tossing every minute or so with grilling tongs.
- To prepare the pasta salad, toss the cooked pasta, grilled chicken cubes and grilled veggie cubes in a large bowl. Whisk together the Greek vinaigrette (minus the feta) then drizzle all over the pasta salad. Sprinkle in feta cubes then toss once more. Check for seasoning and adjust accordingly before serving. Enjoy warm, room temp or chilled.
Nutrition
Disclosure: This recipe was developed in partnership with Spartan Nash Thank you for supporting the brands that make The Lemon Bowl possible. All thoughts are my own.