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- Salads, Sides
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A cold pasta salad with creamy mayonnaiseand Greek yogurt dressing tossed withDitalini shaped pasta, crispy chopped bacon, shredded green lettuce, diced tomatoes, cheddar cheese, and red pepper flakes. Serve this quick and easy BLT Pasta Salad for barbecues, holidays, potlucks, and as a side dish.
This post is sponsored by Rubbermaid® Freshworks™and Socialstars™ as part of a #Freshworks sponsored series; all opinions are my own
BLT Pasta Salad brings back memories of summer potlucks with family. It’s served cold and it’s refreshing during the hot summer months. I love the combination of crisp green lettuce with juicy cherry tomatoes, crunchy bacon, and cold pasta. I often refer to this summer salad as my bacon pasta because it’s loaded with all my favorite summer potluck recipe ingredients.
Since it’s the first grill of the season, I want it to be special. I’ve been waiting for this day for months. If you like classic summer side dish recipes with a twist, then you’ll love this pasta salad side dish. It has incredible flavor and tastes just like a BLT sandwich that we’ve all come to love.
This time of year I love to hit up visit a few local farmer markets. I stock up on anything that is in season and store in the refrigerator then plan meals around each hull. What I dislike the most about stocking up on fresh fruits and vegetables is that some of it does go bad pretty quickly.
It’s a constant struggle to finish everything before it spoils. Often, I’ll make a summertime pasta salad with fresh summer produce to use up all those fresh garden vegetables.
Fresh vegetables and fruit that sit on the counter rot pretty quickly because of the humidity. This past week I started using Rubbermaid® Freshworks™ Produce Saverstorage containers to help keep the produce fresher for longer.
What I love about these storage containers is that produce lasts three times as long as traditional stored fruits and vegetables. Rubbermaid® FreshWorks™ Produce Saver is a brand new food storage container that uses revolutionary FreshVent™ technology to keep produce fresher up to 80% longer (when compared to store packaging). The containers are BPA free and dishwasher safe which makes clean up that much easier.
Rubbermaid® Freshworks™ Produce Saver uses Revolutionary FreshVent™ Technology which is a patented membrane that naturally regulates the flow of O2 and CO2 to create the optimal environment to keep your produce nearly as fresh as the day it was picked.
With spring in full swing, you’ll want to make afunand flavorful dish that are perfect for barbecues. This ridiculously easy pasta with bacon BLT Pasta Salad is perfect as an appetizer, side-dish, or even a main dish.
What are some of your favorite picnic dishes to make this time of year?
BLT Pasta Salad
Favorite Recipe
A cold pasta salad with creamy mayonnaise dressing tossed with pasta, crispy chopped bacon, shredded green lettuce, diced tomatoes, cheddar cheese, and red pepper flakes. Serve this quick and easy BLT Pasta Salad for bbqs, summer holidays during May, June, July, and August, potlucks, and as a side dish.
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Prep Time 10 minutes mins
Cook Time 10 minutes mins
Total Time 20 minutes mins
Course Appetizer
Cuisine American
Servings 8 servings
Calories 669 kcal
Ingredients
- 16 ounces Ditalini shaped pasta elbow macaroni or rotini pasta may be substituted
- 2 tablespoons olive oil divided
- 12 slices bacon chopped
- 1½ cups diced tomatoes
- 2½ cups chopped romain lettuce
- 1 cup mayonnaise
- ¼ cup plain Greek yogurt
- 1½ cups sharp cheddar cheese grated
- ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes optional to taste
Instructions
In a medium pot over medium-high heat, cook 16 ounces of pasta according to directions.
Cook bacon in a skillet over stove top then chop once cooled.
Drain pasta and toss with 1 tablespoon olive oil; set aside.
Chop lettuce and tomatoes.
In a large bowl, combine mayonnaise, Greek yogurt, and pasta noodles then toss everything together until coated.
