This easy pasta salad recipe is great for any cookout or even as a lunch or light summer meal! Using homemade dressing makes this recipe next level!
I am sort of known as the pasta salad queen when it comes to cookouts, barbecues, or potlucks. I will almost always be bringing along a delicious cold pasta salad with me, whether it is a Italian Pasta Salad or a tangy Greek pasta salad! When I created this BLT pasta salad recipe, I knew I was onto something. It was the first thing gone at our last barbecue and my family requested it again within the same week! I love using rotini pasta in this recipe, because the yummy dressing sneaks into the crevices. BLT bow tie pasta salad or even BLT tortellini salad (using cheese filled tortellini) are also great options if you feel like changing things up a little bit!
The pasta salad dressing for this recipe is a combination of ranch and mayonnaise. The ranch adds flavor while the mayonnaise makes it nice and creamy! While you can use a bottled ranch dressing, as with most recipe homemade tastes best so I always use a quick batch of my fave homemade ranch dressing. A few extra minutes but definitely worth the time! This makes it the absolute perfect side dish, because you can easily make it ahead of time and bring it with you!
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What To Put in Pasta Salad
This BLT pasta salad is seriously the bomb dot com. Not only are the classic BLT ingredients all there, but the addition of fresh avocados, cheddar cheese, and red onions really turns this into a legendary pasta salad recipe! All pasta salads are super versatile, meaning you can add or remove just about anything you’d like. If you don’t eat pork, I have had success subbing the bacon out with turkey bacon in this BLT pasta salad. If you have produce you need to use up, peppers, carrots, celery, and onions all make great additions. The options are endless here! If you’re missing the bread from your favorite BLT sandwich, toss in a handful of croutons! Just keep in mind that if you are adding any protein to your pasta salad, it will not last as long as if you omit it. Chicken will only last a couple days in the fridge, and bacon only lasts about 3. If you plan on making BLT pasta salad in advance, I would suggest making it within a day prior to the potluck or barbecue you plan to bring it to!
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