Cashew Chicken Pasta Salad

Prep 25 minutes
Servings 12

With pasta, chicken, sweet fruit, salty cashews, and a creamy dressing, every bite of this Cashew Chicken Pasta Salad is like a circus of flavors!

Don’t miss our Easy Cashew Chicken if your craving the stir fry!

cashew chicken pasta salad in glass serving bowl

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Cashew Chicken Pasta Salad Recipe

You can put pasta salad right up there with pie, Oreos, cheese, and freshly baked bread. In other words, some of my favorite things. Itโ€™s easy, hearty, appropriate for lunch or dinner, a full meal or a side dish, you can make it ahead of time, provides leftovers the next day, or feeds a lot of people making it perfect for a pot luck, and itโ€™s just delicious. This Cashew Chicken Pasta Salad is no exception!

Iโ€™ve brought this pasta salad to so many get togethers and I always leave with an empty bowl – everyone loves it! With spiral pasta, cooked chicken, fresh fruit, salty crunchy cashews, and a creamy dressing, itโ€™s loaded with texture and flavor. Sort of reminds me of a cross between my broccoli salad and chicken salad. Sweet and savory combos are always the best!

ingredients for chicken pasta salad separated in bowl

Ingredients Needed

Here’s what you’ll need to make this easy pasta salad recipe.
(Scroll to the bottom for our easy printable recipe with the complete directions.)

  • Rotini pasta – We love this shape of pasta, but really any short pasta with grooves works great.
  • Cooked chicken – diced up baked chicken breast or rotisserie chicken
  • Pineapple – fresh or canned
  • Celery
  • Grapes – both red and green for a nice color contrast
  • Dried cranberries
  • Roasted and salted cashews
  • Scallions
  • Dressing – a mixture of Ranch dressing and mayonnaise

Recipe Variations

  • Almonds instead of cashews
  • Plain Greek yogurt instead of mayonnaise
  • Red onion instead of the scallions
  • Golden raisins instead of the dried cranberries
spoonful of creamy chicken pasta salad

Video: Cashew Chicken Pasta Salad

Make Ahead and Storing Leftovers

As with most pasta salads, the longer all the ingredients mingle, the deeper the flavors. However, I also think with most pasta salads, the longer theyโ€™re in the refrigerator, the more they dry out.

For this Cashew Chicken Pasta Salad I recommend either serving it right away, or chilling in the refrigerator for just 1-2 hours. It wonโ€™t be at all bad if it chills for longer, it just wonโ€™t be as creamy. Either way, though – DELISH.

More Pasta Salad Recipes:

I hope you love this delicious and easy recipe โ€“ be sure to give it a review below! Also donโ€™t forget to follow Belly Full on TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and YouTube!

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Cashew Chicken Pasta Salad

Prep: 25 minutes
Total: 25 minutes
Servings: 12
With pasta, chicken, sweet fruit, salty cashews, and a creamy dressing, every bite of this Cashew Chicken Pasta Salad is like a circus of flavors!ย 

Ingredients 

  • 16 ounce package rotini pasta
  • 1 cup Ranch salad dressing
  • 3/4 cup mayonnaise
  • 4 cups cubed cooked chicken breast
  • 20 ounce can pineapple tidbits, drained
  • 1 cup sliced celery
  • 4 whole scallions, diced
  • 1 cup seedless red grapes, sliced in half
  • 1 cup seedless green grapes, sliced in half
  • 5 ounce package dried cranberries
  • 2 cups roasted and salted cashews

Instructions 

  • Cook pasta al dente according to package directions, then drain and rinse under cold water.
  • In the meantime, prep all your other ingredients.
  • In a large bowl whisk together the Ranch and mayonnaise. Add in the chicken, pineapple, celery, scallions, red grapes, green grapes, cranberries, and cooked pasta; toss to combine so everything is coated.
  • Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve. Just before serving stir in the cashews.

Notes

The longer pasta salad chills, the more it tends to dry out. I recommend either serving this right away, or chilling in the refrigerator for just 1-2 hours. It wonโ€™t be at all bad if it chills for longer, it just wonโ€™t be as creamy. Either way, though – DELISH.

Nutrition

Calories: 603kcal | Carbohydrates: 59g | Protein: 19g | Fat: 33g | Saturated Fat: 5g | Cholesterol: 44mg | Sodium: 522mg | Potassium: 543mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 21g | Vitamin A: 110IU | Vitamin C: 6.8mg | Calcium: 43mg | Iron: 2.5mg

Nutritional information given is an automatic calculation and can vary based on the exact products you use and any changes you make to the recipe. If these numbers are very important to you, I would recommend calculating them yourself.

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About Amy Flanigan

Well, hey there! Amy here, founder and COO at BellyFull. If youโ€™re looking for tried and true, fuss-free, budget-friendly, delicious, every day recipes, youโ€™ve come to the right place.

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9 Comments

  1. Darcy says:

    5 stars
    Actually decided to make this for dinner – because why not? Entire family loved it!

  2. Bunco Bunny says:

    Serves 12? Is that as main dish or side dish? I need to serve as a main dish to my Bunco group. Thanks… looks yummy…

    1. Amy @Belly Full says:

      It’s typically served as a side dish, about 1 cup per serving.

  3. Michele M says:

    5 stars
    This is very delicious. I used a buttermilk ranch and cut the chicken smaller. Everyone loved it!

  4. Julie says:

    Can’t wait to make this, I’ll just double the sauce, so it doesn’t dry out.

  5. Paula says:

    5 stars
    This was a big hit at our house. I would highly recommend it!!

  6. Joy says:

    5 stars
    Made this for the first time tonight…it is awesome! I did substitute red onions for the scallions and used fresh pineapple instead of tidbits (since I ad fresh)…absolutely delightful! Thanks for this great recipe!

  7. Sharon says:

    5 stars
    Made this for a bridal brunch and it disappeared! Thank you so much. Great recipe.

  8. Denise says:

    5 stars
    This was SO delicious!!