Chicken Caesar Pasta Salad

Chicken Caesar salad turned into a pasta salad! This one provides the beloved flavors and works great as a hefty side or as a cool meal!

Use any pasta you have, any greens you have, and rotisserie chicken to make it quick!

Chicken Caesar Pasta Salad
Ingredients (serves 2 meals or ~4 sides)

~8 oz short pasta
1 chicken breast
1 head romaine
1/4 cup creamy caesar dressing
1 teaspoon anchovy paste (optional)
oil/vinegar
2 tablespoons parmesan

Directions:
Cook the pasta and allow to cool.
While the pasta cools, chop the chicken and romaine.
Stir the pasta, romaine (if serving right away), and chicken with the dressing and a splash of oil and vinegar.

Sprinkle on the parmesan and pepper.
Enjoy!

This is so cravable. I love these flavors and this is a nice but gentle twist. Make it in advance and stir in the lettuce just before serving!

We love caesar and it works just as well with other greens – I packed it for a work lunch with arugula to toss in.

Buffalo Chicken Burrito

Rice & crisping the outside turn this from wrap to burrito. It has crispy chicken tossed in buffalo sauce, rice, greens, carrots, just a little cheese, and dressing of your choice before getting crispy on the outside and melty on the inside.

Buffalo Chicken Burrito
Ingredients: for 2

1/2 cup cooked rice
2 tortillas, burrito size
~10 breaded chicken chunks
1 cup arugula
1 carrot
1/3 cup cheese
buffalo sauce
ranch/blue cheese

Directions:
Prepare the rice – I used brown rice in the pressure cooker for 10 minutes.
Cook/crisp the chicken.
Chop the arugula and chop or shred the carrot.
Cut the chicken if needed, toss the chicken in the buffalo.
Assemble the burritos with the tortilla, cheese, rice, arugula, carrot, chicken, and lastly the dressing.

Before rolling them up, preheat a pan to medium heat with a drizzle of oil or non-stick spray.
Tuck the ends towards the center, then roll it up, carefully tucking the sides inward.
Carefully cook rotating it to evenly crisp. Use tongs to ensure it stays rolled up.

Slice and enjoy!

It’s perfect. I thought about adding pickled onions and tomatoes but it seemed like it was bordering on too much. I loved it. It needs so little chicken and so little rice per burrito so it makes a great use of leftovers – it becomes impossible to wrap if it gets too full too!

Chicken Parmesan Rice Bowls

Will. It. Rice bowl? Of course! Anything can become a rice bowl! I took a few of our favorite flavors and turned them into a very quick rice bowl. Rice bowls are filling from the rice, with protein from the chicken, and a big veggie serving.

Chicken Parm Rice Bowl - The Three Bite Rule

This would be great with risotto or orzo but I had leftover brown rice so I went with that. If by chance you don’t love arugula as much as I do, sautéed veggies or roasted broccoli or any veg!

Chicken Parmesan Rice Bowls
Ingredients: (for 2)

1 1/2 cups prepared rice (or other grain)
4 tablespoons parmesan cheese
4 chicken tenders or ~8 chicken chunks
1/2 cup tomato sauce
2 cups arugula
1/4 cup shredded mozzarella
1/4 cup fresh mozzarella

Directions:
Cook or warm the rice and stir in 1/2 the parmesan.
Cook the chicken (mine was airfried).

Top the chicken with sauce and shredded mozzarella. Return to the oven/airfryer/toaster oven to melt the cheese.
Toss the arugula with Italian dressing or oil & vinegar.
Assemble the bowls with rice in the bottom and top with chicken, fresh mozzarella, arugula, and sprinkle remaining parmesan on top.
Enjoy!

Chicken Parm Rice Bowl - The Three Bite Rule

This is really good and nicely filling. I love the melty cheese with the chicken, and the fresh arugula with a little bit of dressing adds brightness.

Some of our other fav grain bowls are:
Pineapple Coconut Rice Bowls
Winter Veggie Grain Bowls
Chicken, Bacon, & Avocado with Honey Mustard

Ranch Chicken Burgers

{originally published in 2012 and updated in 2024}

These are possibly the most-repeated dish from the blog. We’ve been having these since using a grill pan in our apartment way back when and now have them regularly in the spring and summer. They’re so good and such a crowd-pleaser.

Ranch Chicken Burgers
Ingredients: (for 4)

1 pound ground chicken
1 packet dried ranch dressing/dip mix (~2 teaspoons)
3 tbs ranch dressing
4 rolls

Directions:
Preheat the grill.
Mix together the ground chicken, ranch mix, 1 teaspoon of ranch dressing – reserving the rest for topping.
Form into 4 patties.

Sprinkle with salt & pepper then grill until cooked through 165-degrees being careful not to flip too often. These cook well on a griddle.
Serve on buns with more ranch and any toppings you like!
Enjoy!

We have these often but hadn’t yet this year. The kiddos didn’t remember them and each ate it all! There’s the lesson – repeat a previous dinner, nobody remembers how often you serve something! We each added ranch on the buns and these are great with lettuce, tomato, pickles, or anything! I think the kids add ketchup.

Chicken, Bacon & Ranch Meatballs

These are tried and true flavors in our house so they became meatballs! They’re balanced and not overwhelming in the bacon or ranch flavors.

We had them with mashed potatoes and brussels sprouts. The big guy discovered as mastery in pealing and is ready for anything with a peal-able skin.

Chicken, Bacon & Ranch Meatballs
Ingredients:

16 oz ground chicken
1 egg
~2-3 strips of bacon, cooked, chopped and fully cooled
2 teaspoons ranch powder
1 garlic clove, minced/1 teaspoon minced garlic
1/4 cup breadcrumbs
salt & pepper
oil for frying

Directions:
Preheat a large skillet to low-medium heat.
Mix together the ground chicken, egg, bacon, ranch, garlic, breadcrumbs, and salt & pepper.

Raise the temperature for the skillet to medium and add vegetable oil.
Preheat the oven to 350-degrees.
Form into balls and gently pan fry for about 3 minutes on each side.
Keep warm in the oven to finish cooking, check that the internal temperature gets to >165 degrees.

Enjoy!

We liked this meal. With 3 items it usually is safe to assume the kids will like 2 out of 3, which is good enough. The little girl always likes meatballs so she was into those the most. The big guy was the one who asked for brussels sprouts and he made the mashed potatoes so those two were his fav!