Cheddar Bacon Ranch Pasta Salad – a quick and easy combination of favorite flavors like bacon, cheddar cheese and ranch dressing tossed with pasta and BBQ sauce to create a cold side that will become your new go-to pasta salad dish! Great for picnics and potlucks too!
After a long day and then trying to put dinner on the table, the last thing I want to think about is a complicated side dish. So I make this! It just doesn’t get any easier. You can’t go wrong with a mixture of pasta, bacon ranch dressing, and BBQ sauce to add amazing flavor. This dish takes about 10 minutes to make, the time it takes to boil pasta and fry up some bacon. How easy is that? The best part is that everyone loves it!
Reasons you will love this Pasta Salad:
- Quick and easy to make with mostly pantry ingredients
- Kids love this stuff…adults too!
- Versatile – change up the ingredients to use up leftovers
- Leftovers make a great next day lunch – store covered in the fridge for up to 3 days
INGREDIENTS TO MAKE CHEDDAR BACON RANCH PASTA SALAD
- Pasta
- Bacon
- Cheddar Cheese
- Ranch Dressing
- Roasted Red Peppers
- Barbecue Sauce
Directions For Making Pasta Salad
- Cook your pasta of choice according to package directions. We love to cook our to al dente for pasta salads.
- Get out a large bowl and pour in the cooked pasta. Add the bacon, red peppers, and cheese and toss until ingredients are evenly distributed.
- In a small bowl, mix the ranch dressing and the barbecue sauce until well blended. Pour over the pasta mixture and toss until the pasta and other ingredients are coated with the sauce.
- Sprinkle in salt and pepper to taste. Cover and chill in the refrigerator for at least an hour before serving to let the flavors blend.
Cheddar Bacon Ranch Pasta Salad
Ingredients
- 1 pound rotini pasta cooked according to package directions
- 6 slices bacon cooked crisp and chopped
- 1-1/2 cups cheddar cheese shredded
- 1 cup roasted red peppers chopped (from a jar)
- 1 cup ranch dressing
- 1/4 cup barbecue sauce your favorite brand or homemade barbecue sauce
- salt and pepper
Instructions
- In a large bowl pour in the cooked pasta. Add the bacon, red peppers, and cheese and toss until ingredients are evenly distributed.
- In a small bowl, mix the ranch dressing and the BBQ sauce until blended. Pour over the pasta mixture and toss until the pasta and other ingredients are coated with the sauce.
- Salt and pepper the Cheddar Bacon Ranch Pasta Salad to taste.
- Chill in the refrigerator for at least an hour and serve cold.
Chef Tips
Equipment Used
Nutrition Facts
© Copyright Christine Mello for Must Love Home. We would love for you to share a link to this recipe but please do not copy/paste the recipe instructions to websites or social media. We are happy for you to share a photo with a link back to this website instead.
Thanks so much for the compliment and the pin!! I made this for my grown up sons and they actually fought over who would get the last serving – must be the bacon!! Thanks for dropping by:) Hugs- Christine
My kids love pasta and cheddar! Since we don’t eat bacon, we usually use turkey instead. Thanks for sharing it with #OMHGWW and happy to co-host it with you 🙂
I am going to have to pin this recipe and make this for my husband. He LOVES bacon, BBQ sauce and pasta salad.