This delicious Bowtie and Spinach Chicken Salad is made with a base of spinach, bowtie noodles and chicken, topped with mandarin oranges, honey nut peanuts, Craisins and Green onions and served with a delicious Teriyaki Vinaigrette! Perfect for a main dish or side dish!
BOWTIE AND SPINACH SALAD
This salad is perfect to serve as a side dish or even as a 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!
Because of the addition of the spinach to this salad, it can easily become a whole meal. I especially love to take this to potluck dinners. Because, when serving just side portions, it can serve a lot of people!
HOW TO MAKE A 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 often times 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.
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 below, 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 ziplock bags.
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. However, you could pick the spinach out and add some new spinach to make the salad last an extra day or so!
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
Teriyaki Bowtie and Spinach Chicken Salad
Equipment
- 2 Large Mixing Bowls
- Large Pot
- Blender (optional)
Ingredients
- 16 oz Bowtie pasta Cooked al Dente, Drained and Cooled
- 10 oz Spinach
- 2 Cups Cooked Chicken Rotisserie
- ½ Cup Craisins
- 2 Cans Mandarin Oranges (11 oz) Drained
- 4 Green Onions thinly sliced (white and green parts)
- ⅓ Cup Sesame Seeds
- ½ Cup Honey Roasted Peanuts
- 8 oz Water Chestnuts Canned, Drained and Slivered (optional)
Teriyaki Dressing
- 1 Cup Canola Oil
- ½ Cup Teriyaki Sauce Bottled
- ⅓ Cup Rice Vinegar
- ⅓ Cup Apple Cider Vinegar
- ¼ Cup Sugar
- ½ Tsp Salt
- ½ Tsp Pepper
Instructions
- 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 or gallon Ziploc bag and marinate for at least one hour. I often times cook the noodles in the morning and marinate them in the dressing 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.
Video
Notes
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. However, you could pick the spinach out and add some new spinach to make the salad last an extra day or so!Nutrition
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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!
Make sure to pin this post for later too! Thanks so much friends! Have a great day!
Jackie
My husband loves this salad so much. The dressing is what makes it so good. I have made this several times.
Pam Dana
Yay! I’m so glad to hear it! Thanks so much for coming back to comment!!
Becky Hardin
This is so delicious!!!
Sara
I love this as a heartier alternative to Chinese Chicken salad. I like to make it as meal prep, it’s perfect for lunches.
Toni
I love salad! So tasty and delicious!
Rachael Yerkes
soooo good! We love this one
April
This salad was really good! Simple to make and lots of flavor!
Sarah Skaggs
This salad is sooo good! Thanks
Stephanie R.
This looks incredible!