Caesar Pasta Salad with Grilled Chicken

Ingredients

• 6 to 8 chicken breasts (breasts should be about 1 inch thick)
• 1 bottle of zesty Italian salad dressing
• 1 can of Sprite or other lemon lime soda
• 2 Caesar Salad Bagged Salad Kits ( I use the fresh express brand which about 7 ounces each, if you buy a bigger one, you can use one)
• 1 Box of Rotini Spiral (Rotini) Pasta (I buy the Barilla Rotini that has veggies in it, linked in the blog post)
• 1 Cup of Fresh Grated Parmesan
• 1 to 2 Cups of Prepared Caesar Salad Dressing
• 1 Package of Caesar Salad Croutons

Instructions

1. In a ziploc bag or container with a lid, add your chicken breasts. If your chicken is on the thicker side, or in large pieces, pound it out with a mallet until it is about an inch thick. This is so the breasts marinate properly.
2. I combine the can of Sprite with 2 cups of the Italian dressing. Whisk to combine well and pour over the chicken breasts. Seal the bag or cover and refrigerate overnight. Please note that if you are using too thin of chicken breast, leaving them to marinate overnight will start to cure them and they will be tough. If all you have is thin chicken, marinate for just a few hours.
3. When you are ready to cook the chicken, take them out of the fridge 30 minutes before cooking. When ready to cook, I remove the chicken from the marinade and let the excess marinade drip off or you can also pat it slightly dry with paper towels. You don’t want a ton of marinade on the chicken so it doesn’t burn.
4. Heat your grill to 400 degrees and add your chicken breasts to the grill. Every grill is different and the thickness of chicken makes a difference in cook time. Mine cooked about 7 to 9 minutes on each side. If you are trying to flip your chicken and it is sticking to the grill, it is not ready to be flipped yet. You can reduce the heat if you think it is getting too charred at this point, but it will easily flip, when it is time to flip. Flip and cook on the other side. It is best to always use a meat thermometer until you begin to know what done chicken looks and feels like. After the chicken is fully cooked, I reduce the heat and use some FRESH Italian dressing and baste each side and leave it on the grill a couple of more minutes. Let the chicken rest under some foil for about 10 minutes before serving.
5. For the salad you want to boil about 3 cups of the pasta until it is al dente. You can use more or less pasta if you like. Drain the pasta and rinse it under cold water. WHEN YOU ARE USING PASTA IN A SALAD YOU RINSE IT. This is so you don’t have your dressing get gummy from the pasta.
6. Add the lettuce part of the salad kit to a bowl and add the pasta. I use the dressing from the salad kit and add a little more from the bottle dressing. You can add as much or as little as you like. I like it all to be lightly coated once I toss it. Right before serving, I add the fresh parm and the croutons.
7. When I serve the chicken, I take the croutons from the bagged salad kit and crush them up and sprinkle them and the cheese from the kit over the chicken breasts. You can also crush some of the croutons and sprinkle them over the salad as well. Adds nice crunch to every bite without hurting your mouth on sharp whole croutons.