This Healthy Cherry Chicken Pasta Salad is made with gemelli pasta, shredded chicken, dried cherries, crunchy celery, California walnuts and topped with a sweet and tangy dressing.

My husband has a VERY hard time getting out of bed in the morning. Sorry Matt, I just called you out on the internet! If I am feeling extra nice, I will help him out in the morning by making an easy grab it on the fly lunch. This Cherry Chicken Pasta Salad is perfect for weekday lunches. I keep the dressing separate so that the pasta doesn’t get soggy and it will last longer in the fridge.

love pasta salads? Try these!

• Vegetable Orzo Pasta Salad with an Easy Lemon Vinaigrette
• Greek Pasta Salad
• Buffalo Chicken Pasta Salad

Having a pasta salad all ready to go in the fridge is also super nice when you are chasing your kids around and can barely find the time to stop and have lunch (I hope that’s not just me!). Make it easy on yourself and make this pasta salad – then when you are running out the door or have 5 quick minutes to eat, your lunch will be all ready for you!

Healthy Cherry Chicken Pasta Salad Ingredients

• gemelli pasta noodles
• celery
• shredded chicken
• California walnuts
• dried cherries
• light mayonnaise
• apple cider vinegar
• onion salt
• garlic powder
• ground mustard
• sugar
• salt
• poppy seeds

What Makes this Cherry Chicken Pasta Salad Healthy?

This recipe uses a lot less mayonnaise than a typical chicken salad. Instead of having the dressing just mayo-based, the mayo is combined with apple cider vinegar. This gives it a deliciously tangy taste and vinegar has many health benefits.

How to Make Cherry Chicken Pasta Salad

• Combine all of the dressing ingredients in a small bowl.
• In a separate larger bowl, combine the pasta, chicken, celery, walnuts and dried cherries.
• When ready to serve, combine the dressing with the pasta salad and enjoy!

Let’s Talk Pasta

In this recipe, I love to use gemelli pasta. If you are unfamiliar with gemelli pasta, it is a little more dense and substantial than your typical noodle. But, if you can’t find gemelli pasta, you can substitute pretty much any type of noodle. Penne or rotini would be great alternative options.

Health Benefits of Walnuts

Walnuts are nature’s superfood. New research from California Walnuts suggests that walnut consumption may be associated with improved cognitive function.

A growing field of research is looking at walnuts and cognitive function, including areas like healthy aging as well as mood, concentration and more. 

Meal Prep

This Healthy Cherry Chicken Pasta Salad is a perfect dish for meal prep. I recommend keeping the sauce separate. Leaving the sauce separate, keeps the pasta from getting soggy, and is perfect for any sauce-haters in your family! Jack doesn’t like sauce, so I serve him some of the pasta before I mix it all together. On the other hand, Will thinks this pasta salad is amazing, dressing and all. I even got two thumbs up from him!

Healthy, Quick & Easy Recipes

Whenever I ask my readers what types of recipes they would like to see more of, the resounding answer is always “quick and easy dinners”. I always like hearing that answer because those are the kind of recipes that I want to make! So, whenever you come to Land of 10,000 Recipes, you will always be able to find recipes that are healthy, quick and easy!

Tips for Involving Kids

• Have them help you cut up all the vegetables using these knives.
• Let them measure all of the ingredients and stir to combine (both for the pasta salad and the dressing recipes).