This Gal Cooks

Bacon Ranch Pasta Salad

Let’s dig into a bowl of this bacon ranch pasta salad.

Bacon Ranch Pasta Salad is a simple side dish recipe that pairs well with your favorite steak, chicken or seafood recipe. | This Gal Cooks

Because what bacon lover can resist a creamy pasta salad filled with BACON?

How was Halloween? Unfortunately, we did not get very many trick-or-treaters this year. Friday night Halloween was filled with many events so people chose to go to those events rather than to trick-or-treat. Sad face over here. But we still had fun. We mingled with the neighbors, drank good beer and welcomed the cooler weather that slowly crept in that night. On Saturday, we went to the Jupiter car show and checked out cool classic cars. Then on the way home we picked up some Chinese food. I’ve been craving Chinese food for DAYS so the Chinese food made my Saturday complete. On Sunday I did some baking and made a fudge recipe with some of the GOBS of candy we have left. I’ll be sharing it later this week! So overall, the weekend was fantastic.

About pasta salad. I like making pasta salads because they are so simple to make. I’ve made this Grilled Salmon and Vegetable Orzo Salad, this Caprese Chicken Orzo Salad and this Bacon Parmesan Pasta Salad, to name a few. All were hits at my house and I bet they will be hits at your house, too.

Things to know about this Bacon Ranch Pasta Salad.

  • It’s creamy.
  • You can make it with homemade ranch seasoning/dressing.
  • It’s great served alongside a burger or grilled chicken.
  • You can make a meal out of it.
  • It’s full of BACON.
  • You can sub the mayonnaise with Greek yogurt for a tangy, lower calorie option.
  • Did I say bacon?

Bacon Ranch Pasta Salad

Bacon Ranch Pasta Salad

Bacon Ranch Pasta Salad

Yield: 4 Cups
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients

  • 8oz large pasta shells
  • 1 C cooked crumbled bacon
  • 1/3 C ranch dressing
  • 1/3 C mayo
  • 1/2 C diced English cucumber
  • 1/2 tbsp ranch dressing seasoning mix
  • 1 tbsp diced pimento
  • 2 tbsp fresh chives, chopped, plus more for garnish

Instructions

  1. Cook the pasta according to package directions. Drain and cool. I cool mine quicker by leaving the pasta in my colander and putting some ice in the colander.
  2. Once the pasta is cooled, place it in a large mixing bowl with the remaining ingredients. Mix well. Garnish with fresh chives, if desired.

Notes

To make homemade ranch dressing and seasoning mix, try this ranch seasoning recipe from Gimme Some Oven.

Nutrition Information:

Amount Per Serving: Calories: 250 Total Fat: 16g Sodium: 522mg Carbohydrates: 4g Sugar: 1g Protein: 7g

Bacon Ranch Pasta Salad is a simple side dish recipe that pairs well with your favorite steak, chicken or seafood recipe. | This Gal Cooks

 

RELATED POSTS

Try my Easy Greek Style Pasta Salad.

Greek Style Pasta Salad from www.thisgalcooks.com #pasta #greek #salad 3wm

 

or this Bacon Parmesan Pasta Salad.

Bacon Parmesan Pasta Salad on This Gal Cooks

 

My Grilled Salmon and Vegetable Orzo Salad is a great recipe for using up leftover veggies and seafood!

Grilled Salmon and Vegetable Orzo Salad

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43 comments on “Bacon Ranch Pasta Salad”

  1. I LOVE pasta salads, and just salads of any kind :) Love that this one has bacon and ranch!! Pinned :)

  2. We had a Halloween party this year, which was a lot of fun, even though I always stress the costume part, and I was bummed that we weren’t home to hand out candy! Always next year though! LOVE this pasta salad. Bacon and ranch together on pasta sounds PERFECT and the best kind of way to handle Mondays! Haha! :)

  3. Oh my gosh, I’d totally make a meal out of this! Love bacon + ranch, and the chives are a perfect touch!

  4. Bacon and ranch everything, please! This looks delicious!

  5. We didn’t have many trick-or-treaters either. We only had ONE! And now I have all this candy sitting on my counter, calling my name! Ugh.

    This pasta salad looks delicious! My kids’ favorite food is anything with ranch so I know the whole family will love it!

    • What was up with Halloween this year? I’ve heard so many people saying they barely got any trick-or-treaters. We always run out of candy and had almost an entire bucket left! Ah well, more candy for me! :)

      Thanks for stopping by, Amanda!

  6. We have trick or treaters from far and wide in our neighborhood and all I wanted to do was go with my boys.

    My MEAL would be this pasta salad! It looks scrumptious!

    • Yay! Glad someone got some trick-or-treaters because so many people have been saying they didn’t get any! Thank you for stopping by, Paula! Hope you have a great week!

  7. Julie, definitely drooling all over this pasta salad… so divine!
    I was really surprised there were hardly any trick or treaters out on a Friday night, too. Hope you’re having a most wonderful week so far! ;)

    • Thank you, Gloria! This is totally drool-worthy and inducing, isn’t it? But then again, when is something with bacon not drool-worthy? Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have a great week, too!

  8. I think it’s amazing that the introduction of some bacon puts this salad into another league. Very tasty! And quick! And a crowd pleaser to boot.

  9. I am a massive pasta salad fan, this is definitely one that I can see making an appearance on my table. Thanks for the great recipe – looks super delicious.. especially with all that creamy sauce and bacon!

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  12. Our Halloween was great, even though we don’t get any trick-or-treaters here, since we live in the country. We made donuts, drank cider, and watched movies:) Loving this bacon ranch pasta and how creamy it looks!

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  14. This is a big hit in our family, we use it as a side for just about everything.

  15. Made this for a work party (doubled it). Everyone LOVED it. I had so many people request the recipe already. Thank you so very much! It was amazing and so easy to make!

  16. HI Julie, i like salads since i was a kid, it sounds like a delicious meal anytime of the day, thanks for your recipe at Share It One More Time.
    I’m featuring this amazing recipe in my post in order to make it for my families, so I definitely made these yesterday, they look so good, i like easy recipe
    Yum yum!!
    thanks

  17. Love bacon ranch anything. This looks tasty! A good side for dinners or lunch.

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  19. Sounds delicious! Do you think it could be made the day before? Thanks!

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  23. I have made this pasta salad almost a dozen times now and it is always a big hit! One thing I added was a hand full of diced cheese. Cheese, bacon, pasta- yumm!

    • Hi Sara! I’m so happy you enjoyed the recipe. Thank you for stopping by to let me know. Great idea to add cheese, because CHEESE!

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