Summer Chicken Macaroni Salad

Macaroni salad is a side dish, but chicken macaroni salad can stand on its own as a complete light meal. This recipe is lighter-tasting and more sophisticated than most pasta salads, with its yogurt-based dressing and its use of fresh peaches and basil.

It’s a big-batch salad, suitable for family get-togethers, block parties and potlucks. Preparing a chicken is ordinarily the most time-consuming part of making a macaroni salad with chicken, but here we’ve called for a rotisserie chicken in the interest of convenience. At just 25 minutes of total prep time, this recipe looks like you’ve gone all out but is actually pretty low effort.

Ingredients for Chicken Macaroni Salad

Alejandro Monfort for Taste of Home

• Macaroni: Elbow macaroni is always a good choice for pasta salads. It’s conveniently bite-sized, and its hollow shape hangs on to more dressing.
• Rotisserie chicken: Chicken’s high-quality protein and low-key flavor make it an easy choice for salads. Opting for a rotisserie chicken means it’ll also be well-seasoned and convenient.
• Peas: The fresh (or fresh-frozen) peas add a light, summery flavor and beautiful pops of green color.
• Green onions: Green onions enhance any salad with their mild but assertive onion flavor and their color.
• Celery: Celery brings a complementary flavor and a pleasantly juicy crunch to pasta salads.
• Fresh basil: Basil has a bold, summery flavor that plays well with the chicken, the vegetables and the dressing.
• Lemon juice: The tart tang and bright citrusy flavor of lemon juice help keep the salad from feeling heavy.
• Plain yogurt: Yogurt provides a lighter, healthier and tangier complement to the mayonnaise.
• Reduced-fat mayonnaise: Mayonnaise brings a richer, smoother flavor to balance the tang of the yogurt.
• Peaches: Fresh fruit is a less-common option in pasta salads, but peaches and other stone fruit pair nicely with chicken and basil.
• Sharp cheddar and Gorgonzola: The bold, pungent cheeses provide a strong savory note that helps tie the fruit, chicken and other flavorings together.
• Pistachios: The colorful nuts provide a bright garnish, a textural contrast and a distinct flavor of their own.

Directions

Step 1: Prepare the ingredients

Alejandro Monfort for Taste of Home

Cook the macaroni as directed on the packaging. While it’s cooking, mix the chicken, peas, onions, celery, basil, 2 tablespoons of the lemon juice, the salt and the pepper in a large bowl. Once the macaroni is cooked al dente (tender but still firm), drain it, rinse it with cold water, then drain it thoroughly again. Add the macaroni to the chicken mixture.

Step 2: Make the dressing and finish the salad

Alejandro Monfort for Taste of Home

In a small mixing bowl, combine the yogurt, mayonnaise and remaining lemon juice. Add it to the salad ingredients and mix well, until the chicken and pasta are evenly coated. Add the peaches and the two cheeses, then toss the salad again, gently, to incorporate them. Refrigerate the salad for at least two hours, so the flavors have time to meld. Sprinkle the pistachios over the salad before serving.

Alejandro Monfort for Taste of Home

Chicken Macaroni Salad Variations

• Try a different pasta: You can’t go wrong with elbow macaroni, but other pasta shapes are also worth considering. Fusilli, bowties, orecchiette and small shells are equally good in a salad like this, and many of them—as a bonus—will give it a more sophisticated appearance to go with its bold and intriguing flavors.
• Swap out the chicken: A rotisserie chicken is your easy option with this salad, but you have others. Boneless turkey breasts are readily available year-round and would make a slightly more flavorful alternative. For a vegetarian version, you can replace the chicken with grilled tofu. A less obvious (but delicious) option is leftover salmon, folded into the salad in large flakes. Its richness makes a nice foil for the freshness of the peaches and basil.
• Use alternative fruit: The peaches you use in this salad need to be ripe and beautiful for the best flavor. When you don’t have access to good-quality peaches, you can swap them for other stone fruit like apricots, plums or nectarines. For a year-round option, seedless grapes (halved if they’re large) also play nicely with chicken and basil.

How long will this chicken macaroni salad keep?

The salad will be fine for a day or two in your refrigerator. After that, the peaches will break down and the cheese will become mushy. If it’s been out at room temperature (or worse, outdoors in the sun) for more than a couple of hours, it’s safest to discard any leftovers rather than risk foodborne illness.

Can chicken macaroni salad be made ahead?

If you’d like to serve this chicken macaroni salad recipe at your next get-together, you can prep the base of the salad a day or two in advance. Prepare it up to the point where the pasta and chicken mixture is tossed with the dressing, but don’t add the peaches and cheese. Those should go in just before you serve the salad.

How should I store chicken macaroni salad?

If you have some salad left over after your meal, transfer it to a small bowl or a food-safe storage container, cover it and put it in your refrigerator immediately. The leftovers should be eaten within a day or two.

Chicken Macaroni Salad Tips

Can I cook my own chicken instead of using rotisserie?

Yes, of course. The recipe calls for a whole chicken, and you could certainly roast (or poach or slow-cook) your own. That puts you in control of the seasoning, which is helpful if you’re serving anyone who’s on a low-sodium eating plan. Alternatively, if you get a good deal on chicken pieces, you could go with all breasts, all thighs or a combination of both (grilling the chicken pieces and the peaches adds flavor too). In a pinch, you can even use canned chicken from your pantry.

What can I use instead of Gorgonzola?

If you’re not fond of Gorgonzola or your local market just doesn’t have any, substitute your favorite alternative blue cheese. If you aren’t keen on blue cheeses in general, any other pungent, slightly salty cheese is a good option. Feta and cotija fit the bill, and both crumble easily and hold up well in salads. You might also use goat cheese or any strong-flavored grating cheeses like Parmesan or Pecorino Romano. They’ll all serve the same role of complementing and contrasting with the fresh fruit and basil.

Can I use other nuts instead of pistachios?

Pistachios have a bolder flavor than most other nuts, and their color makes for a nice garnish, but you can certainly substitute other nuts if you wish. Slivered almonds, broken-up pieces of pecan or walnut, or a handful of toasted pine nuts would all be good alternatives.

Is there an easy way to cut all that fresh basil?

Yup! Chefs stack up the leaves in a small pile, then roll them into a tight little cigar shape (you can see a picture in our article on the best way to cut herbs). Then slice across the basil with a sharp knife, to make fine, fluffy shreds. The same technique works well with other broad-leafed herbs like sage, as well as leafy greens like lettuce and spinach.