Best Chicken Bacon Ranch Pasta Salad Recipe Ever

A delicious salad loaded with fresh crunchy veggies, crispy bacon and homemade creamy ranch dressing.

Course Side Dish

Cuisine Italian

Keyword bacon, chicken, pasta, ranch, salad, veggies

Prep Time 1 15

Servings

Calories 2193kcal

Author Shari Lynne

Ingredients

2 cooked chicken breasts
24 ounces uncooked Rotini pasta
1 pound bacon
1 Cucumber chopped
1 pint small cherry or grape tomatoes cut in half
4 stalks Green Onions chopped
1 Red Bell Pepper chopped
2 stalks Celery chopped
2 cups Cheddar Colby Shredded Cheese use what you like
2 cups Creamy Ranch Dressing we used Uncle Dan’s Original Southern Classic
1 tsp black pepper optional

Instructions

Make the homemade creamy salad dressing in a small bowl or airtight container, the night before you are going to serve the pasta salad. Follow the package directions on the back of Uncle Dan’s package. I made 1/2 of the package instructions which was 2 cups of dressing. 1 cup buttermilk and 1 cup mayo
Grill your Chicken Breast. I did this the night before I made the salad or use quicker alternatives (rotiserie chicken, baked chicken, store bought frozen grilled chicken)
Fill a large pot with water and bring it to a rolling boil. I always like to sprinkle a little olive oil on top of the water to help the pasta from sticking together during the cooking process, then pour pasta into it. Cook pasta until tender.
Cook your slices of Bacon over medium heat until they are crispy, while your pasta cooks
Cut up the Veggies while your pasta AND your bacon are cooking. Also, chop your chicken up
Drain water from Pasta in a strainer. Then run cold water over the pasta to cool it down. We don’t want to put cheese and nice cold veggies into hot pasta, especially since this is a cold chicken bacon pasta salad! The pasta doesn’t need to be cold…just cooled down.
Use a large bowl to mix all of your ingredients together. Add in your cooked pasta, chicken, bacon, cucumber, tomatoes, red peppers, green onions, and cheese.
Mix all ingredients together thoroughly.
Pour on the creamy ranch dressing and mix again.
Add pepper to taste (optional).
Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until ready to serve.

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