Tender pasta is coated in creamy ranch dressing, bacon and lots of other goodies in this Bacon Ranch Pasta Salad. This pasta salad is perfect for summer barbecues and is always a hit!
I have one delicious recipe to share with you all today! It’s my Bacon Ranch Pasta Salad and it is divine. It’s a variation to the classic pasta salad and is out of this world good! This side dish is bursting with flavor. The creamy dressing combined with a few extra goodies coats the noodles perfectly. This recipe is a must-make!
This pasta salad manages to be both flavorful and light. I love that it’s not overpowering like a lot of other pasta salads I’ve tried. It really is delicious. Everyone gobbles this up! It’s the perfect side dish for any summer barbecue or potluck dinner. 🙂
ENJOY PASTA SALADS? HERE ARE MORE DELICIOUS RECIPES:
California Pasta Salad
Pepperoni Pizza Pasta Salad
Strawberry Chicken and Spinach Pasta Salad
Mandarin Orange and Spinach Pasta Salad
Chicken Caesar Pasta Salad
Tri Color Pasta Salad
Bacon Ranch Pasta Salad
Ingredients
- 1 package (12 ounces) tri-color rotini pasta
- 1/2 cup mayonnaise
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 1 package (1 ounce) dry ranch dressing/seasoning mix
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 cup milk
- 8 slices cooked bacon, chopped (see notes below)
- 1 large tomato, diced
- 1 can (4.25 ounces) sliced black olives, drained
- 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add rotini pasta and cook until al dente, about 8 minutes. Drain water. Rinse pasta with cold water to cool. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the mayonnaise, sour cream, dry ranch mix, garlic powder and milk. Add pasta, cooked bacon pieces, tomato, olives and cheese to the bowl. Gently toss to combine everything.
- Cover and chill in refrigerator at least 2 hours before serving.
I love this pasta salad idea, Holly!
I’ve made this twice in the last month since finding the recipe and am currently making it for lunches this week at work. It is delicious!!!
I’m thinking some cooked chicken ( cubed or shredded) might elevate this to something really special
Yum! Great idea!
I am also adding chicken, then it is a complete dish and just not a side.
Linda, this sounds like a great idea! Going to add chicken the next time I make this, which should be real soon! Great recipe!!!
I’m putting chicken in ours right now
I’m making this for our friends’ BBQ on Friday….can’t wait to try it….thanks for sharing this recipe 🙂
This is super easy and yummy!! I have made it twice in a week its a HIT!!
Can you make this the day before ….
Yes, definitely!
That’s great thanks …
This was awesome! I actually heated the sauce with the pasta and added cubes of chicken and made it an actual dish, deff will add this to my recipe book.
About how much extra milk do you toss it with? Mine seems just a little dry after chilling in the fridge.
why do you have to let chill for 2 hours? it tastes great as soon as it’s made!
I like my pasta salads cold, but I’m sure it’s still amazing just made! Glad you liked it 🙂
I made this yesterday & I love the black olives in this salad. Chicken would be a nice addition. The only thing I might leave out next time, I not a huge Cheddar Cheese fan, I would probably leave it out or add less. Green onions might be a good addition.
Several of your dishes make an appearance at every birthday party I throw and this is def going on the party menu for next Sat! Looks delicious!!!
This is delicious. I made it for my 2 year old daughter’s Minnie Mouse birthday. I used bow tie pasta and labeled it Minnie’s Bow-Tie Pasta. It was a hit!
I love this so much a friend made it for a potluck and I liked it so much i now make it for myself. but i like to use ranch dressing instead of the dried packet stuff, it tastes better to me.
I replace the olives & tomato with match stick carrots & peas which I boil along with the pasta
I made this for a church function and it went fast. My wife put some green onion on top and crispy bacon really makes this dish. Also quartered some grape tomatoes. The amount of dressing was perfect. Definitely will make again. And so easy.
Thank you for this great recipe! I cut the bacon by half because believe it or not, I have the one human being in the planet who doesn’t adore bacon living in my house! 😉 I used WholeFoods dry ranch mix and it had tons of flavor. A real winner.
My family just loves this salad. Thanks for sharing.
We have a potluck for my daughter’s Girl Scouts troop tomorrow and I was so worried I wouldn’t be able to find a pasta salad that looked fun but was simple enough the pickiest eaters would like it. This looks like it will fit for everyone. I’m going to throw it together tonight so it’s ready for dinner tomorrow!
Can you use other types of noodles?
Yes any pasta noodle will work 🙂
UNBELIEVABLY delicious! Love 🙂 I used crispy oVen roasted prociutto (roasted for 10 minutes at 400 degrees on parchment Paper) in place of bacOn. My extremely picky daughter devoured her first bowl, telling me it was like a BLT in a saLad. DEFINITELY a keeper. Thank yOu!!!
love the idea of adding roasted proscuitto!!
Love this recipe! Got so tired of the boxes variety…just tastes boxed. Thank you again. Making today!
Ur salad’s look delicious. Look forward to trying them, thanks.
I topped mine with hard boiled eggs for protein.
I bet this would be absolutely delicious with some chicken in it. Gonna try it with grilled chicken pieces in it this week and take ot to work for lunch.
I love your recipes. they are always easy to make and taste great!!! I made this and it was wonderful. I added about 1-1/2 cups diced and sauteed Tyson grilled chicken, 1/2 of a bunch of green onions sliced thin,and 1/2 each of diced red and yellow bell peppers to bump the veggies. I took Brian’s tip and used halved grape tomatoes and crispy bacon on top. This is going in the meal rotation. My husband who is not a real salad fan can’t stop talking about it. This is the perfect way to use extra grilled chicken breasts as well.
I added some CUCUMBERS for a little crunch & it was delIcious!
Can you make with elbow noodles? I have them on hand
Yes! Any noodle should work 🙂
Absolutely delicious Thank you for the recipe! This is perfect for my work lunches.
This is DELICIOUS! I added red kidney beans for some more protein and fire roasted corn. So yummy!
this looks really good. Do you use halmans mayonnaise or miracle whip?
I use Hellmann’s mayo 🙂
just made this! It is so delicious
I made this and added 2 sliced green onions and one small jar of diced pimentos, drained. It was fantastic.
Those additions sound so delicious, and I’m sure give this salad so much extra flavor! 🙂
I made this pasta salad and it was the absolute best pasta salad! Now I make it all the time!
Thank you for the recipe.
Great salad! I used a spicy ranch packet and added shredded carrots.
This is a great recipe because you can throw anything into it! I’ve made it as written, but it also lends itself to any throw-ins you have on hand. I have olive-haters in my family, so I’ve made it using red and green peppers, blanched broccoli, celery, or whatever else I have on hand…but I never omit the bacon! So easy and delicious!
could you use bacon ranch salad dressing and bypass the mayo and sour cream ?
Yes, absolutely!
I used to make this years ago but instead of tomato and olives i used ham and turkey (like a good deli style lunch meat) cut into strips and then i would add just plain croutons the regular seasoned type is good too. we really loved it, a great summer meal.