A hearty, spicy chicken pasta salad with a variety of vegetables. The vegetables you use can be determined by what you have on hand at the time.
*See Kitchen Notes for substitutions, links, and more information.
Corn - Use either frozen, fresh or canned. If using canned corn, don't cook it. Add it with the "other ingredients."
Leftover Chicken - Use any leftover chicken that is already seasoned. Rotisserie, smoked, roasted, or grilled. I've used leftover Grilled Soy Ginger Chicken and Smoked Chicken and both were excellent.
Other Ingredients - There are really no set ingredients for this salad. I use what I have on hand at the time. For this particular salad, I used green chile, corn, olives, onions and peppers, cilantro and Pepper Jack cheese.
Green chile - Of course I always add green chile. Again, the amount of chile is dependent on how hot it is and how hot you want the salad. Remember that the salsa will add quite a bit of spiciness as well.
Avocado - If I want avocado with this salad, I prefer to slice it and use it as a side. With just the two of us, we usually have leftovers and I don't like avocado once it has set in the salad overnight and turned brown.
Restaurant Style Salsa - Restaurants here normally serve more of a sauce like salsa rather than a chunky tomato salsa. The sauce type works much better than chunky.
Recipe author: MJ of MJ's Kitchen