Bacon Ranch Pasta Salad
Bacon Ranch Pasta Salad is the creamy pasta salad of your dreams loaded with tender pasta, loads of salty bacon, petite peas, sweet bell peppers and bite size cheddar enveloped in the showstopping homemade sour-cream laced ranch dressing. This Pasta Bacon Ranch Salad is always a crowd pleaser at potlucks, picnics and parties and is a quick chop and throw together recipe that is portable, make ahead friendly, easy to double/triple, tastes fabulous chilled or room temperature and goes with practically everything!
Servings 12 servings
Ingredients
PASTA SALAD
- 16 oz. rotini
- drizzle of olive oil
- 1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved
- 1 yellow or orange bell pepper, chopped
- 1 cup frozen petite peas, thawed
- 1 cup cheddar cheese, cubed small
- 8 oz. thick cut bacon, cooked and chopped
DRESSING
- 3/4 cup mayonnaise
- 3/4 cup sour cream
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
- 2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley (or 2 teaspoons dried)
- 2 tablespoons minced fresh dill (or 2 teaspoon dried)
- 1 tablespoon minced fresh chives (or 1 teaspoons dried)
- 1 tsp EACH salt, onion powder, garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp EACH pepper, paprika
Instructions
- Whisk together all of the Dressing ingredients in a medium bowl. Refrigerate until ready to use.
- Cook pasta in salted water according to package directions just until al dente. (You can chop your salad ingredients while the pasta is cooking.) Drain, rinse with cold water then toss with a drizzle of olive oil to prevent it from sticking together.
- Add the pasta, peas, tomatoes, bell peppers and cheese to a large bowl; don’t add the bacon.
- Pour half of the dressing over the pasta salad and toss to combine (or all of the dressing if serving immediately). Refrigerate pasta salad and remaining dressing separately until ready to use (best served the same day).
- When ready to serve, add bacon and toss with remaining dressing. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Dig in!
Video
Notes
- Make it your own! Feel free to swap in your favorite ingredients such as olives, pickled jalapenos, or other vegetables. You can even use tortellini for the pasta! See the post for lots of ideas.
- Make it gluten-free: Use your favorite gluten-free medium pasta.
- Make it dairy-free: Omit the cheese and swap the sour cream for your favorite dairy-free/vegan sour cream substitute. You may also swap the sour cream for additional mayonnaise but it won’t taste as light. Mayonnaise is dairy-free but not vegan as it is made with egg yolks, vinegar, and seasonings.
- Make it vegetarian: Use vegan bacon.
- Make it vegan: For vegan or plant-based, omit the cheese or use dairy-free cheese, use vegan mayo like Vegainase, vegan sour cream or yogurt, and vegan bacon.