Chicken, Bacon, & Peach Pasta Salad with Hot Honey Dressing

By Maria Lichty

Published on July 22, 2024

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Pasta salads are a summertime staple! The perfect dish to take to cookouts, picnics, and potlucks. Pasta salads can also be made in advance, making them great for easy lunches and dinners. A few of my favorite pasta salads include my Easy Pasta Salad, Italian Pasta Salad, and Caprese Pasta Salad.

Whenever I want to WOW my friends and family, I make this Chicken, Bacon, & Peach Pasta Salad with Hot Honey Dressing. The flavors are bold, fresh, and the salad is so satisfying. If you like the BEST grilled chicken sandwich, you will love this salad too. The flavors are similar.

This pasta salad is made with pasta, chicken, crispy bacon, sweet peaches, charred corn, juicy tomatoes, white cheddar cheese, and fresh basil. The salad is finished with a sweet and spicy hot honey dressing that compliments all of the flavors. It’s SO good. The honey isn’t overly spicy, but adds a nice kick that will keep you coming back for MORE!

This is the perfect pasta salad for summertime. The colors and flavors scream summer!

Salad Ingredients

• Pasta– I like to use fusilli, orecchiette, or penne pasta, but you can use your favorite pasta shape.
• Sweet corn– remove the husks and silks.
• Olive oil– for brushing the corn.
• Peaches– choose large peaches that are ripe and juicy!
• Chicken– you can use chopped grilled chicken, cooked chicken, or even rotisserie chicken.
• Bacon– cook 4 strips of bacon and chop it up!
• White cheddar cheese– cut into cubes!
• Grape tomatoes– halved!
• Red onion– for flavor and color!
• Basil– so fresh!

Hot Honey Dressing Ingredients

• Olive oil– the base of the dressing!
• Hot honey– the STAR of the dressing! You can find hot honey at most grocery stores or buy it online.
• Red wine vinegar– for a little tang!
• Lemon juice– to brighten up the dressing.
• Dijon mustard– adding mustard helps emulsify the dressing and adds flavor.
• Garlic– always garlic!

How to Make the Pasta Salad

• Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and cook until al dente, according to package instructions. Drain and rinse with cold water. Set aside.
• Preheat grill to medium-high heat. Brush the corn with oil and grill for 2 minutes per side, or until char marks form. Remove from grill and set aside to cool to room temperature.
• Use a sharp knife to carefully slice down each side of the corn cobs to remove the kernels.

• In a large bowl, combine pasta, corn, peaches, chicken, bacon, cheese tomatoes, red onion, and basil.
• In a small bowl, whisk together the olive oil, hot honey, red wine vinegar, lemon juice, Dijon mustard, garlic, and salt.

• Pour the dressing over the pasta salad and stir until the salad is well coated. Taste and season with salt and pepper, if necessary.
• Garnish with a drizzle of hot honey, if desired. Serve!

Variations

• Use grilled chicken, chopped chicken, or rotisserie chicken.
• Instead of bacon you can use prosciutto.
• Instead of peaches, you can use nectarines.
• I recommend using fresh sweet corn. If you can’t find good sweet corn, you can use thawed frozen corn.
• White cheddar adds great flavor to the salad, but feel free to swap it for regular cheddar, gouda, mozzarella, or crumbled goat cheese or feta.
• Add extra herbs like parsley or chives.
• Add chopped avocado for extra creaminess!
• If you want the salad to be vegetarian, you can leave out the chicken and bacon.
• If you can’t find hot honey, use regular honey and add crushed red pepper flakes to the dressing to give it a kick.

Serving Suggestions

This pasta salad can be served as a main dish or side dish. If you are looking for other dishes to enjoy with the pasta salad, here are a few ideas.

• Simple Arugula Salad
• Simple Kale Salad
• Watermelon Feta Salad
• Dinner Rolls
• Bruschetta

How to Store

• Store leftover pasta salad in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. If the pasta salad dries out a little, you can drizzle with additional dressing or olive oil.

More Pasta Salad Recipes

• Easy Pasta Salad
• Italian Pasta Salad
• Chicken Pasta Salad
• Pesto Pasta Salad
• Caprese Pasta Salad
• Easy Orzo Salad

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Pasta

Chicken, Bacon, Peach Pasta Salad with Hot Honey Dressing

Pasta salad with chicken, bacon, fresh peaches, charred corn, white cheddar cheese, tomatoes, basil, and a sweet and spicy hot honey dressing. This pasta salad recipe is loaded with flavor and a summertime favorite!

5 from 1 vote

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Prep Time 15 minutes mins

Cook Time 20 minutes mins

Total Time 35 minutes mins

Cuisine American

Servings 8

Cook ModePrevent your screen from going dark

Ingredients

  

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For the salad:

• 1 lb pasta, fusilli, orecchiette, or penne
• 3 ears sweet corn, husks and silks removed, cut off the stem
• Olive oil, for brushing the corn
• 2 large peaches, pit removed and chopped (or 3 small peaches)
• 2 cups chopped grilled chicken
• 4 strips cooked bacon, chopped
• 1 1/2 cups cubed white cheddar cheese
• 1 1/2 cups grape tomatoes, halved
• 1/2 cup chopped red onion
• 3/4 cup chopped basil
• Salt and pepper, to taste

For the dressing:

• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1/3 cup hot honey*
• 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt

Instructions

 

• Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and cook until al dente, according to package instructions. Drain and rinse with cold water. Set aside.
• Preheat grill to medium-high heat. Brush the corn with oil and grill for 2 minutes per side, or until char marks form. Remove from grill and set aside to cool to room temperature.
• Use a sharp knife to carefully slice down each side of the corn cobs to remove the kernels.
• In a large bowl, combine pasta, corn, peaches, chicken, bacon, cheese tomatoes, red onion, and basil.
• In a small bowl, whisk together the olive oil, hot honey, red wine vinegar, lemon juice, Dijon mustard, garlic, and salt.
• Pour the dressing over the pasta salad and stir until the salad is well coated. Taste and season with salt and pepper, if necessary. Garnish with a drizzle of hot honey, if desired. Serve.

Notes

If you don’t have hot honey, you can use regular honey and add ¼ to ½ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes to the dressing.

Nutrition

Calories: 504kcal, Carbohydrates: 62g, Protein: 27g, Fat: 21g, Saturated Fat: 6g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 3g, Monounsaturated Fat: 13g, Cholesterol: 55mg, Sodium: 553mg, Potassium: 494mg, Fiber: 4g, Sugar: 18g, Vitamin A: 759IU, Vitamin C: 11mg, Calcium: 182mg, Iron: 2mg

Keywords bacon, chicken, hot honey, pasta, peach

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