BLT Ranch Pasta Salad

5 from 4 votes

Take everyone's favourite sandwich (a BLT, of course!), mix it with a creamy ranch homemade sauce and make it into a crowd-pleasing pasta salad - the perfect side dish for potlucks, bbqs or parties!

Prep Time20

Cook Time10

Total Time30

Course: Side Dish

Cuisine: American

Servings: servings

Calories: 407kcal

Author: Myra

Ingredients

For the Salad

1 lb short pasta (I used fusilli)
185 g bacon (this is half a regular sized package)
8 leaves romaine lettuce
1 cup cherry tomatoes
1/2 red onion

For the Creamy Ranch Sauce

1 can evaporated milk
1 cup mayonnaise
2 tbsp dried parsley
2 tbsp dried dill
1 tbsp dried basil
3/4 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper

Instructions

Cook pasta in a large pot of salted water* until it's just past al dente (check your pasta package for cooking time).
Meanwhile, mix together ingredients for the creamy ranch sauce and set aside.
When pasta is cooked, drain and rinse under cool water until pasta is just warm. Drain well and toss with 1/2 of the sauce. Refrigerate.
Prep the other ingredients. Mince red onion**, wash and halve cherry tomatoes, cook and crumble bacon***, wash, dry and chop lettuce.
Mix onion, tomato and bacon with pasta and add 1/2 of remaining sauce. Combine gently and refrigerate until ready to serve.
Wrap damp lettuce in paper towel, place in a zip top bag and refrigerate until ready to serve. Refrigerate leftover sauce separately.
At serving time, add salad, mix gently and do a taste test. Add more of the reserved sauce if desired.
Enjoy! :)

Notes

*Pasta water should taste salty like the ocean.

**If you find raw onion too strong, mince your onion and soak it in a bowl of cold water for a few minutes. Drain, pat try, and use as directed. This will take away most of the 'bite'.

***We like to cook our bacon in the microwave (especially when making smaller amounts, like 1/2 a package) because it's pretty much mess-free and hands-off. We have a special dish similar to this that is awesome.

Nutrition