Summer Chicken & Lemon Pasta Salad
Summer Chicken & Lemon Pasta Salad — 22 mins family dinner · Summer set · Uses leftovers. Part of a three-meal shopping base with household scaling. 10 mins,…
Ingredients
- 85g leftover cooked chicken from Dinner 1
- Leftover roasted veg from Dinner 1
- 85g dried pasta, such as fusilli, penne or small shells
- 60g frozen peas
- ¼ cucumber, diced for adults/toddler
- 4 cherry tomatoes, quartered, or 1–2 medium tomatoes diced
- 1 carrot, grated
- 40g plain full-fat yoghurt or Greek yoghurt
- Juice of ½ lemon
- 1 tsp olive oil, optional
Method
- Cook the pasta according to the packet. For babies, cook a small portion slightly softer if needed.
- Add the frozen peas for the final 3–4 minutes of cooking so they are fully cooked. Drain.
- Reheat the leftover chicken and roasted veg until steaming hot throughout, then let it cool slightly so the pasta salad is warm rather than hot.
- Mix yoghurt, lemon juice and olive oil if using. Keep it salt-free.
- Remove babies portion: soft pasta, shredded chicken, squashed peas, soft roasted veg and a little yoghurt dressing.
- For adults and the child aged 2–4 years, mix pasta, peas, chicken, roasted veg, cucumber, tomatoes, grated carrot and yoghurt dressing.
- Adults can add black pepper, chilli, extra lemon and salt at the table.
Storage and reheating
Cool leftover chicken and roasted veg quickly, refrigerate within 2 hours, and use within 48 hours. Reheat the chicken once only until steaming hot throughout before using it in Dinner 3. For babies, keep portions separate before adding salt, chilli, salty sauces, ketchup, chutney, stock cubes or extra cheese. Squash round foods such as peas and beans, quarter cherry tomatoes, and keep rice/couscous/pasta moist enough to avoid dry clumps.
Safety and substitutions
Peas should be squashed for babies. Cherry tomatoes should be quartered for the toddler and chopped very small or cooked soft for babies. Raw cucumber and raw carrot can be too firm for some babies, so use soft roasted veg for babies unless they are already confident with those textures. Reheat leftover chicken only once until steaming hot throughout.
Why this recipe works
22 mins family dinner · Summer set · Uses leftovers. Part of a three-meal shopping base with household scaling.
Part of a three-meal set
Sunshine Lemon Chicken Spread — A summery base of lemon chicken and butter beans across three lighter family dinners.
Updated 2026-07-20