This delish Caesar Pasta Salad is cold and refreshing, just in time for summer!

A delicious pasta salad tossed with grilled chicken, parmesan cheese, and crisp romaine lettuce in a super quick Caesar dressing.

Serve as a hearty side dish, a light summer supper, or tuck it into a pita or wrap for a healthy midday lunch!

A Favorite Summer Meal

• This meal is great made ahead of time and packs well for lunches all week.
• Caesar pasta salad is full of goodness from protein, veggies, and dairy all into one delish dish!
• It's the perfect potluck dish because there is something for everyone.
• So many variations to choose from. Use whatever pasta is on hand or use leftover or rotisserie chicken. Love kale Caesar salad, swap out the romaine for kale!
• Toss with bottled dressing, use the shortcut version below or try our favorite from scratch Ceasar salad dressing.
• Serve with extra homemade croutons or a slice of garlic bread and watch it disappear!

Ingredients and Variations

Pasta – Choose medium-sized pasta shapes that have ridges and spaces for the dressing to cling to. We like penne, rotini, and larger sizes of shells and macaroni.

Chicken – Grilled chicken makes this side dish salad a full meal deal! Make it with this DIY chicken seasoning blend or this spicy Cajun blend. Other delicious protein options are bay shrimp, smoked or grilled salmon, or diced salami.

Dressing – Caesar salad dressing has delicious lemon parmesan and garlic dressing.

Greek yogurt can be switched out for sour cream. To decrease the calories a bit, use light mayonnaise and low fat Greek yogurt or sour cream.

Additions – For a salad bar, offer a variety of toppings like extra parmesan cheese, shredded cheddar cheese, chopped hard-boiled eggs, bacon bits, sunflower seeds, or slivered almonds.

How to Make Caesar Pasta Salad

This salad is delicious and so easy to throw together! The steps are simple:

1. Make the dressing (per recipe below) and refrigerate.
2. Cook pasta al dente according to package directions. Drain and rinse under cold water.
3. Grill seasoned chicken until the internal temperature reaches 165°F, remove from the grill and let rest.
4. Chop chicken. Combine all ingredients in a bowl and toss with the desired amount of dressing. Top with additional croutons.

Tips for Caesar Pasta Salad

• Make the dressing first so the flavors can blend. I often double the dressing to have Caesar salad later in the week too!
• As with all pasta recipes, be sure to salt the pasta water. Use any medium pasta shape.
• Use grilled chicken, rotisserie chicken, or leftover chicken to make this recipe quick.
• To make this meal a side dish, leave out the chicken.
• Homemade dressing is best but you can certainly substitute bottled Caesar salad dressing if you prefer.
• Bacon or real bacon bits will both work perfectly in this recipe. Skip the imitation bacon, it will get soggy.

Storing Caesar Pasta Salad

• Store dressing/salad in the fridge for up to 2-3 days. If stored longer, there is a risk that the garlic may produce botulism, a serious toxin, and this is not a risk worth taking.
• Add fresh chopped romaine lettuce and salad dressing, if desired.
• To make ahead, mix all the ingredients except the dressing and refrigerate. Add the dressing just before serving.

More Pasta Salads That Eat Like a Meal

These pasta salads are a full meal in a bowl and best of all, they keep a few days for lunches!

These are HUGE Strawberry White Chocolate Cookies speckled with creamy and rich white chocolate chips and beautifully balanced with tart freeze-dried strawberries. Grab your baking essentials and let's go!

Does one ever say no to a perfectly soft but still chewy, very BUTTER-FORWARD cookie? What about one with chewy bright little bits of strawberry and silky-sweet white chocolate chips? Now that we have your attention…

OMG WHAAAAAT THESE ARE SO GOOOOOOOD.

Just, so good. They're (maybe overly) large, they're melty, and they're all your favorite cookie textures. The freeze-dried strawberries used for these get so pleasingly chewy as they soak up the butter while baking, putting raisins-in-cookies to absolute shame (depending on your deeply held beliefs about raisins in baked goods, might be too late for that). The white chocolate is the richest and creamiest with its very sweet sweet beautifully balanced with the strawberries' tart tart.

Have we mentioned how good?

In This Post: Everything You'll Need For Strawberry White Chocolate Cookies

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Ingredients For These Strawberry White Chocolate Cookies

First things first, let's get your heart and grocery list ready for these buttery disks of joy. Here's what you'll need:

• salted butter (unsalted could work too, but salted is really a treat here!)
• light brown sugar
• granulated sugar
• egg
• vanilla
• flour
• baking soda
• salt
• freeze-dried strawberries
• white chocolate chips (Loved Ghiradelli best! ALDI's were also good. Nestle wasn't a fave but they'd work!)

Grab your cookie sheets, your parchment paper, all your hopes and dreams, and get ready for something special.

How To Make These Delicious Cookies

Here's how they come together. We went all-in for about 9-12 giant cookies for this recipe but, of course, if you want to do sweet dainty little baby cookies instead of our jumbo ones, go for it!

1. Cookie batter. Combine the butter with the sugar until creamy. Next, egg and vanilla; mix until just combined. Add the dry ingredients and mix until just combined then fold in the white chocolate chips.
2. Crush the strawberries. Gently crush the pieces by hand into small chunks. Careful not to crush all the way into a powder. Fold those strawbs into the dough!
3. Roll and bake. We rolled them into about 9-12 larger dough balls and placed them on a parchment-lined baking sheet to bake for 9-11 minutes.

