This BLT Pasta Salad is a refreshing take on the traditional BLT, transforming it into a cold pasta dish that’s perfect for any occasion. With its combination of crisp bacon, fresh lettuce, and juicy tomatoes, all tossed with al dente pasta and a creamy ranch dressing, it’s a guaranteed crowd-pleaser at your next picnic or potluck.
BLT Pasta Salad Recipe
Our easy recipe for BLT Pasta Salad skips the roll and serves the contents family-style. It’s all tossed together and coated in creamy dressing to make the best tasting BLT sandwich in a bowl without the bun!
BLT pasta salad recipes can be bulked up to include more of your favorite foods. I’ve added chunks of cheese, fresh avocado, and diced onion for extra protein, healthy fat, and texture, but you can replace, remove, or use almost anything. Chicken, chickpeas, corn kernels, croutons, cucumbers, or whatever you find in your fridge will all taste delicious.
BLT Pasta Salad Ingredients
- Rotini Pasta: You can use any type of small-shape pasta in this recipe. Bow tie pasta, shells, rigatoni, or penne are other options that would work well. Use conventional pasta or gluten free pasta.
- Bacon: If you want to save a step or don’t have a lot of time, you could use store-bought bacon bits instead of cooking your own bacon and chopping it into pieces. However, fresh cooked bacon will have a much better flavor after you’ve fried it yourself! Feel free to use turkey bacon for a lower fat option.
- Red onion
- Cheddar cheese: Shredded cheddar cheese can be used instead of cubed cheese. You can also use a different type of cheese if you prefer. Pepper jack, Colby jack, provolone, or Swiss would all be great options. All of them could be used in a shredded form or cut into cubes.
- Romaine lettuce
- Avocado
- Cherry tomatoes
- Parsley
- Hidden Valley Dressing Mix: You are using the dry mix from the packet.
- Mayonnaise: You can make the creamy dressing a bit healthier by substituting the mayo for plain Greek yogurt.
- Sour cream
See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities.
How to Make BLT Pasta Salad
- Make The Dressing: Mix together the dry Ranch dressing mix, mayonnaise, and sour cream. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
- Prepare The Pasta: Cook the pasta according to the package directions. Drain, rinse with cold water, and drain again.
- Combine and Coat: Add all ingredients to a large mixing bowl and toss with dressing until well coated.
- Serve: Serve immediately and enjoy!
Serving Suggestions
I love cold pasta salads because they are travel-friendly for taking to potlucks, picnics, barbecues, and summer parties. They pair perfectly with grilled chicken, burgers, and hotdogs. Serve them as a side dish with dinner, enjoy leftovers for lunch, or add more meat to make it the main meal.
Tips & Variations
- Cut The Contents: This recipe makes a large bowl of salad. If you are serving to a smaller crowd, you can cut the ingredients in half.
- Prepare The Pasta: Make sure to rinse the pasta under cold water to stop the cooking process and prevent it from sticking together and becoming mushy.
- Ditch The Dairy: Feel free to use your favorite plant-based cheese, and vegan mayo, and sour cream to make a dairy-free dressing. Or try tossing your salad with Italian dressing or red wine vinegar, olive oil, and Italian seasoning.
- Cut The Carbs: You can easily prepare this BLT salad without the pasta if you’re looking to cut your carbs. My Big Mac Salad and Sub Sandwich in a Bowl are both low-carb, keto-friendly meals made with your favorite sandwich ingredients, minus the bread!
- You can substitute the dry mix, mayo and sour cream for a bottle of ranch dressing in this recipe.
Proper Storage
- To Store: Store leftovers in a tightly sealed container for up to 24 hours and eat the next day. I don’t recommend keeping this in the fridge for more than 24 hours.
More Easy Pasta Salad REcipes
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BLT Pasta Salad
Ingredients
Pasta Salad Ingredients
- 1 16-ounce box Rotini Pasta cooked, drained, and rinsed with cold water
- 13 slices bacon cooked and chopped
- ½ large red onion finely diced
- 1½ cups cheddar cheese cut into cubes (measured after it’s cubed)
- 2 cups romaine lettuce cut or torn into bite size pieces (measured after it’s in pieces)
- 1 avocado cut into small pieces
- 1½ cups cherry tomatoes cut in half (measured after cut in half)
- ¼ cip parsley chopped
Dressing Ingredients
- 1 1-ounce packet Hidden Valley Dressing Mix dry
- 1½ cups mayonnaise
- ½ cup sour cream
Instructions
- In a medium mixing bowl combine dry Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing Mix, mayonnaise, and sour cream. Use a whisk to mix together. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.1 1-ounce packet Hidden Valley Dressing Mix, 1½ cups mayonnaise, ½ cup sour cream
- Cook rotini pasta per package directions. Drain, rinse with cold water, and drain again. Place in a large mixing bowl.1 16-ounce box Rotini Pasta
- Add cooked and chopped bacon, red onion, cheddar cheese cubes, avocado, cherry tomatoes, parsley, and romaine lettuce. Pour dressing mix over ingredients. Use tongs to gently toss salad until well coated.13 slices bacon, ½ large red onion, 1½ cups cheddar cheese, 1 avocado, 1½ cups cherry tomatoes, ¼ cip parsley, 2 cups romaine lettuce
- Serve immediately.
Jenn’s Notes
- The romaine lettuce does not save well in this salad. I recommend serving this salad right away or waiting to add in the lettuce and dressing until ready to serve.
- If you do have leftovers you can store them in a tightly sealed container for 24 hours and eat the next day. I don’t recommend keeping this salad in the refrigerator for more than 24 hours.
- This recipe makes a large mixing bowl full of salad. Cut the ingredients in half if serving to a smaller crowd.
- You can shred the cheddar cheese instead of cutting it into cubes if you prefer.
Video
Nutrition Info
This BLT pasta salad recipe is a fun spin on a classic bacon, lettuce, and tomato sandwich. This is a creamy pasta salad that is light and delicious. The addition of Ranch seasoning in the salad dressing makes this BLT salad unlike any other pasta salad you’ve ever had before. It’s simply the best!
This is delicious! I omitted adding the lettuce to the bowl and just served it over lettuce so I didn’t have to worry about it getting soggy. 🙂 I also didn’t have rotini but elbow macaroni worked fine!
Deliciousness and so easy and quick
I doubled this recipe for a large crowd, it was the “Talk” of the meal!! Everyone was asking “who made the pasta salad??? Definitely will be making it again, and what’s great about it is you can half the recipe R double it! It makes a lot, of course the little bit leftovers was taken home by guest. It’s a “A+”! Oh and I will add, I don’t like Ranch Dressing, but this was delicious.