Bacon Pasta Salad

By James Kimble January 20, 2025 5 mins read 6 Views

This creamy bacon pasta salad combines fun textures and delicious flavors that will have everyone coming back for more. The rich, creamy dressing, crispy bacon, chives, and perfectly cooked pasta is a fun twist on traditional pasta salads.

What is the best type of pasta to use for pasta salad?

When it comes to making pasta salad, choosing the right type is important for achieving the best texture and flavor of the overall dish. Our personal favorite is rotini, and here are the reasons why we recommend it for this dish:

It holds its shape: Because it is spiral-shaped, it provides the perfect surface that holds onto dressings and seasonings more effectively.
Great texture: Rotini retains its firm texture when cooked perfectly al dente, making it a versatile pasta to use in both warm dishes and cold salads.
Visual appeal: The spiral shape is fun to look at and eat. Adults and kids both love it!

Ingredients

1 16-ounce box of rotini pasta (spiral or corkscrew pasta)
6 strips of cooked thin-cut bacon (sub with turkey bacon)
1 2.25 ounce can of sliced black olives
Fresh chives (sub with parsley)
Fresh baby spinach
Real mayonnaise
Sour cream
Grated parmesan cheese
White vinegar
Dijon mustard
Garlic powder
Creole seasoning
Salt and black pepper to taste

How to make bacon pasta salad

Cook pasta (al dente) according to package instructions. Once cooked, drain the pasta, rinse it with cold water, and drain once more. Set aside.
Make the dressing: In a large bowl, whisk together real mayonnaise, sour cream, parmesan, vinegar, mustard, garlic powder, paprika, and salt and black pepper to taste.
Assemble: Next, gently toss in the pasta, black olives, chives, baby spinach, and half of the chopped bacon with the dressing.
Flavor: Taste pasta, and adjust seasonings to your liking.
Finishing touches: Transfer the pasta salad to a serving dish. Garnish with remaining chopped bacon.
Refrigerate: Cover the dish tightly with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 4 hours before serving.

Serving and Storing Leftovers

For safe serving, fill a large disposable aluminum tray halfway 1/3 of the way full of water, and place it in the freezer for 1-2 hours until it is frozen solid. This step can be done while the pasta salad is refrigerating. Once you are ready to serve, set the bowl inside the ice tray to keep the salad cold. Replenish with ice as needed.
Refrigerate leftovers: Store leftover pasta salad in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. Pasta salad can be made a day ahead of time.

Best times to serve pasta salad

This bacon pasta salad is easy to whip up and versatile. Serve it for birthday parties, game day events like tailgating or Super Bowl, family reunions, picnics, brunches, or summer cookouts. It makes the perfect side dish for grilled or smoked meats like brisket, BBQ chicken, ham ribs, steaks, or pulled pork.

Variations

Customize this bacon pasta salad with extra ingredients! Here are a few suggestions:
Cocktail shrimp: Fold 1 cup of small shrimp into the pasta salad right before chilling it in the refrigerator.
Diced rotisserie chicken: Fold in 1 cup before refrigerating.
Shredded cheddar cheese: Fold in 1/2-2/3 cup of shredded cheese before refrigerating.
Green onion: add 1-2 finely chopped green onions to the dressing
Ranch dressing: substitute mayonnaise for prepared ranch dressing (make your own using a ranch dressing mix, or reach for a good quality dressing like Litehouse or Marie’s.

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