Cheetos Taco Pasta Salad

Bring your side dish into the spotlight with this Cheetos Taco Pasta Salad. Perfect for your favorite cookouts any time of year.

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Why do Fritos and Doritos get to have all the culinary fun? They get to have out with chili, tacos, and all kinds of “salad” creations and everyone is cheering. But Cheetos enter the room and suddenly everyone gets quiet. As an advocate for Cheetos, I am continuing my campaign by swapping out Doritos to make a Cheetos taco pasta salad.

After successfully making Cheetos taco pie, Cheetos walking tacos, and a Cheetos BBQ salad I figured there’s nothing stopping me from making a Cheetos taco pasta salad. The only trick is only adding the Cheetos right before serving do that they maintain their crunch.

What is in Cheetos Taco Pasta Salad?

• Rotisserie chicken
• Pasta
• Canned corn with peppers
• Canned black beans
• Black olives
• Tomatoes
• Avocado
• Cheetos
• Cheddar cheese
• Taco seasoning
• Lime

Of course you can change things up a bit based on your personal preferences, but this is where you should start. Don’t like olives? Honestly me either, I picked them out, so you can leave them out. Change up the type of beans, or use plain corn. Spice it up with some canned green chiles. Then you just have to dress it up with a mixture of Greek yogurt, Catalina dressing, lime juice, cilantro, and more taco seasoning.

I brought this Cheetos pasta salad to a neighborhood potluck and it was a huge success. Everyone enjoyed the bit of whimsy that the Cheetos brought instead of the usual Doritos. Then again my neighborhood is full of a lot of open-minded food (and in general) people so maybe I just got lucky in finding this community.

Bring Cheetos taco pasta salad to your end of summer cookouts or potlucks this Labor day weekend. Or make it any time of year because there’s no reason not to.

CHEETOS TACO PASTA SALAD

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Yield: 6 Servings

Nutrition facts: 200 calories 20 grams fat

Ingredients

PASTA

• 1/2 lb. chopped rotisserie chicken
• 1 Tbsp taco seasoning
• Juice from 1/2 lime
• 1 lb. cavatappi pasta, cooked al dente and cooled
• 1 (11 oz.) can roasted corn with peppers, drained
• 1 (x oz. ) can black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 (6 oz.) can halved black olives
• 4 oz. sharp cheddar cheese, cubed
• 1 avocado, peeled, pitted, and cubed
• 2 Roma tomatoes, chopped
• 1 cup (6 oz.) crunchy Cheetos, plus more for garnish

DRESSING

• 1 cup Greek yogurt
• 1/2 cup Catalina dressing
• Juice from 1/2 lime
• 2 Tbsp chopped fresh cilantro
• 1 Tbsp taco seasoning

Directions

1. In a large bowl, toss chicken with taco seasoning and lime juice until evenly coated. Add pasta, corn, beans, olives, cheese, and tomatoes, tossing to combine; set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the Greek yogurt, dressing, lime juice, cilantro, and taco seasoning. Pour dressing over the pasta mixture and toss until evenly coated. Refrigerate until ready to serve.
3. When ready to serve, toss with Cheetos and top with more for garnish*.

Notes

*Best enjoyed immediately as the Cheetos will lose their crunch.

Source: Adapted from She Got The Cooks.