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This mexican pasta salad is perfect to serve cold, at room temp or even heated up. It is protein packed thanks to the chicken and beans, flavor loaded, and quick to make! Use pre-cooked chicken to get this dinner on the table in under 30 minutes!
Mexican pasta salad has everything in it
I love everything about this dish. It gives you all the delicious mexican flavor, with so much goodness going on.
We’re got chicken and beans for protein.
Bell pepper, corn and green onion for veggies.
Penne pasta for carbohydrates.
Salsa and yogurt for a creamy sauce.
Plus avocado to top it all because it is delicious and the perfect healthy fat for this dish!
What you’ll need for this dish
- chicken breast boneless skinless
- avocado oil
- sea salt
- pepper
- penne pasta
- frozen corn
- red bell pepper
- green onion
- black beans
- taco seasoning
- plain yogurt
- salsa
How to make mexican pasta salad
- Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees F. Rub 1 tsp avocado oil over the chicken breasts and season with sea salt and pepper. Bake for 15 minutes, flip, and bake another 10 minutes, or until the chicken is fully cooked (this can vary based on how large the chicken breasts are).
- Allow the chicken to. slightly cool, then dice it and set it aside.
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil and then cook pasta according to package directions. When done, drain and set aside to slightly cool.
- Heat a medium skillet to medium-high heat and add 1 tsp avocado oil. When hot, add the corn and saute for 7-9 minutes until the corn is softened and slightly golden on a few edges.
- To assemble the Mexican pasta salad, add the diced bell pepper, green onion, black beans, cooked chicken, and taco seasoning (see note for individual seasonings) together in a large bowl. Toss to combine. Next, add the pasta and corn and mix.
- In a small bowl mix together the yogurt and salsa, then stir into the pasta dish. Feel free to top with extra green onion, and/or diced avocado, and enjoy!
How to meal prep it
Pre-cooking the chicken in advance is the best way to save time!
Some other ways to prep it in advance include chopping all the veggies, mixing up the spices and draining and rinsing the beans ahead time.
Because this recipe can be served cold, you can even make the whole dish in advance and meal prep it for the week! It makes great lunches, and an easy on the go dinner the whole family will love.
More recipes you’ll love
- Thai peanut chicken pasta
- Healthy mexican pasta bake
- Adobo turkey and roasted broccoli pasta
- Chicken bacon ranch pasta salad
- Healthy mac and cheese for kids with butternut squash
Mexican Pasta Salad with Chicken
Ingredients
- 1 lb chicken breast boneless skinless
- 2 tsp avocado oil, divided
- 1/4 tsp sea salt
- 1/8 tsp pepper
- 8 oz penne pasta
- 1 cup frozen corn
- 1 red bell pepper, diced
- 3 green onion, minced
- 1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
- 1.5 tbsp taco seasoning
- 1/2 cup plain yogurt
- 1/4 cup salsa
- optional for serving: more green onion and diced avocado
Instructions
- Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees F. Rub 1 tsp avocado oil over the chicken breasts and season with sea salt and pepper. Bake for 15 minutes, flip, and bake another 10 minutes, or until the chicken is fully cooked (this can vary based on how large the chicken breasts are).
- Allow the chicken to. slightly cool, then dice it and set it aside.
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil and then cook pasta according to package directions. When done, drain and set aside to slightly cool.
- Heat a medium skillet to medium-high heat and add 1 tsp avocado oil. When hot, add the corn and saute for 7-9 minutes until the corn is softened and slightly golden on a few edges.
- To assemble the Mexican pasta salad, add the diced bell pepper, green onion, black beans, cooked chicken, and taco seasoning (see note for individual seasonings) together in a large bowl. Toss to combine. Next, add the pasta and corn and mix.
- In a small bowl mix together the yogurt and salsa, then stir into the pasta dish. Feel free to top with extra green onion, and/or diced avocado, and enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
If you try this recipe, I’d love it if you left a star rating and comment below letting me know how it turned out!
XO
Heather
*Originally published in December 2011. Updated July 2021.*
ooohhh! the pasta looks delicious! ok now i’m starving! thanks for the recipe by the way 🙂
Thanks Heather for this salad recipe! I can’t wait to try it this weekend! I hope you don’t mind if I don’t add the beans!
I like pasta….but cold pasta gives me the heebiejeebies. Weird, I know! Hah.
That sounds pretty good since I’m not a huge fan of traditional pasta salad. Love the picture with the spoon handle 🙂
Just passed your info on to my contact for your prize.
And this looks great. Love the pops of green avocado…mmmm, tasty!
Awesome, thanks Averie!
Yum this looks delicious! I love avocados, and combined in a pasta salad… YUM!
Avocados are pretty much the bomb 🙂
Oooh! This looks seriously good! Yum 🙂
That last picture is awesomeeee. This looks fantastic. I’m a fan of all of the flavors in there!Yes- pasta salad is SO good. I don’t like mayo ones, but oil ones or ones with mayo subs are fantastical
I’m not big on mayo filled pasta salads either. They can get so heavy.
I LOVE that tablecloth(?)!! The print and colors are gorgeous! Where’d you get it?
Haha it’s actually not a table cloth, but a quilting square I picked up at JoAnn fabric. It’s only like 2 feet by 2 feet ish. I love it too 🙂