Coronation Chicken Bacon Pasta Salad

Coronation chicken is one of my all-time favourite dishes and I cannot believe it’s taken me this long to come up with this dish! All it took was a bit of sun and a hungry belly, and well, here we are. Follow me!

Coronation Chicken Pasta Salad

This recipe is exactly what it says on the tin. The base is a take on my Classic Cold Coronation Chicken. The only differences are:

Removed the coriander (cilantro). It didn’t quite sit right with the pasta. Added celery for an extra layer of texture to counteract the other softer ingredients (chicken, pasta, sultanas etc). Added bacon for an extra punch of flavour.

I know bacon in a coronation chicken is probably a sin, but it works so well – promise! (think of the sweet, salty, spicy balance)

Rinsing the pasta

Really important you rinse the pasta in cold water before adding it to the salad. If it’s warm at all it’ll turn the dressing greasy. With the same token, just ensure you properly drain as much excess water from the pasta as possible. Any water lingering around with dilute the flavour of the dressing. Process shots: add yoghurt, mayo, curry powder, mango chutney, lemon juice and s&p to a bowl (photo 1), stir (photo 2), add drain pasta to 2nd bowl (photo 3), add chicken, bacon, celery, sultanas, spring onion & flaked almonds (photo 4), add dressing (photo 5), combine (photo 6).

What kind of pasta should I use?

Any short-cut pasta will do the trick! Here I use Fusillata Casareccia.

What kind of chicken should I use?

Leftover roast chicken/rotisserie chicken works perfectly here. You could also cook up a couple of chicken breasts if you’ve only got fresh chicken on hand, just ensure it completely cools before adding to the salad.

Can I make this ahead of time?

Yep! I find the optimum resting time is around 1 hour. This gives time for the flavours to marry together, but it’s not long enough for it to start drying out. The pasta salad will last a few days, but the longer it rests the drier it’ll get. Still tastes great though!

Serving Coronation Chicken Pasta Salad

I typically serve this for Lunch as a main, but you could serve it as a Side if you’d prefer! For more coronation goodness check out my Coronation Chicken Curry and Classic Coronation Chicken! For more pasta salad recipes check out my Incredible Pasta Salads! Alrighty, let’s tuck into the full recipe for this coronation chicken pasta salad shall we?!