FIESTA RANCH CHICKEN PASTA SALAD

Fiesta Ranch Chicken Pasta Salad is full of fresh southwestern flavors with black beans, corn, cheese and tomatoes. This hearty chicken pasta salad recipe topped with Fritos is perfect as a main dish or a side dish for potlucks and parties!
Fiesta Ranch Chicken Pasta Salad is one of my favorite summertime meals because it doesn’t require the oven and it makes a huge batch which usually leaves us with enough leftovers to give me another night off from making dinner! Gotta love those no-bake/no-oven dinners! Especially when you live in a home with no air-conditioning.

Can you make this pasta salad in advance?

This is also a perfect dish for taking to potluck dinners. You can make the salad immediately before serving, or you can make it a couple of days in advance if that’s more convenient!

This dish is very versatile – you can add or subtract any veggies you want and it still turns out wonderfully each time. Sometimes when I serve this to my family, I will leave some of the veggies out and serve them next to the salad. That way everyone can add the ones that they like. And that way I can leave out the tomatoes since as much as I’ve tried, I haven’t found a way to enjoy eating them!

When do you add the Fritos to the salad?

Don’t forget the final step! Just before serving you’ll want to top the salad with Fritos. They add a lot of crunch and pair very well with the flavors in the salad. When I serve this salad at home, I usually just serve the Fritos separately and let everyone add their own to the top of their portion. That way, any leftovers that we have can be stored without the chips so that they don’t get soggy!
What type of ranch dressing is used in this chicken pasta salad?

The key to the dressing for this salad is the Hidden Valley Fiesta Dip mix. You use this in place of regular ranch dip mix and the flavor is incredible! I will admit that I have had some difficulty finding it at certain grocery stores, but I have almost always been able to find it Walmart. Since I make this salad many times each year, I just make sure to stay stocked up! When I’m at a grocery store where I can find this, I get several so that I can make sure I have it when I need it. You’ll find it right next to the other dressing mixes.

There have been a few times where I have been in the middle of making this salad and then realized that I didn’t have any of my stockpile left, and I have used regular ranch dip mix in place of the Fiesta flavored one. If you do this, just add a couple tablespoons of taco seasoning or a Southwest seasoning to the dry mix before you add the wet ingredients. It won’t taste exactly the same as the real thing, but it’ll still be yummy!

Fiesta Ranch Chicken Pasta Salad

• 1 pkg. of pasta (rotini, bowtie, tri-colored, etc)
• 3 boneless chicken breasts, cooked and diced (I usually use a rotisserie chicken)
• 1 packet taco seasoning mix
• 1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 can kidney beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 package frozen corn
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 green pepper, chopped
• 1 can of olives, sliced
• 2 cups grated cheddar cheese
• 2 tomatoes, chopped

Dressing:

• 2 cups mayonnaise
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1 pkg. Hidden Valley Fiesta dip mix (I have had best luck finding this at Walmart)

1. Cook pasta, drain and cool.
2. Combine with all of the other ranch chicken pasta salad ingredients in a large mixing bowl. 
3. Whisk together dressing ingredients, then pour over salad. Stir to combine. keep refrigerated until ready to serve.
4. Right before serving, add in Frito corn chips to taste.  Enjoy!

Fiesta Ranch Chicken Pasta Salad is full of fresh southwestern flavors with black beans, corn, cheese and tomatoes. Hearty chicken salad recipe topped with Fritos!

Servings: 15

Author: Butter With A Side of Bread

Ingredients

• 1 pkg. of pasta rotini, bowtie, tri-colored, etc
• 3 boneless chicken breasts cooked and diced (I usually use a rotisserie chicken)
• 1 packet taco seasoning mix
• 1 can black beans drained and rinsed
• 1 can kidney beans drained and rinsed
• 1 package frozen corn
• 1 onion chopped
• 1 green pepper chopped
• 1 can of olives sliced
• 2 cups grated cheddar cheese
• 2 tomatoes chopped
• 1 pkg Frito Corn Chips (for topping)

SALAD DRESSING

• 2 cups mayonnaise
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1 pkg Hidden Valley Fiesta Ranch Dressing Mix

Instructions

1. Cook pasta, drain and cool. Combine with all of the other ingredients in a large mixing bowl, and then mix up the dressing.
2. Whisk all of the dressing ingredients together in a small bowl until smooth. 
3. Add dressing to the salad and keep refrigerated until ready to serve. Right before serving, add in Frito corn chips to taste. Enjoy!

source: butterwithasideofbread.com

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