I like pasta salad. It’s great for bringing to parties. To potlucks. To make a batch and have for 2-3 meals in that week. I really like how simple they can be – some pasta, some veggies and a dressing. The dressing can be homemade or come from a bottle.
Know what I also like? Cleaning out the fridge! That’s how this recipe came to be. I went to make a pasta salad and planned to use my normal Italian salad dressing, but noticed that I had a couple of bottles of Ranch dressing in the fridge.
“Hmmm…” I thought. “I wonder how this would be in a pasta salad”.
“Hmm…” I thought. “What goes well with ranch dressing?”
“Hmm…” I thought. “Bacon! Cheese! Veggies!”
So I popped some bacon in the oven to bake. Steamed a bag of peas from the fridge. Boiled some rotini noodles. Diced a tomato. Added the ranch dressing and boom! pasta salad is done. It’s that easy.
I’ve written the recipe as I made it, but really, you can forgo the peas. Or the tomatoes. Or double the bacon. It’s really quite customizable! You can make your own ranch dressing, but I just used bottled dressing — super easy that way!
Bacon Ranch Pasta Salad
Ingredients
- 8 ounces pasta (any small shape will do), cooked per package directions
- 1/2 cup cheddar cheese
- 1/2 cup bacon, cooked & crumbled
- 1 cup Ranch dressing
- 1 tomato, diced (or grape tomatoes)
- 1/2 cup peas, cooked & cooled
Instructions
- Add all ingredients to a bowl.
- Mix.
- Serve.
Jayme is a wife to 1 and to four little boys. She coupons, but isn’t super extreme about it. She price matches and loves it! While she likes to cook, she’s in the stage of life where simple is usually better. She never knows how many hands she’ll have free at dinner time. You can find her at No Regrets Living.
