Broccoli and Chicken Pasta Salad
This Broccoli and Chicken Pasta Salad is perfect for summer lunches, picnics, and BBQs. Packed with extra red pepper, shallots, olives, and feta, it’s tossed in a simple olive oil and thyme dressing—no mayo needed!
This Broccoli and Chicken Pasta Salad is my ultimate summer lunch! I’ve eaten it since I was a kid; whenever I went to my friend’s place, I would kindly ask her mom if she could make this sensational pasta salad. The original recipe got slightly modified over the years; she didn’t add the olives and would use Italian herbs. I use fresh thyme, but it could be whatever you prefer: basil, oregano, marjoram or parsley. The secret of this recipe is to let the salad rest in the refrigerator for a few hours before eating it. This way, all the aromatics get time to merge and make their magic.
A Fully Loaded Pasta Salad
This Broccoli and Chicken Pasta Salad is appealing to the eyes with all its colours and flavours. Kids love to dig their favourites first, which, in our case, are the olives that go in first. My kids love them! The feta cheese plays a bit the role of the salt and sauce. It’s crumbled, so you get a smooth, salty cheese at every bite. The veggies are all cooked rapidly in olive oil to keep their nutritional value, crunch and bright colour. Chicken is cooked with fresh thyme, and the whole salad is covered in fresh olive oil to give it this Mediterranean flair.
Tips to Choose Olive Oil
Here are tricks to choose the ultimate high-quality olive oil.
- Look for dark glass bottles or metal cans. Olive oil loses a lot with light and heat, so avoid clear bottles, mainly plastic ones.
- A good olive has a ‘best before’ date on its bottle; if it does not tell you the date it was made or is ‘best before,’ it’s probably old and tasteless. You can cook with old olive oil, but we want it to taste good here.
- Choose an extra-virgin olive oil; virgin ones are made to be cooked with.
- If you are lucky enough to find blurry-looking or unfiltered extra-virgin olive oil (the freshest ones are coming out in the fall), grab all the bottles possible! These taste simply divine—they still have minuscule bits of olive or pulp floating around, giving this golden oil a lovely, enhanced flavour. You can keep them for six months, but then you’ll need to filter them with a coffee filter to collect the deposit before it changes the taste of the oil.
- Go small! The big generic companies often mix olive oil with other cheaper types of oil.
- If it tells you the type of olive used to produce the oil, it’s a good sign. Stick to Mediterranean countries: Italy, Greece, Spain, and France.
Serving
Broccoli and Chicken Pasta Salad must be served cold. Before digging into this dish, I like to add a fresh drizzle of my best extra-virgin olive oil!
Broccoli and Chicken Pasta Salad
Ingredients
- 500 g Farfalle pasta or any fun shape of pasta
- 2 chicken breast cut into small cubes.
- 150 g Feta cheese
- 1 broccoli Cut into small florets
- 1 red pepper Cut into small cubes
- 3 shallots or 1 onion finely sliced
- 15 Kalamata olives Pitted
- 5 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
- 2 tbsp fresh thyme or Italian spices
- salt and pepper
Instructions
- Start by cutting all the ingredients.
- In a big pot of salted boiling water, cook the pasta of your choice until al dente.
- In a wok, cook the chicken and thyme at medium-high heat in olive oil for 5 minutes or until cooked. Add to the pasta.
- Cook the broccoli and shallots in the wok for 3-4 minutes until al dente.
- Then, again with the red pepper, but these very shortly.
- Add all the ingredients to the pasta; crumble the feta cheese on top, add the olives, olive oil, extra thyme, salt and pepper mix and cover. Let it rest in the refrigerator for a few hours before serving.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
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Did You Make This Recipe?
Share your thoughts on it! Leave a comment or share a picture and tag me @littlenomadsrecipes on Instagram.
I just love all the ingredients in this recipe! Sounds absolutely yummy and can imagine that it def is. Thank you for sharing. Off to go buy the ingredients. š
Thanks Carolyn! Enjoy!
This looks really good! It would be great for a bbq.
Yes! Great side dish as well!
This is a staple food for my kids. And Iāve probably made it hundred times. Going to try your version next.
Kids love digging into this one for sure!
I love this salad! All those flavourful and healthy ingredients together in one bowl is difficult to resist. I had all the ingredients to make it last weekend and it made the perfect meal prep salad for lunches.
Yes! Makes fantastic leftovers for lunch!
Yum this looks like my kind of salad. Though I would have to leave the olives out, I’ve never been a fan of them. I love how simple this dish is. It looks perfect for the summer.
The original recipe was without the olives too, I added them because my kids loves them so much!
love the idea of a twist on a traditional pasta salad this seems alot healthier
A yummy twist indeed!
I’ve been looking for a new pasta salad recipe with some protein in it. Just in time for warmer weather! This is going to be a favorite all summer long.
might be your favourite for even longer… been my favorite for 15 years!
I love pasta salad, especially once the weather heats up! This is such a delicious combination.
Cold ones you mean? Yes! It’s perfect for summer!
So good! Had it for lunch for a couple of days. It’s so easy to make and keeps well.
A true and tasty lifesaver for the whole family!
I really enjoyed this broccoli and chicken pasta salad. Great flavour and definitely will be making again.
Thanks Asha!
A simple but a healthy and nutritious pasta salad. My grandson loves farfale pasta so I am going to be making it for him. Thanks for sharing.
A kid’s favorite for sure!