This is a cold dish with a hot component, and the whole method is arranged around getting the char without warming the salad. The chicken is grilled, then cooled ten minutes, then cut.
The pasta gets the same treatment in reverse: rinsed briefly under cool water and drained well, so it stops cooking and stops steaming before the dressing goes anywhere near it.
Why This Recipe Works
- Brushing the barbecue sauce on near the end of grilling lets it caramelise rather than burn.
- Rinsing the pasta washes off surface starch that would otherwise make a cold salad gluey.
- Mayonnaise and Greek yogurt together give a dressing that clings without being as heavy as mayo alone.
- Cider vinegar and honey balance the barbecue sauce so the dressing is tangy rather than only sweet.
Ingredient Notes
- Barbecue sauce, divided
- Half a cup: a quarter brushed onto the chicken near the end of grilling, the rest whisked into the dressing.
- Cavatappi
- Twelve ounces. The corkscrew shape holds a creamy dressing, which is why it is the pasta shown.
- Mayonnaise and Greek yogurt
- Half a cup and a third of a cup. Together they are the body of the dressing.
How to Make It
Cook and cool the pasta
Cook cavatappi until al dente; rinse briefly under cool water and drain well.
Grill the chicken to 165F
Rub chicken with oil, salt and pepper. Grill over medium-high heat until charred and 165 degrees Fahrenheit, brushing with 1/4 cup BBQ sauce near the end.
Cool, then cut
Cool chicken 10 minutes, then slice or cube it.
Whisk the dressing
Whisk remaining BBQ sauce with mayonnaise, yogurt, vinegar and honey.
Toss and chill
Toss pasta with dressing, red onion, yellow pepper, parsley and chicken. Chill 20 minutes before serving.
The Grill and the Pot
Two hot processes feeding one cold dish. Both have to come down in temperature before they meet, which is why each track ends in cooling rather than in serving.
On the grill
- Medium-high heat
1 1/2 lb of chicken breast rubbed with oil, salt and pepper, grilled until charred and reading 165F.
- Near the end
1/4 cup of the barbecue sauce brushed on, late enough to caramelise rather than burn.
- 10 minutes off the heat
Cooled before it is sliced or cubed. Cutting it hot would steam the salad it is about to join.
In the pasta pot
- Al dente
12 oz of cavatappi, cooked no further - it will sit in dressing rather than continue cooking.
- Immediately after
Rinsed briefly under cool water and drained well. This stops the cooking and removes the surface starch a cold salad cannot carry.
Everything cold, then twenty minutes more
Pasta tossed with the dressing - the other 1/4 cup of barbecue sauce whisked with mayonnaise, yogurt, vinegar and honey - plus red onion, yellow pepper, parsley and the cut chicken. Twenty minutes in the fridge before it is served.
Success Tips
- Brush the sauce on near the end. Applied at the start it burns before the chicken is cooked.
- Drain the pasta well after rinsing — water left clinging thins the dressing.
- Give it the full twenty minutes in the fridge; the dressing tightens and the flavours settle.
Serving Ideas
Six servings, chilled, with the charred chicken, red onion and yellow pepper visible through the creamy dressing and parsley over the top.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I make this in a slow cooker?
No. It is a cold pasta salad, and the chicken is grilled for the char the finished dish shows.
Why rinse the pasta?
It stops the cooking and washes off the starch that would make a cold salad gluey.
How done should the chicken be?
165 degrees Fahrenheit, charred on the grill, then cooled ten minutes before cutting.
