BLT Pasta Salad
My love affair with keeping potato salads and pasta salads is still going strong this summer. Working at home, I like being able to scoop some with sandwiches for lunch. Of course, they are great for parties and BBQs too when life finally returns to normal!
I love a good BLT sandwich. So easy and just so delicious. I wanted to turn one of my favorite sandwiches into a pasta salad, but I was actually a little unsure of how the lettuce would be in a pasta salad, but it’s a salad so duh, of course it worked just fine!
You can use any kind of pasta for this. I used rotini, but bowties or elbow macaroni works fine too! I tossed in some chopped cherry tomatoes, and cut up some hearts of romaine for the lettuce. If you’d rather use shredded iceberg lettuce, you can use that too, but I like the darker green pieces mixed in so prefer romaine.
As for the bacon, one of the reasons I like to add bacon (aside from the taste, of course) is the crispy texture it adds so I cook the bacon until its nice and crispy and then don’t mix it in until I’m ready to serve the pasta salad.
The dressing for the pasta salad is also very simple, all you need is some mayo and ranch dressing and some seasoning like garlic powder.
If you want to prep this in advance, you can certainly do that, but I would hold off on adding the lettuce until it’s time to eat it so it doesn’t get soggy. I do find that the lettuce stays in decent shape for about two days. As I said above, I also prefer to add the bacon at the last-minute so it stays crispy, but you can add it whenever!
BLT Pasta Salad
BLT Pasta Salad - This delicious pasta salad has fresh cherry tomatoes, crisp romaine lettuce, and crispy bacon tossed in a creamy ranch sauce!
Ingredients
- 1/2 pound dry rotini
- 8 slices cooked bacon, crumbled
- 2 cups cherry tomatoes, cut in half
- 2 cups hearts of romaine, chopped
- 2/3 cup ranch dressing
- 1/4 cup mayonnaise
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon salt (or to taste)
Instructions
- Prepare pasta according to package directions. While the pasta cooks, cook the bacon and crumble. Drain pasta when cooked and trasfer into a large bowl or container with the tomatoes.
- In a smaller bowl, add the ranch dressing, mayo, garlic powder, and salt. Stir until combined. Pour the dressing over the pasta salad and stir until coated in the dressing. You can add additional ranch dressing or mayo if needed. Cover and chill for about 2 hours.
- Uncover the pasta salad. Stir in the chopped lettuce and bacon crumbles. Serve. Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge. The lettuce in the pasta salad will stay fresh for about 2 days.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
8Serving Size:
1/8thAmount Per Serving: Calories: 249Total Fat: 19gSaturated Fat: 4gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 14gCholesterol: 20mgSodium: 690mgCarbohydrates: 14gFiber: 2gSugar: 3gProtein: 7g
