Chicken Pasta Salad with Spinach and Cabbage
| Prep time: | Cooking time: | Total time: |
| 30 minutes (including a 15-minute break) | 12 minutes | 42 minutes |
Prepare a healthy, nutritious, and elaborate meal by following this recipe for chicken pasta salad with spinach and cabbage. It’s the perfect dish if you’re in a rush, as you’ll have a complete meal in just one recipe. You can even prepare it the night before.
This fresh salad is super healthy: it’s low in calories and contains fiber, vitamin C (which is extremely important for the body), protein, carbohydrates, antioxidants, and more. It’s not a 100% green salad (as you can see), but it’s definitely a healthy recipe.
| Number of servings: | Total recipe cost (ingredients): |
| 1 plate | 1,2 € / 1,4 $ -> 3,5 € / 4$ (organic) |
The recipe is for one person. If you want to make it for two, double the portions, and so on.
Tools & equipment:
- A cutting board
- A knife
- A deep plate
- A tablespoon, for tasting and mixing
- A kitchen scale
- Dish towels, for cleaning up any spills
Ingrédients :
- 60 g uncooked pasta (penne, fusilli, coquillettes, etc.) — approx. 2 oz (about 3/4 cup pasta)
- 100 g chicken breast or chicken thighs, which is what I used in this recipe — approx. 3.5 oz (about 1/4 lb)
- 30 g fresh spinach — approx. 1 oz (about 1 cup fresh spinach)
- 30 g white cabbage — approx. 1 oz (about 1/2 cup shredded)
- 1 teaspoon rapeseed oil (or olive oil) — 1 teaspoon
- Salt, pepper
- Fresh or dried herbs (parsley, basil, Provence herbs). I used Provence herbs.
- 1 teaspoon vinegar or lemon juice to season. I used vinegar. — 1 teaspoon
Note for vegetables: Always taste a few pieces before adding them to the recipe, as some may be spoiled and have an unpleasant taste. It would be a shame to ruin the recipe because of this.
Optional ingredients:
- Other vegetables: 1/2 cucumber, 1/2 raw zucchini, 1/2 carrot…
- Fruit/vegetables: 1/2 avocado cut into pieces, a few cherry tomatoes.
- Nuts or seeds: sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, walnuts, peanuts, etc.
- Make a sauce: add a tablespoon of yogurt or cottage cheese + why not a little dill (Nordic-inspired sauce).
Plant-based alternatives:
- Replace the chicken breast with firm tofu or tempeh for a vegetarian/vegan version.
- Use whole grain pasta or legumes (lentils, chickpeas) for more plant-based protein.
- For the optional cheese or yogurt, replace with plant-based cheese or soy/coconut yogurt.
How to make a pasta salad with chicken, spinach, and cabbage?
1) Preparing the pasta and chicken:
Put 160 ml of water with a pinch of salt in a saucepan and bring to a boil (+ or – 9 minutes). Meanwhile, wash the chicken and cook it with olive oil in a frying pan over low heat. Cook each side (3 minutes each). You can cover the pan with a lid to ensure even cooking (thanks to the steam).
Once the water is boiling, add the pasta to the saucepan. Cook over medium heat for 8-10 minutes for al dente pasta, or 10-12 minutes for soft pasta.
2) Preparing the vegetables:
While the pasta and chicken are cooking, wash the spinach leaves and weigh them. Wash the zucchini, weigh it, and remove the skin (if it’s not organic, you can keep it on and peel half of it to get nice pieces). Do the same for the cabbage: wash it, weigh it, and cut it up. I personally chose to slice it thinly.
3) Assembling the salad:
Once the chicken and pasta are cooked, it’s time to prepare the salad. Add the pasta, chicken, spinach, zucchini pieces, cabbage, and of course the dressing: 1 tablespoon of oil (I used canola oil), salt, pepper, herbes de Provence, and 1 teaspoon of vinegar (or lemon juice). Mix everything together for at least 1 minute so that the whole salad is coated in sauce.
4) Rest time:
It is strongly recommended to refrigerate the salad for at least 15 minutes to allow the flavors to develop. This also makes it fresher and more enjoyable, while preserving the crunchiness of the cabbage.
5) Tasting:
Take the salad out of the refrigerator and enjoy. You can’t taste the spinach at all. The main flavors are the dressing (oil and vinegar) and the chicken, which give the recipe a delicious taste.
It’s a great, easy-to-make starter, although cooking the pasta and chicken does take a little time. The best thing to do is to prepare the recipe if you’re planning to eat pasta and chicken but want to make a more sophisticated dish.
Nutritional values table (with chicken breast):
Below is an estimate of the macronutrients and calories in the recipe. These figures are approximations; the exact amounts will depend on several factors, such as the brands you use, the different varieties (type of pasta, type of chicken, spinach, cabbage, zucchini, oil), and the freshness and quality of the ingredients.
| Fat: | Carbohydrates: | (of which sugars): | Fiber: | Protein: | Calories: |
| approximately 9,1g | approximately 47,8g | approximately 2,4g | approximately 3,2g | approximately 40,1g | approximately 437 |
Tips and tricks for the recipe:
- To change the flavor of the recipe, you can marinate the chicken in advance in a sauce: it can be soy sauce, a lemon–thyme marinade, etc. This will give even more flavor to your salad.
- You can tenderize the chicken pieces with a meat mallet to make the meat very tender.
- If you like salads with a tangy taste, add a small clove of finely grated garlic to the dressing.
- Wait a few minutes before adding the pasta to the salad: this prevents them from sticking together and keeps them slightly firmer.
Recipe variations:
Want to change the recipe? Add or remove certain ingredients? Here are some original ideas:
- Use whole wheat pasta for an ultra-low GI.
- For vegans/vegetarians, use marinated tofu instead of chicken.
- If you want to add a touch of Italy to the recipe, add 1 tablespoon of pesto to the salad.
- As suggested above, you can add a Nordic-style sauce instead of the vinaigrette: a sauce made with Greek yogurt, dill, and lemon juice. It’s delicious, but a little heavy.
How should I store this recipe?
The sooner you eat it, the better. Over time, the ingredients will lose their freshness. Ideally, it should be consumed within two days, stored in a tightly sealed container.
Side dishes:
Discover meal ideas to complement your Chicken Pasta Salad with Spinach and Cabbage, whether for breakfast, lunch, or a snack.
1) For breakfast:
- Greek yogurt and speculoos verrine
- Raspberry smoothie bowl
- Rye sandwich with 2 slices of avocado and a scrambled egg in the middle. This is a really complete meal, as these 2 recipes combined contain a lot of carbohydrates.
- A small chocolate brownie with macadamia nuts
2) Dish ideas:
- A slice of carrot cake with hazelnut
- Pumpkin smoothie
- Steak tartare
3) For dessert:
- An blood orange meringue pie
- A nice cup of green tea
- A latte
- A vanilla cake