Chicken Tarragon Pasta Salad {Central Market Knock Off}

One of my favorite chicken salads on the planet is from Central Market/Whole Foods grocery store. Every time I go to Houston (it’s a two hour drive for me), I always stop by Central Market to pick up their chicken tarragon salad because it’s seriously out of this world.  It’s a mix of chicken, tarragon, grapes, celery, walnuts and purple onion and together, it’s pretty incredible.

A few weeks ago, I was craving the salad and decided to try and recreate the recipe but I wanted to turn it into a cold pasta salad and skip the walnuts.  We live off of pasta salads in the summer because it’s crazy hot here in East Texas. After some tweaking, the recipe turned out almost identical to Central Market’s and I thought I would share it with you guys today.

Here’s the recipe:
Chicken Tarragon Pasta Salad

(serves 8-10 -Cut in Half to Reduce Serving Size )

Ingredients;

1-lb of Penne Pasta- Cooked Al Dente
2 1/2 Cups Shredded Rotisserie Chicken
2 1/4 Cups Red Seedless Grapes (Sliced in Half)
2 1/4 Cups Finely Sliced Celery Stalks
1/4 Cup Diced Purple Onion
3/4 Cup Shredded (not grated) Parmesan Cheese
3/4 Cup Sour Cream
1 Cup Mayonnaise (I use Helmans Light)
1-1/4 teaspoon Dried Tarragon (you can use fresh but reduce quantity to 1 teaspoon)
1-1/4 teaspoon Dried Dill
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

Mix together the sour cream, mayonnaise and all of the seasonings together first in a very large bowl.  Next, add in the penne and mix.  Add the celery, onion and chicken and mix for several minutes to completely spread through the chicken.  Last, fold in the parmesan and grapes.   Chill for at least two hours before eating so the salad so the pasta can absorb the flavors. Top with parmesan cheese to serve.

I realize that this is a lot of pasta salad but we eat off the pasta for several days.  I mix in a couple tablespoons of sour cream each day before I serve to get the salad a little creamier.

Thanks for stopping by today friends and if your looking for more of my pasta salad recipes that I have shared over the years by clicking the image directly below:

Cheers!

Cyndy