Cheddar & Bacon Pasta Salad
This creamy, cold pasta salad is bursting with fresh ingredients like tomatoes, broccoli, crisp bacon, cheddar, olives and red onions. The ranch-mayo dressing provides flavour and creaminess without overpowering the other ingredients. This recipe makes a great summer side dish but you can eat this for lunch as it is quite filling.
Bacon & Cheddar Pasta Salad
Ingredients
- 3 cups bow-tie pasta, uncooked
- ⅔ cup cheddar cheese crumbles
- 6 slices cooked bacon, diced
- 2-3 small tomatoes, seeded & diced
- ⅔ cup fresh broccoli, chopped
- ⅔ cup red onions, diced
- ⅓ cup black olives
- ½ cup mayonnaise
- ½ cup creamy ranch dressing
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- ½-1 teaspoon oregano
Method
- Cook pasta until al dente. Be careful not overcook.
- Drain pasta and rinse with cold water until pasta is cool.
- Add drained pasta to a large bowl.
- Add in the bacon, broccoli, red onions, black olives, and tomatoes.
- Toss to combine. (you may need to add a tiny bit of water to moisten the pasta if it’s too sticky to toss)
- In a small bowl, stir together the mayonnaise, ranch dressing, garlic and oregano.
- When ready to serve, mix the dressing in with the pasta mixture until well coated.
- Serve immediately.