Made with chicken instead of tuna, this Nicoise pasta salad is a fun spin on a classic Nicoise salad. It's light, fresh, and colorful, and the perfect dish to make easy spring or summer lunches or brunch.
Course Salad
Cuisine French
Keyword nicoise pasta salad
Prep Time 30 minutesminutes
Cook Time 10 minutesminutes
Total Time 40 minutesminutes
Servings 8
Calories 410kcal
Ingredients
8ounces egg noodles, such as tagliatelle or pappardelle
2cupspetite white or red potatoes
6ouncesgreen beans, trimmed and cut into 1-inch pieces
First, make the vinaigrette by adding all of the ingredients to a jar fitted with a lid, close tightly, shake well, and set aside.
Add the potatoes to a medium pot and fill with enough water to cover the potatoes by 1 inch, then bring to a boil. Add 1-2 teaspoons of kosher salt, reduce to a rolling simmer, and cook until tender or when the potatoes can be pierced with a fork or skewer, about 15 minutes. Use a spider or strainer to transfer the potatoes from the pot to a colander or bowl, reserving the hot water. Quarter the potatoes (you can leave the skins on) then place in a bowl and while still warm, drizzle with 2-3 tablespoons of the vinaigrette dressing and set aside to cool.
While the potatoes are cooking, bring a large pot of water to a boil, season generously with kosher salt, and cook the pasta according to package directions or until al denté. Use tongs or a spider to transfer the noodles to a colander so you can reserve the hot pasta water to blanche the green beans. Give the noodles a quick rinse in cool water then set aside.
Add the green beans to the hot pasta water and simmer for 1 minute or until the green beans turn bright green. Drain the water, rinse the green beans, and set aside to cool.
Add the noodles to a large mixing bowl with the dressed potatoes, blanched green beans, shredded chicken, cherry tomatoes, kalamata olives, cucumber, red bell pepper, red onion, and capers. Toss with the vinaigrette dressing. Taste for seasoning and add more salt and pepper to taste. Nestle the hard-boiled egg quarters into the pasta salad and serve.