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BLT Pasta Salad with Avocado and Ranch

Name: BLT Pasta Salad Recipe
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 35 min
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)

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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 spoon drizzling ranch dressing in glass bowl on blue surface with plates, napkin, and ranch dressing in a jar

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!

blt pasta salad with ranch dressing in glass bowl on blue surface

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Kitchen Tools

chef knife
cutting board
salad spinner (to wash leafy produce)
large salad bowl

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BLT Pasta Salad Recipe

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 and watch it literally disappear!

5 from 9 votes

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Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 15 minutes

Total Time: 35 minutes

Yield: 1-cup servings

Author: Traci – TheKitchenGirl.com

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.

Tried this recipe? I’d love your review!Visit the comments below and tell me how it went.

RECIPE NOTES

* NOTE: Nutrition information does not include the data for Greek Yogurt Ranch Dressing. Please refer to that recipe for nutrition info by clicking HERE.

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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The Kitchen Girl

Recipe author and food photographer at The Kitchen Girl