Tex-Mex Pasta Salad
Great for summer BBQ's and potlucks, this Tex-Mex Pasta Salad is a party sized recipe made to feed a crowd. There is a lot of room for imagination and creativity with this. It is bright, fresh, acidic, creamy, smokey and everything you love in a big bowl. You can easily cut the ingredients in half for a family sized portion, but this makes great leftovers for lunches and meal prep.
Ingredients
- 500 grams Bowtie Pasta
- 12 oz Canned Corn Drained
- 19 oz Canned Black Beans Drained and rinsed
- 1 lb Chicken Thighs Diced
- 1 tbsp Taco Spice
- 1 tbsp Tomato Paste
- ¼ cup Water
- 3 Avocados Diced
- 1 cup Cherry Tomatoes Cut into 1/4's
- ¾ cup Sour Cream Or plain Greek yogurt for more protein
- 2 tbsp butter
- 100 grams Shredded Cheese
- ¾ cup Salsa Divided
- 1 tbsp Salt
- 1 tbsp Lime juice
- 1 tbsp Hot Sauce To taste, depending on brand
- ¼ cup Fresh Cilantro
Instructions
- In a large pot cook your pasta to al dente, strain the pasta water and mix in 1/4 cup of the salsa. This will help prevent the pasta from sticking together and get the spicy tomato flavour to soak in. Set aside.
- In a large skillet melt 2 tbsp of butter and sauté the chicken thighs. Try not to move the meat around the pan a lot, you want to develop a deep brown sear on the edges.
- Once mostly cooked sprinkle the taco spice over, add tomato paste and 1/4 cup of water, mix thoroughly and allow spice sauce to thicken a bit.
- In a very large bowl, start with the cooked pasta in the bottom and add the cooked chicken. Mix until evenly distributed.
- Add the drained can of corn, can of beans, diced avocado, quartered cherry tomatoes, sour cream, remaining 1/2 cup salsa, shredded cheese, salt, lime juice, and hot sauce. Mix thoroughly but gently, don't break up the pasta.
- Taste test! You can add more salsa, sour cream, salt, hot sauce, lime or lemon juice, cheese, you name it.
- When ready to serve top with the fresh chopped cilantro. This can be served with lime wedges, extra hot sauce or sour cream if desired.