BLT Pasta Salad is a scrumptious pasta salad that always wins! It’s made with crispy bacon, crisp lettuce, tomato, avocado, and a secretly nutritious ranch dressing. Serve BLT pasta salad at any event and watch it literally disappear!
BLT pasta salad with avocado and ranch
This pasta salad…it’s like a giant bowl of bacon, lettuce, and tomato sandwiches tossed together with avocado, pasta, and creamy ranch dressing! It’s super easy, secretly nutritious, and guaranteed to please any crowd.
BLT Pasta Salad Ingredients
- rotini spiral pasta – or any pasta
- lettuce – use romaine or iceberg lettuce, or a combo of both
- tomatoes – cherry tomatoes are my fav, but any will work
- bacon – we love to use crumbled bacon from Costco
- onion – red, white, or yellow onion…any will work
- avocado – adds a nutty richness that always wins with bacon
- ranch dressing – I used my Greek Yogurt Ranch Dressing but you can use any ranch you like
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How to make BLT Pasta Salad
- Cook pasta. Rinse with cool water, drain, and set aside.
- Make the ranch dressing in a small bowl.
- To serve, place pasta in a large bowl with bacon, lettuce, tomato, avocado, and onion.
- Drizzle ranch dressing over the salad ingredients. Toss gently and serve.
How to cook pasta in the Instant Pot
- Add pasta and enough water to cover the pasta, along with 1/2 tsp salt to the Instant Pot.
- Close the lid, set pressure valve to “sealing”.
- Pressure cook on HIGH for 2 minutes.
- Allow the cooker to sit, undisturbed, for a 10-minute natural pressure release.
- Release excess steam (if any) by carefully turning pressure release valve to “venting”, then cool-water rinse and drain the pasta, and refrigerate until ready to use.
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BLT pasta salad recipe tips
Pasta: Always rinse the cooked pasta in cold water when it’s finished cooking. This stops it cooking, cools it down, and removes excess starch. Also, chill the pasta before using it for this pasta salad.
Lettuce: You can prep it a day or two before serving, just be sure to air dry the lettuce completely before storing it in the fridge.
Bacon: Cook your bacon a day or two in advance to avoid extra tasks the day of your event. Refrigerate it in an airtight container until ready to use.
Avocado: For optimal avocado freshness, I recommend waiting to dice the avocado until you’re ready to dress and serve BLT salad
Serving tip: Keep all prepped ingredients separate from each other until you’re ready to toss the salad together. Think of it as a sacred wedding day, because this pasta salad is…exactly that!
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Kitchen Tools
- chef knife
- cutting board
- salad spinner (to wash leafy produce)
- large salad bowl
More pasta salads to love
- Macaroni Salad with Greek Yogurt Dressing
- Tortellini Pesto Pasta Salad
- Italian Pasta Salad [Dairy-Free]
- Pesto Macaroni Pasta Salad
Easy summer salad recipes
- How to Make THE BEST Potato Salad
- Loaded Baked Potato Salad
- Asian Quinoa Slaw Salad with Sesame Ginger Vinaigrette
- Broccoli Bacon Grape Blue Cheese Salad
- Lemony Kale Salad with Chickpeas and Avocado
BLT Pasta Salad Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 cups Spiral Pasta uncooked
- 1/2 tsp Kosher Salt add this to pasta water
- 4-6 cups Romaine Lettuce chopped
- 2 cups Cherry Tomatoes halved
- 1/2 lb Bacon cooked and crumbled
- 1/2 small Red Onion diced
- 1 Avocado about 1 cups diced
- 1/2 cup Greek Yogurt Ranch Dressing or bottled Ranch dressing
Instructions
- Cook PASTA using package instructions; rinse, drain, and set aside. * See Instant Pot pasta cooking instructions in recipe footnotes.
- Place pasta in a large bowl with BACON, LETTUCE, TOMATO, ONION, and AVOCADO.
- Drizzle RANCH DRESSING over the pasta salad. Toss gently to combine and serve chilled.
To make-ahead, prep each ingredient and store separately until ready to dress.
RECIPE NOTES
- Add pasta and enough water to cover the pasta, along with 1/2 tsp salt to the Instant Pot.
- Close the lid, set pressure valve to “sealing”.
