BLT Pasta Salad is a family favorite summer dish that is not only great at potlucks but also in lunches! Crispy bacon, fresh juicy tomatoes, and romaine lettuce are tossed in Cavatappi pasta with a delicious and flavorful homemade salad dressing. It tastes just like a classic BLT sandwich, pasta-style!
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Another easy pasta salad recipe is this Italian pasta salad. It's an easy potluck recipe to make and it is also great to add to school or work lunches. Another classic pasta salad is this Instant Pot Amish Macaroni Salad, it's tangy, flavorful, and a cookout favorite.
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Why You'll Love This Recipe
- Flavorful Combination: The classic BLT flavors of crunchy bacon, fresh lettuce, and tomato offer a satisfying side dish for a summer pot luck.
- Freshness: With ingredients like fresh tomatoes, lettuce, and herbs such as chives, this salad is refreshing and perfect for warm weather.
- Customizable: With the addition of fresh avocados you can take this pasta salad to an all-new level or swap out classic bacon for turkey bacon or even vegan bacon. This cold pasta salad is easily customizable!
- Easy to Make: This recipe is perfect to make ahead and it's a great option to bring to family gatherings, cookouts, and potlucks.
Ingredients in BLT Pasta Salad
The ingredients in this easy blt pasta salad recipe are just the line classic blt ingredients in the sandwich with a few delicious extra ingredients that make a great addition to this deliciously great recipe.
- Cavatappi pasta or other spiral pastas - spiral pasta helps the salad dressing to adhere to the pasta much better than other pastas and the pasta gets better coverage.
- Romaine lettuce
- Bacon, cooked and chopped - crispy bacon is best.
- Tomatoes
- Red onion
- Fresh chives
- Sour cream
- Ranch dressing
- Mayonnaise - light or regular mayonnaise works!
- Ground black pepper
- Apple cider vinegar
How To Make BLT Pasta Salad
Prep the ingredients- Prep the ingredients that you can ahead of time. Cook the bacon until crispy in a large skillet and cook the spiral pasta of choice according to the package's directions for al dente in a large pot of water.
Allow the pasta to cool before adding the dressing. This will prevent the pasta from swelling up.
Once the bacon is cool, chop it until into bite-sized pieces.
Chop the red onion, tomatoes, and lettuce as well and set aside.
Make the dressing- Make the salad dressing by mixing the sour cream, ranch dressing, mayonnaise, apple cider vinegar, and black pepper in a bowl. Combine until well mixed.
Assemble the pasta salad- Combine the salad dressing with the cooked pasta until the pasta is moistened with the dressing.
Gently stir in the chopped veggies and bacon into the pasta mixture until everything is combined.
Top with cheddar cheese, chives, and other fresh veggies as desired.
TIP: If not serving right away, keep the lettuce separately until serving to prevent wilting.
Store the pasta salad in an airtight container in the refrigerator until serving.
BLT Pasta Salad Substitutions and Variations
Lettuce: For this blt salad recipe, we use romaine lettuce but iceberg can be used in a pinch as well as other crunchy lettuce varieties. As always, make sure to only add the lettuce to the pasta salad when you are ready to serve to prevent the lettuce from wilting. It may not be lettuce, but baby spinach a a good leafy add-in for this cold salad!
Pasta: Pasta such as rotini pasta, cavatappi, and fusilli work great because these types of pasta salad dressings stick to the pasta much better than straight kinds of pasta. Bowtie pasta is also a good substitute.
Vegan Options: Vegan bacon is a great alternative for this pasta salad and the use of Greek yogurt in the place of sour cream and mayonnaise is a vegan-friendly alternative.
Pasta Salad Tips
Spiral pasta works great for this type of pasta salad because the salad dressing sticks to the spirals and gets in the nooks and crannies of the pasta. It makes the dressing cover the pasta well.
Allow the pasta to cool before stirring the dressing into the pasta. This will help prevent the pasta from swelling up resulting in a dry pasta salad.
A food processor is a useful tool to easily chop vegetables into small pieces.
FAQ's
BLT pasta salad is a great dish to make ahead of time! Simply stir in the romaine lettuce when you're ready to serve to keep the lettuce from wilting.
Spiral pasta such as Cavatappi, rotini, and other short kinds of pasta such as bow tie and elbow macaroni works well.
When stored properly, it can last for up to 3 to 4 days in the refrigerator but for best quality, try to enjoy it within a day or two. Keep the lettuce separately until ready to eat if possible.
The addition of fresh herbs such as extra chives and basil will enhance the flavor and a splash of lemon juice will do the same.
📖 Recipe
BLT Pasta Salad
Equipment
Ingredients
- 16 ounces cavatappi pasta - or other spiral pasta
- 1 cup tomatoes - chopped
- 4 cups romaine lettuce - chopped
- 6-8 slices bacon - cooked and chopped
- 1 small red onion - diced
- ¼ cup fresh chives - diced
- ¼ cup sour cream
- 1 cup ranch dressing
- ¼ cup mayonnaise
- ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
Instructions
- Prep the ingredients that you can ahead of time: Cook the bacon until crispy in a large skillet and cook the spiral pasta of choice according to the package's directions for al dente in a large pot of water.
- Once the bacon is cool, chop it until into bite size pieces.
- Allow the pasta to cool before adding the dressing. This will prevent the pasta from swelling up.
- Combine the sour cream, ranch dressing, mayo, black pepper, chives, and apple cider vinegar and mix well.
- Combine the salad dressing with the cool pasta and gently stir in the chopped bacon, tomatoes, and red onion.
- When ready to serve, stir in the romaine lettuce to prevent it from wilting.
- Serve cold with cheddar cheese, extra chives, or other veggies if desired.
- Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional information is an estimate based on third-party calculations. Actual values may vary due to ingredients, measurements, and serving sizes.
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Dana is the lead recipe developer and photographer for PopularRecipes.com. With her 10+ years of experience creating, testing, and photographing recipes, she has become an artist in developing wholesome, family-friendly meals that are a hit with both kids and parents.
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