We veer on the side of under-baking (about 9ish minutes), so when you pull them out, they will be a little puffed. RESIST EVERY URGE IN YOUR SOUL and let them sit for just a few minutes so they can sink. You will be rewarded with soft, dense, tart-sweet little buttery medallions that will make you cry real tears.

What To Know About Freeze-Dried Strawberries

So here's the deal on these little freeze-dried babies. They are a dream of a cookie add-in because they soak up moisture (read: all that delicious butter) and turn into buttery chewy little wonder bits. And who are we if not someone who appreciates a good butter vehicle? But because they soak up the moisture, it is important to not use too much flour!

• A word on the flour. We recommend spooning the flour into the measuring cup to get the amount right so you don't get cookies that are too puffy! You want them to be able to sink and get dense/soft/chewy/dreamy.

• Gently crush into chunks, not powder. They will turn the cookies grey if you have too much of a powder (a little powder is unavoidable and totally okay!).

• Can I use fresh strawberries? We wouldn't! They'd be too wet. But if you try and get a different outcome, do let us know!

• Where do I find these magical things? We have often found them at ALDI and Target, usually near all the other dried fruits. You can also order them on Amazon (affiliate link).

Other Uses For Freeze-Dried Strawberries

Well, now that you have a bag of these bad boys and are already sitting down enjoying a batch of these cookie greats and thinking, "Where else can I use these little gems?", might we suggest…

• plopped into a bowl of warm oatmeal
• stirred into your yogurt for a different texture berry
• you an overnight oats champ? we have an idea for you…
• added to cold and creamy smoothie

Also, please do not underestimate just what weird and wonderful little snackers they are, so eating them by the pinchful is acceptable!

Make-Ahead Instructions

Do you have some people to wow after dinner next week or do you just want to have something ready to go when you inevitably at some point in the future wander into your kitchen at 10pm thinking "Ugh, why aren't there cookies?!"

Well, here's the solution:

• Make the dough, roll it into balls and then freeze! That way they are ready to pop on the pan and bake whenever your heart shall call to them. Just give them a couple extra minutes of bake time from frozen.

• If you want to bake them and not jump immediately on the bake-and-eat-all train like we do, you can keep them in an airtight container for a few days and they will still wow. (You could also store fully baked in the freezer the same way, and then maybe give them a quick zap in the microwave for your soft, buttery, enjoyment.)

Variations On These Cookies

We'd like to take this opportunity now to just cheer you on to run forth into the night and make every variation on these you can! Obviously, you're already thinking of trying these with freeze-dried raspberries, us too! Would a freeze-dried blueberry with a little zip of lemon zest in there be spectacular? We haven't tried this yet, but doesn't it sound like a dream?!

Could you skip the fruit bits altogether and just do a white chocolate chip cookie? Yes, for sure. But then you might find yourself thinking, "You know what these need? Little tart chewy bits of bright buttery strawbs. That sounds amazing!"

And then, well, you know…you'll find yourself right back here. Repeat, repeat, repeat.

Strawberry White Chocolate Cookies: Frequently Asked Questions

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Even More Delicious Cookie Recipes To Start Baking!

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Blueberry pancakes are a classic breakfast option for a good reason… They are the best! Soft, fluffy, and packed with fresh, juicy blueberries, you won't be able to stop at just one!

If you love pancakes for breakfast, then you must try out a few more of my favorites! After all, there are SO many ways to cook up delicious pancakes. You don't want to miss any! Try these Lemon Pancakes, these cornbread pancakes, and these delicious cinnamon roll pancakes!

Homemade Blueberry Pancakes Recipe

If you love homemade blueberry pancakes, then boy do I have the BEST recipe for you to try! These blueberry pancakes turn out perfect every time. They are fluffy pancakes that are so soft and delicious. The fresh blueberries provide that juicy taste when you bite into them that is so amazing when you combine it with the pancake and syrup.

I love pancake recipes because they are so quick and easy to make, and these ones are no exception. You can whip them up in under 10 minutes, and they will taste like you went to a restaurant for breakfast or brunch! Plus, they are simple enough that they will go with any syrup. I like to try eating mine with coconut syrup or this homemade buttermilk syrup. You can't go wrong!

Ingredients in Blueberry Pancakes

These blueberry pancakes use staple pantry items that you probably already have on hand! Grab some fresh blueberries and make this delicious breakfast as soon as possible. Check out the recipe card at the bottom of the post for exact measurements.

• Egg: I always use a large egg when i am making pancakes.
• Canola Oil: You can use vegetable instead if that's what you have on hand.
• Milk: I use 1 percent milk but you can use any milk that you have in your fridge.
• Flour: I used all-purpose flour and it worked great for these pancakes! If you like a little healthier version, try these whole wheat pancakes instead.
• Salt: The salt enhances all of the flavors in the pancakes.
• Sugar: I like to add sugar so that the overall flavor is a little sweet.
• Baking Powder: The baking powder helps these pancakes to rise and be nice and fluffy.
• Blueberries: I use fresh blueberries! You can use frozen but I would thaw and drain them first.

Let's Make Some Pancakes!

Blueberry pancakes are so simple yet delicious. It's no wonder they are such a classic breakfast option. Once you try this recipe, you will have a go-to recipe for pancakes that you will never veer away from!

1. Mix Wet Ingredients: In a medium-sized bowl whisk together egg, oil, and milk. 
2. Stir Dry Ingredients: In a separate bowl combine flour, salt, sugar, and baking powder. 
3. Combine: Add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and combine. Fold in blueberries.
4. Cook: Preheat a griddle or pan over medium heat. Spray with cooking spray and drop about ⅓ cup of the batter onto the warm skillet. Once it forms bubbles then flip to the other side and cook until golden brown.