- Pressure cook on HIGH for 2 minutes.
- Allow the cooker to sit, undisturbed, for a 10-minute natural pressure release.
- Release excess steam (if any) by carefully turning pressure release valve to “venting”, then cool-water rinse and drain the pasta, and refrigerate until ready to use.
Nutrition
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We LOVED your BLT Pasta Salad! It is absolutely DELICIOUS. Your recipes are THE BEST and easy to modify for many allergies! THANKS SO MUCH, Kitchen Girl!!
Aww thank you, Pat!! I’m so glad you’ve been with me through the years and are enjoying my contribution to the recipe realm ❤️
All my favorite flavors in one pasta salad, this is inspired! BLT sandwich but so much more elevated. Can’t wait to try this Traci! Thank you for the gorgeous recipe.
Aww, thank you for the kind words, Farah. Yes, you will LOVE the BLT salad version of the sandwich 🙂
This is such a delicious recipe for the whole family to enjoy! Ranch is such a yummy dressing, and the BLT and avocado combination works so well! Yum!
Thanks, Alexandra! We literally gobble this one down every time 🙂
This looks fantastic. I love BLTs and love Salads so this is perfect! I think I’ll make it for our next church potluck!
Thanks, Josi! Just be sure to make enough…b/c it WON’T last long 😉
This is such a great idea for dinner or light lunch! I love the idea of making a BLT pasta salad instead of sandwich.
Thanks, Natalie! We love it too…although, nothing against a stacked up BLT 😉
OMG! This recipe looks so good! I was looking for just this kind of inspiration for a salad for tonight. Thank you so much!
Thanks, Megan! So happy to inspire you! Hope you love the BLT salad 🙂
I so agree about having a good salad repertoire over the summer months and I have to admit nothing beats a BLT Salad. So awesome tips on salad making here too.
So glad to hear it, Meeta! Hope you get to enjoy it sometime 🙂
This looks fabuolous! All of the flavor I crave without the guilt!
Haha yep! Exactly my thoughts about it 🙂 Thanks Sara!
This is my kind of pasta salad! So perfect for summer!
Thanks Jessica! This is the perfect season for it 🙂
When you can combine “skinny” and “ranch” you have a winner for me! I have a potluck next weekend and this is going to be my contribution!
Haha yep, I’m all about the skinny AND the ranch 🙂 Thanks Jamie!
This looks Amazing!!! Must try for my gathering!
Great Jessie! Hope it’s a hit! 🙂
I’ve been craving salads all summer and this one looks to die for!! Can’t wait to make it!
Yay thanks Nicole! Hope you love it like I do 🙂
I love the idea that this is skinny! sounds and looks terrific!
Thanks Claudia! Skinny means we can eat MORE, right?! 😉
This looks like a great pasta salad to take to a BBQ, pool party, or picnic this summer! Thanks!
Thanks Debi! You’ll be the hit of the party with this one 🙂
Oh this salad sounds amazing! I love the ranch dressing. Especially that it’s a skinny version!
Thanks Pam! I’m with you…gimme ALL the skinny ranch 🙂
Finally, we have a bit better weather and therefore time for recipes like this. Have to try it
Haha thanks Zuzana! You’re so right…loving the season ahead 🙂
This salad looks amazing!! I honestly don’t make enough salad, but this looks like a great one to save for the summer 🙂
Thanks Cathleen! Love hearing this 🙂
Looks like a really delicious pasta salad dish to bring to a picnic this season!
Thanks Jill! Yep, you might be the hit of the party if you bring this 🙂
Everything about this salad sounds good to me! I’d love a big bowl for dinner!
Thanks Cynthia! This does make a great dinner salad too…I’ve done it 🙂
Love that this has pasta and lettuce! Best of both worlds!
Thanks Lisa…love hearing you put it like that 🙂
You’ve basically solved the question of what I’m going to bring to every gathering this summer. A secretly healthy salad I can make in advance? That’s perfect!
Haha yes!!! I love hearing that! Thanks…and hope you love it!
This looks so fresh and tasty. Perfect for a work-friendly, packable lunch.I especially love the skinny ranch dressing on top!
Thanks Jenni! Yep, very work-friendly…party-friendly too! 🙂