Chicken Caesar Pasta Salad

A good Caesar salad will forever and always be one of my favorite foods. But I’m also just as happy to whip up a delicious batch of its carb-y cousin, a chicken Caesar pasta salad. ♡

It’s basically everything we all love about a good chicken Caesar — perfectly-seasoned chicken, crisp Romaine leaves, a bold and tangy Caesar dressing and a generous shower of freshly-grated Parmesan — tossed with chilled and chewy al dente pasta. Then in lieu of traditional croutons, I like to whip up a quick batch of crunchy, salty, garlicky breadcrumbs to sprinkle on top. It’s a classic pasta salad recipe that’s always so satisfying and comes together easily too!

• 1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts
• fine sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 pound uncooked pasta (I used farfalle)
• 3 Romaine lettuce hearts (12 ounces), roughly chopped
• 1 1/2 cups Caesar dressing
• Parmesan cheese, for topping

• 1 tablespoon butter
• 2 cloves garlic, pressed or minced
• 1/2 cup Panko breadcrumbs
• fine sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper