Orange Ginger Chicken Pasta Salad

This easy Orange Ginger Chicken Pasta Salad is a fresh and healthy recipe filled with crunchy sugar snap peas, almonds, mandarin oranges and tossed with a homemade orange ginger vinaigrette for a filling lunch or wholesome side dish.

Mandarin Orange Salad

Enjoy this delicious and refreshing Orange Ginger Chicken Pasta Salad with our easy-to-follow recipe. Perfect for summer gatherings, this salad is packed with Asian inspired flavors with sugar snap peas, almonds, leftover rotisserie chicken, Orzo pasta, and a homemade zesty orange ginger dressing. Try it now and impress your guests!

We love a healthy orange chicken recipe, like this Light & Crunchy Orange Chicken Wrap. This Mandarin Orange Chicken Salad has similar flavors but in the form of a pasta salad that is easy to transport and perfect for meal prep.

Healthy Meal Prep Lunch Recipe

We like the addition of chicken in this pasta for a hearty recipe for lunch. It’s perfect to pack for a picnic, meal prep for lunch at work or just grab a quick bite to eat. Its got fruit, veggies, protein and carbs for a complete meal all in one.

The salad is dressed with a Light Orange Ginger Vinaigrette that is heavy on the fresh orange juice and not on the oil. The fresh ginger in the dressing packs a nice punch of flavor as well.

If you are wanting to make things even healthier, you can opt for whole wheat orzo for more fiber.

Orange Chicken Pasta Salad Ingredients

This Orange Chicken Salad comes together in just minutes. Here is what you will need,

• Shredded chicken
• Orzo pasta
• Can of Mandarin Oranges in juice (no sugar added)
• Sugar snap pea pods
• Sliced almonds
• Green onions

Orzo pasta

We use a half box of Orzo pasta for this recipe. Cook the pasta according to the package directions. Strain the pasta in a mesh strainer and rinse with cold water.

As soon as the pasta is cooled from rinsing, toss it with a healthy drizzle of olive oil.

Leftover Rotisserie Chicken

While you can certainly bake some chicken breasts or even smoke chicken breasts for this orange chicken pasta salad, we like to keep things simple. We use leftover shredded chicken breasts or rotisserie chicken for a quick fix.

If you don’t have any chicken on hand, some leftover carnitas would be fantastic in this recipe as well. The citrus flavors would go great together.

Heck, you can skip the chicken all together and make this pasta salad as a side to go along with some mouthwatering Smoked Spicy Asian Pork Ribs.

Toasted Almonds

Add the almonds to a large skillet with a drizzle of olive oil. Toast over medium-high heat for just a couple minutes, tossing regularly. Keep a close eye on them so they don’t burn.

As soon as the almonds are a light golden brown, remove them from the heat and place in a bowl. Don’t leave them in the skillet, or they will continue to cook and can quickly burn.

Mandarin Oranges

We used a can of mandarin oranges in juice with no sugar added to keep things healthy with this chicken pasta salad. They do cost a little more, so if the sugar isn’t a concern to you, you can certainly use regular mandarin oranges in juice.

You may want to leave the honey out of the orange ginger vinaigrette though if your oranges have more sugar.

If you don’t like to use canned fruit or you have lots of fresh oranges on hand, you can absolutely use fresh oranges. Use a pairing knife to remove the rind from the oranges and carefully segment the oranges one by one. You will need about 4-5 oranges to substitute for a can of mandarin oranges.

How to make Orange Chicken Pasta Salad

Chop the sugar snap peas and dice the green and white parts of the green onions. Add the veggies to a large bowl along with the cooled pasta, shredded chicken, toasted almonds, and drained mandarin oranges.

Orange Ginger Vinaigrette

Whisk together the following ingredients for the Orange Ginger Vinaigrette,

• 1/2 cup fresh orange juice (2 oranges)
• 1 teaspoon grated orange zest
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 2 teaspoons honey
• 1 Tablespoon rice vinegar
• 2 teaspoons fresh ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon salt

Pour the vinaigrette over the chicken pasta salad and give it a good stir.

If you like to keep the mandarin oranges whole, you may want to add them after mixing everything else with the vinaigrette. I like to mix it with the oranges so they break up a little into smaller pieces to distribute them throughout the salad better.

More Veggies!

If you are looking to pack this orange chicken salad with even more veggies, here are a few that would be great additions,

• Shredded or matchstick carrots
• Broccoli
• Bok choy
• Baby spinach

More Healthy Lunch Recipes

If you are looking for more great lunch recipes that are easy to meal prep, here are some of our favorites,

• BBQ Chicken & Feta Pasta Salad – This is another great recipe to use up leftover chicken
• Leftover Salmond Lettuce Cups – Another fantastic recipe with Asian inspired flavors, these easy lettuce cups make for a great lunch.
• Ham & Cheese Egg Bites – Whether you are prepping these for lunch or breakfast, they are packed with protein and make a quick and easy meal.
• Vegetarian Salad in a Jar – These five salads offer amazing variety for lunch salads.