This cheddar bacon ranch pasta salad is a delicious cold salad recipe that the whole family will enjoy. Made with bacon, tomatoes, ranch dressing, and crisp cucumbers this salad is truly a blend of refreshing flavors and textures in every bite.
I served this cheesy bacon pasta salad up with some Air Fryer BBQ Chicken Breasts for a summer feel during winter and the whole family enjoyed it! With bacon cheddar pasta salad you get a wonderful summer taste in every chilled bite.
Why This Recipe Works
- You can make it in advance. This simple bacon ranch pasta salad is one you can prepare in advance and have ready for dinner when you are.
- You can make a large batch at once! Double the batch and make enough to share at your summer BBQs or do as I did and serve it up for a simple family meal side dish.
- The steps are easy to follow. From boiling pasta to mixing everything together, this recipe is great for experienced cooks and those trying their hands at something new.
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🥘 Ingredients
Rotini Noodles- You can use any noodle of choice, but we like to use rotini noodles in our pasta salad. Feel free to use bow ties, shells, macaroni noodles, etc.
Frozen Peas- Peas will add a little burst of color to our salad.
Cherry Tomatoes- Adding cherry tomatoes will give us a nice change of flavor thanks to the acidity. The color will also look lovely.
Cucumber- For a refreshing crunch you'll want to use cucumbers that have been peeled.
Cheddar Cheese- You can use any cheese of your choice, but we like to use cheddar cheese for a nice flavor and color.
Bacon Strips- adding bacon to this salad will give us a chewy crunch and add a saltiness that helps to elevate the other flavors well.
Sliced Black Olives- Adding sliced black olives really make this salad feel more well-rounded. You can buy them already sliced in a can.
For the dressing, you will need:
Ranch Salad Dressing- Use your favorite ranch salad dressing for this recipe. You can use Hidden valley, a store brand, or a low calorie yogurt-based dressing option.
Mayo- This will make our pasta salad creamy and perfect.
For specific quantities, see the recipe card below.
🍽 Equipment Needed
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🔪 Instructions
Check out how to make cheddar bacon ranch pasta salad with these simple step-by-step instructions:
Boil pasta in a large pot of water according to package directions.
When pasta is almost finished, add the frozen peas to the pot of hot water and let cook for 1-2 minutes until thawed and warmed.
Drain into a colander and rinse under cold running water until the pasta is cold and no longer heated.
In a small bowl whisk together the ranch and mayo until well mixed.
Add everything to a large mixing bowl and toss well to combine.
Serve immediately or cover with plastic wrap and chill until serving time.
🧾 Substitutions
Mayo. Instead of using Mayo for this salad, you can replace it with sour cream or plain Greek yogurt.
Ranch Dressing. You can use one packet of ranch seasoning mix instead of the dressing. This may actually give you a stronger Ranch flavor.
Rotini Noodles. You can use any noodles including elbow noodles for this recipe but I had rotini on hand and chose to use it.
🍴 Recipe Tips
Adjusting ranch taste
If you want a stronger ranch taste you can add in a little bit of dry ranch dressing mix. Add to taste.
You can add more bacon
If you really want a lot of bacon in this salad you can add as much as you want, until your heart is content.
⏲️Make Ahead Instructions
Prep the veggies and have them ready to go while the pasta is cooking to make the assembly process a little smoother.
💭 FAQs
You can keep this pasta well covered and stored in your fridge for up to 4 days. This should give you plenty of time to enjoy it throughout the week. If you notice your pasta becoming dry you can stir in a little more ranch dressing or mayo to get it creamy again.
You do not have to peel it, but I chose to do so because I didn't want the texture of the skin.
When serving this pasta salad I cannot recommend keeping it out of a chilled environment or fridge for more than 2 hours at a time because this will cause food safety issues to arise.
More great summer recipes to check out soon
- Heaven Berry Fluff Salad
- Creamy Orange Fluff Salad
- Dill Pickle Potato Salad
- Honey Lime Fruit Salad
- Easy Dorito Taco Salad
📖 Recipe
Cheddar Bacon Ranch Pasta Salad
Equipment
- Chef Knife
Ingredients
- 1 box (12 ounce) Colored rotini noodles ($1.14)
- 1 cup Frozen peas ($0.76)
- 1 cup Halved cherry tomatoes ($1.24)
- 1 cup Small diced cucumber, peeled and seeded ($0.64)
- 4 ounces Shredded cheddar cheese ($0.93)
- 5 strips Bacon, cooked and crumbled ($1.80)
- 1 can (2.25oz) sliced black olives *optional ($1.38)
Dressing:
- ½ cup Ranch salad dressing ($0.58)
- ¼ cup Mayo or sour cream ($0.34)
Instructions
- Boil pasta in a large pot of water according to package directions.
- When pasta is almost finished, add the frozen peas to the pot of hot water and let cook for 1-2 minutes until thawed and warmed.
- Drain into a colander and rinse under cold running water until the pasta is cold and no longer heated.
- In a small bowl whisk together the ranch and mayo until well mixed.
- Add everything to a large mixing bowl and toss well to combine.
- Serve immediately or cover with plastic wrap and chill until serving time.
Notes
- Peel the cucumber (if desired) and then cut off both end pieces.
- Slice the cucumber in half from top to bottom so that there is a flat side and a rounded side. Place the 2 halves flat side down onto your cutting board.
- Slice each half in half so it's now in quarters.
- Trim off the inside piece of each quarter, where the seeds are. It's okay if you don't remove the seeds perfectly and leave some behind.
- Now cut each cucumber length into smaller bite sized pieces.
- Use as directed.
Melody says
I have made this type of salad numerous times during the summer. When I came across yours only thing I changed with mine was to add the cucumbers and peas. I like to switch up depending on the occasion and if I don't have certain items. There's so many ways you can make this and it's delicious. I've even sliced up zucchini squash and added it.
Nicole says
that sounds delicious, thanks for sharing! 🙂