Bowtie and Spinach Chicken Salad with Teriyaki Dressing

This delicious Bowtie and Spinach Chicken Salad is made with a base of spinach, bowtie noodles, and chicken. Then topped with mandarin oranges, honey nut peanuts, Craisins, and Green onions and served with a delicious Teriyaki Vinaigrette dressing! Perfect for a main dish or side dish!

This salad is perfect to serve as a side dish or even as a full dinner! My entire extended family now makes this all the time too! Once you’ve tried it, it will for sure stay in regular rotation. In fact, my sister and mom usually request it over my Chicken Bowtie Pasta Salad (which I LOVE LOVE), along with my BLT Pasta Salad.

I also love this recipe, because I can mostly prep it in the morning while the noodles are boiling and then just assemble it right before serving! Read more details below in the recipe instructions!

Because this salad has bowtie noodles, chicken, and spinach, it can totally be served as a meal. I also love to take this to potluck dinners, because when serving just side portions, it can serve a lot of people!

Now let’s get making this salad!

BOWTIE AND SPINACH SALAD INGREDIENTS

Salad Ingredients:

• 16 oz Bowtie Pasta, cooked al dente, drained and cooled
• 10 oz Spinach (I prefer baby spinach)
• 2 cups Cooked Rotisserie Chicken
• ½ cup Craisins
• 2 Cans of Mandarin Oranges, 11 oz cans drained
• 4 Green Onions, chopped
• ⅓ cup Sesame Seeds
• ½ cup Honey Roasted Peanuts
• 8 oz can Water Chestnuts, drained and slivered

Dressing Ingredients:

• 1 cup Avocado Olive Oil or Vegetable Oil
• ½ cup Teriyaki Sauce
• ⅓ cup Rice Vinegar
• ⅓ cup Apple Cider Vinegar
• ¼ cup Sugar
• ½ tsp Salt
• ½ tsp Pepper

HOW TO MAKE A SPINACH CHICKEN BOWTIE PASTA SALAD

Cook your Bowtie Noodles until al dente.

While your noodles are cooking, combine all the dressing ingredients and combine until smooth (I like to use my blender).

Mix about 1 cup of the dressing with the cooked pasta in a large bowl and marinate for at least one hour. I oftentimes cook them in the morning and marinate them all day until I need to assemble the salad.

Combine the remaining salad ingredients in a large bowl.

Just before serving, add the pasta to the rest of the salad ingredients and toss everything together.

Add additional dressing to taste and toss.

Serve immediately and ENJOY!

CAN YOU MAKE THIS SALAD AHEAD OF TIME?

Not 100%, but mostly! If you don’t plan on serving the salad right away, then I suggest waiting to assemble it all. It’s best to not coat everything in the Teriyaki dressing too far ahead of time. As mentioned in the recipe instructions above, you will coat your noodles in the dressing, but not everything else.

While the noodles are boiling, go ahead and prep all the other ingredients. But, instead of combining them together, just store everything in individual Ziploc bags. When the noodles are done, go ahead and coat the noodles in 1 cup of the dressing and store the rest of the dressing until you’re ready to assemble the entire salad.

Then when you’re ready to assemble the salad, you can just dump the ziplock bags of ingredients in with the noodles, mix and dress the salad!

HOW LONG DOES THE SALAD STAY GOOD?

Because the entire salad is coated in the Teriyaki dressing, it doesn’t stay good for more than 24-36 hours max. However, you could pick the spinach out and add some new spinach to make the salad last an extra day or so!

Another option would be to not add the additional dressing to the full salad. Only add it to each bowl as you are about to eat it.

Looking for some other yummy side salads? Check these out!

• Chicken Bowtie Pasta Salad
• Chicken Cabbage Ramen Salad
• Easy Macaroni and Shrimp Salad
• BLT Pasta Salad
• Strawberry Spinach Salad
• Mega Salad
• Broccoli Salad

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If you’ve tried this recipe, I’d love it if you’d comment and rate the recipe! I love to hear feedback and answer questions!

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