Meat & Poultry Chicken Chicken Main Dish 5-Ingredient Chicken Southwest Black-Bean Pasta Salad Bowls 5.0 (1) 1 Review Meal-prep a week's worth of delicious and satisfying high-fiber lunches with just 5 simple ingredients and 20 minutes. In this Southwestern-style pasta salad, we're using pasta made with black beans to bump up the fiber to an impressive 14 grams per serving. Paired with seasoned chicken strips and a flavorful corn salad—shortcut ingredients you can often find at your local specialty grocery store—this meal-prep lunch is one you'll get excited for. By Carolyn Hodges, M.S., RDN Carolyn Hodges, M.S., RDN Carolyn Hodges, M.S., RDN is a culinary dietitian and creator of "The Dinner Shift," a food-rule free website dedicated to helping families get dinner on the table with weeknight-friendly recipes, simple meal planning and meal prep basics. When she's not creating content for her own site, grocery shopping or washing a million dishes, Carolyn teaches higher ed nutrition and develops and photographs recipes and nutrition-related content for clients. She calls Cleveland, Ohio home along with her in-house recipe critics, her husband, Kyle, and their two boys, Caleb and Ezra. EatingWell's Editorial Guidelines Updated on September 14, 2025 Reviewed by Dietitian Jessica Ball, M.S., RD Reviewed by Dietitian Jessica Ball, M.S., RD Jessica Ball, M.S., RD, is the senior nutrition editor for EatingWell. She is a registered dietitian with a master's in food, nutrition and sustainability. In addition to EatingWell, her work has appeared in Food & Wine, Real Simple, Parents, Better Homes and Gardens and MyRecipes. EatingWell's Editorial Guidelines Save Rate PRINT Share Close Prep Time: 10 mins Additional Time: 10 mins Total Time: 20 mins Servings: 4 Yield: 4 servings Nutrition Profile: Diabetes-Friendly Nut-Free Healthy Aging Low-Sodium High-Fiber Heart-Healthy High-Protein Egg-Free Jump to Nutrition Facts Convenient ingredients like frozen corn and precooked chicken save you prep time for this quick and easy pasta salad.Black-bean pasta provides fiber, promoting digestive health.You can make the components up to four days in advance, and combine them just before serving. Cook Mode (Keep screen awake) Ingredients 1/2x 1x 2x Oops! Something went wrong. Our team is working on it. This recipe was developed and tested at its original yield and has not been tested at other yields. Note that only the ingredient list is scaled, so you may need to make adjustments to ingredient amounts, cooking times and equipment sizes in the recipe steps. Scaling could also impact the nutrition analysis. Original recipe (1X) yields 4 servings See More 1 (14 ounce) package frozen Mexican-style corn 2 cups black-bean rotini 1 (12 ounce) package cooked chili-lime chicken ½ cup mild pico de gallo ½ cup cilantro salad dressing Directions Heat corn according to package directions; set aside to cool. Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain and rinse with cold water. Drain again and toss with the corn; set aside. Slice chicken strips into bite-size pieces; set aside. Divide pico de gallo into 4 small lidded containers and refrigerate. Measure salad dressing into 4 small lidded containers and refrigerate. (Timesaving tip: You can also carry the bottle of dressing in your lunch bag--or store in the office fridge--and dress when ready to serve.) Divide the corn and pasta mixture among 4 single-serving containers, then top each with one-fourth of the chicken. Seal the containers and refrigerate for up to 4 days. Toss with the dressing just before serving and top with the pico de gallo. Tips To make ahead: Refrigerate pasta salad, salsa and dressing separately for up to 4 days. Top salad with dressing and pico de gallo just before serving. Originally appeared: EatingWell.com, December 2019 Save Rate Print Nutrition Facts (per serving) 436 Calories 14g Fat 47g Carbs 34g Protein Show Full Nutrition Label Hide Full Nutrition Label Nutrition Facts Servings Per Recipe 4 Serving Size 1 meal-prep container, 2 Tbsp. dressing & 2 Tbsp. pico de gallo each Calories 436 % Daily Value * Total Carbohydrate 47g 17% Dietary Fiber 14g 51% Total Sugars 10g Protein 34g 67% Total Fat 14g 18% Saturated Fat 4g 18% Cholesterol 64mg 21% Vitamin A 664IU 13% Vitamin C 6mg 7% Sodium 375mg 16% Calcium 187mg 14% Iron 4mg 21% Nutrition information is calculated by a registered dietitian using an ingredient database but should be considered an estimate. * Daily Values (DVs) are the recommended amounts of nutrients to consume each day. Percent Daily Value (%DV) found on nutrition labels tells you how much a serving of a particular food or recipe contributes to each of those total recommended amounts. Per the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the daily value is based on a standard 2,000 calorie diet. Depending on your calorie needs or if you have a health condition, you may need more or less of particular nutrients. (For example, it’s recommended that people following a heart-healthy diet eat less sodium on a daily basis compared to those following a standard diet.) (-) Information is not currently available for this nutrient. If you are following a special diet for medical reasons, be sure to consult with your primary care provider or a registered dietitian to better understand your personal nutrition needs.