Ranch BLT Pasta Salad

5 from 12 votes

This Ranch BLT Pasta Salad is a light and simple recipe that is loaded with so many delicious flavors, including creamy ranch dressing, and chopped bacon.

Prep Time15

Cook Time10

Course: Salad

Cuisine: American

Keyword: blt pasta salad

Servings:

Calories: 543kcal

Author: LaKita Anderson

Ingredients

8 ounces rotini pasta
1 cup ranch dressing, divided
1 cup diced tomatoes
¾ cup Swiss cheese, finely grated
½ cup red onion, thinly sliced
1 cup bacon, cooked and chopped
1 cup Romaine lettuce, roughly chopped
salt & ground black pepper to preference

Instructions

Cook the 8 ounces of rotini pasta according to package instructions; al dente and in plenty of salted water.
Drain the pasta from the water and then gently toss with ½ cup Ranch dressing to lightly coat and prevent the pasta from sticking together. Refrigerate until cold.
In a large bowl, toss to combine the cold prepared pasta with 1 cup tomatoes, ¾ cup Swiss cheese, ½ cup red onion, 1 cup bacon and 1 cup lettuce.
Lastly, add in the other ½ cup Ranch dressing and gently stir to generously coat everything. Season to your preference with salt and ground black pepper.

Notes

If you feel that your dressing is too thick, then you can add 1 to 2 tablespoons of milk. This will help thin it out, without altering the flavor.
Plan to eat this the day that you make it, as the lettuce will wilt pretty fast. Or keep lettuce separate and add it in before serving.
Any pasta that is small to medium in size does work for this recipe. You can even use gluten-free pasta, chickpea, or protein pasta. Just cook as directed on the back of the package.
You could swap the lettuce with spinach leaves or even kale if you would prefer.
If you don't want to use Swiss cheese, then you can easily swap it with Mozzarella, pepper jack, cheddar, etc. Get creative or use your favorite cheese combination.

Nutrition