Stir in lettuce, chopped bacon, tomatoes, red pepper flakes, and cheddar cheese.
Refrigerate until ready to serve.
Notes
More Flavor Variations and Additions
- red onions
- shallots
- dill
- green onions
- salt
- garlic powder
- freshly minced garlic
- mustard
- pickles
- elbow macaroni
- rotini pasta
- homemade ranch dressing
- black pepper
- sour cream
- vinegar
- turkey bacon
- flavored mayo
- roma tomatoes, or grape tomatoes
- pepperjack cheese, sharp cheddar cheese, monterey jack cheese, feta cheese, blue cheese, goat cheese
Nutrition
Calories: 669kcalCarbohydrates: 46gProtein: 18gFat: 46gSaturated Fat: 12gPolyunsaturated Fat: 16gMonounsaturated Fat: 15gTrans Fat: 1gCholesterol: 55mgSodium: 550mgPotassium: 331mgFiber: 2gSugar: 3gVitamin A: 1166IUVitamin C: 5mgCalcium: 191mgIron: 2mg
Nutritional information is only an estimate and it's accuracy is not guaranteed to be exact.
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19 Responses
Rwhat is something easy that this can be paired with……. Do not have a grill yet… Thanks!
Reply
Brats, and roasted chicken! I love to bring this BLT Pasta Salad and a side of Sweet Buttermilk Cornbread to parties but we also eat it at home!
dfReply
I just made this over the weekend and really loved it but jut wanted to know about how long it lasts… I am still amazed the lettuce hasn’t wilted…..It was AWESOME and I will for sure be making it for Summer Parties & OR BBQ’s this Summer 🙂
Reply
Hi Angie, I’d probably save it for 4-5 days. Re-wet it with the dressing if needed!
Reply
Can I make this 24 hrs. in advance? Should I mix the bacon, tomatoes and lettuce in when I’m almost ready to server? It sounds great!! Its for my son’s inlaws bbq and I want it to be perfect! Thanks😊
Reply
Hi Martha, go ahead and make the pasta ahead of time. Just be sure to toss it with a little olive oil before storing it in the fridge. Then just toss it all together when ready to serve.
Reply
I think I will make this tonight, sounds perfect paired with pork chops on the grill, some tangy bar-b-questions sauce and a cold beer. One question. Do you think that additional seasoning is necessary, or is the mayo and Greek yogurt enough?
Reply
I think it’s enough. Sounds delicious!
Reply
Yumm! This turned out tastier than I expected and went perfect as a side dish for a BBQ. I love the addition of red pepper flakes in this recipe, I even doubled the amount. Next time I’ll add some diced green onion. Thank you for this great, simple pasta salad.Reply
Yay, glad you liked it! It’s such a simple and classic recipe to make this time of year. Thanks, Jillian!
Reply
Looks really yummy, planning on making it. But question, what do you do with the second tablespoon of olive oil? Did I miss something? Thanks for the great recipe!Reply
I usually put about a tablespoon or less of olive oil in the pasta water while it cooks to prevent the noodles from sticking to each other and getting soggy.
Reply
Holy hell, this looks amazing. Like, super amazing. Like, super duper amazing. I need this in my mouth right now!
Reply
This is definitely perfect for spring and has spring written all over it. Fresh, vibrant and full of color. BLT pasta salad. Yum!
Reply
BLT pasta salad?! How creative! It looks so yummy!
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I love love love macaroni salad. Your photos are gorgeous. I wish I had your Louisiana spring though…I live in Toronto and while it’s technically spring, we are expecting snow tomorrow lol! This salad might just be what we need to brighten up our day.
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This looks fantastic! Love bacon in salads, this would be fantastic at a summer BBQ!Reply
Oh wow, I want to dig into some of that! I know pasta salads kind of have a bad reputation but they’re so perfect for picnics. Can’t wait to take this on one.
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I love that you added red pepper flakes! Pasta salads can be boring and bland sometimes. Not this one! 🙂Reply
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