This Ranch BLT Pasta Salad Will be the Star of Your Summer BBQ!
Here’s a perfect potluck BLT pasta salad recipe to make this summer made with smokey bacon, lettuce, pasta, and creamy ranch dressing!
Want a delicious side dish that’s sure to be a guaranteed hit?
You have to try making this easy crowd-pleasing BLT pasta salad recipe as a unique side dish! It features bites of bacon, lettuce, tomato, and a creamy ranch dressing. The good news is it’s also easy to make and will for sure be a perfect addition to any potluck or casual meal.
The result is a hearty salad everyone will love! I personally love the crunchy lettuce alongside the creamy bowtie pasta, and it’s so tasty. I could honestly just have a plate of this for lunch or dinner.
Easy Ranch BLT Pasta Salad
yield: 10 SERVINGS
prep time: 20 MINUTES
cook time: 40 MINUTES
total time: 60 MINUTES
Creamy dressing mixed with bacon, lettuce, tomato, and bow tie pasta make this salad outrageously YUM!
Ingredients
- 1 pound bow tie pasta
- 1 pound bacon
- 1 cup milk
- 1 packet ranch dressing mix
- 1/2 cup real mayonnaise
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 1 and 1/2 cup cherry tomatoes, sliced in half
- 4 green onions, sliced
- 3 cups chopped romaine lettuce
Directions
1
Make pasta according to packaged directions. Let cool completely and set aside. Cook the bacon as well and let cool and crumble it into pieces.
2
Mix the dressing by whisking together milk, ranch dressing seasoning, mayo, and sour cream. Place in fridge for at least 10 minutes to chill and thicken.
3
In a large bowl, combine the pasta, tomatoes, and green onion. Toss with the ranch dressing. Chill in the fridge, and then toss in the bacon and romaine lettuce right before serving.
Additional Notes
Recipe adapted from TheGirlWhoAteEverything.com
Extra tips for making this ranch BLT salad recipe:
- I think mixing up the ranch dressing packet is worth the effort, but of course, feel free to use your favorite bottled ranch in a pinch. For homemade ranch seasoning, consider making it by scratch with this easy recipe.
- Prep ahead idea: For convenience, you can make all the components of this salad ahead of time, store them separately overnight, then assemble this right before serving. You can also use differently shaped pasta if desired like penne or rotini.
- Feel free to add more fresh veggies such as chopped bell peppers, corn, or avocado. Next time I may even add some sun-dried tomatoes. Yum!
- It is best served right away in my opinion, because the lettuce starts to wilt! Leftovers are still tasty. I ate some the next day and added more dressing from the bottle.
This ranch BLT pasta salad is addicting & delicious!
One year a friend of mine made this BLT Salad for the 4th of July, and I’ve been making it each summer ever since because it’s so darned good. If you’re lucky to have fresh summer tomatoes in your garden, it’s even more amazing! This is one of those dishes that everyone will want the recipe for.
Tip to make the ranch dressing even better if you like a little kick: add 3 fresh jalapeños (core and seeds removed), spoonful of sliced jarred jalapeños and a handful of cilantro leaves. Blend it all up in a blender or food processor (I use my ninja express chop it’s the perfect size container)
Taste like Chuy’s creamy jalapeño dip for those of you who know what I’m talking about! So good on salads.
Oh I love this tip! Thanks so much for sharing 👍
I would love a “PRINT” button for these recipes.
Hi Jen! You can print this recipe when you head to the “Print” icon at the bottom of the post! Hope that helps!
Love that this recipe can be made gluten free.
We make a similar pasta salad we use ranch dressy and Italian dressing and we use a variety of different pasta shapes . I love it with spaghetti noodles. We also add grilled or rotisserie chicken and for those that like pork we add ham. I also love dried cranberries in mine. Love easy simple dishes that combines vegetables for a complete meal endless possibilities. Great post
Great ideas! Thanks Juma!
This looks great, but we can’t have pasta! Wahhhhh Hmmm… wonder if I could sub out with cucumbers instead to make it more carb friendly?
Yes or maybe grilled chicken! And avocado!
If you’re eating low carb then sub out something else for the milk and ranch dressing too…those are loaded w/ carbs. And just be mindful of the carb count in the sour cream and cherry tomatoes, depending on what your macros are.
Oh, we don’t count macros or anything. Just like to swap out pasta when possible b/c my husband can’t have it. I have a scratch Ranch dressing recipe that my SIL’s mom gave me years ago when she was doing Atkins and it doesn’t call for milk, rather a small amt of unsweetened almondmilk instead. I’ll probably use half the amount of tomatoes and add in cubed avocados for the other half.
Okay, I just meant that there are a lot of hidden carbs in the other ingredients, even if you aren’t doing keto or a HFLC diet where you’d keep track of your actual carb count. No worries.
Oh yes! Always have to be mindful of hidden carbs!
We use cauliflower pasta, it’s almost as good as regular pasta and is carb friendly. It is in the frozen aisle of the grocery store. It does have carbs but it’s ok for eating low carb.
You’re making my mouth water Lina!!! Def saving this recipe for Friday. Making grilled chicken tonight so I’ll grill up another breast just to make sure to have leftovers for this dish! Just need the tomatoes and we’re set!
Hooray! You’ll LOVE this 🙂
Oh wow Lina, this totally hit the spot tonight!! We’re in the tail end of Creole tomato season here in the south, and I lucked out on finding some at my grocery store that were nice n ripe, so that along with the cucumbers made it super filling with the leftover chicken from the other night!! The only complaint was from hubby, who said there wasn’t enough bacon!!
That’s great! Thanks for the update!
Yum, yum–I made a similar one last night-since it was for adults only, I added one chopped jalepeno. Another great one, Lina. Please keep ’em coming!
Oh wow! Yum – thanks for sharing!
This looks amazing! I love blts and pasta 🙂 I just wonder how quickly the lettuce would get slimy/super wilty in this. Anyone know?
Just add the lettuce right before serving. It does get wilty after a while but still tastes great.
We made this with dinner tonight and everyone loved it! Thank you for sharing!
Oh good! So glad to hear that! Thanks for sharing Joy. ❤️🙌🏼
I made this for Father’s Day. Everyone loved it.
Oh yay!! That is great to hear Sherry!
going to make it without bacon and tomatoes. Will add celery, onion, and carrots to it. Maybe broccoli. Nobody except me will eat tomatoes or bacon.
Thanks for sharing the substitutions you’ll be making, Patricia! That sounds yummy too! 😋