Quick & Easy BLT Pasta Salad Makes Blursday Better
on May 08, 2020, Updated Oct 28, 2023
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Quick & easy BLT Pasta Salad will quickly become a beloved main or side dish for busy summer nights. With a quick prep and a fabulous taste, your whole family will approve!
*Many thanks to the National Pork Board for sponsoring this post to make Blursday better with bacon!*
Quick & Easy BLT Pasta Salad Makes Blursday Better
I don’t know about you guys, but I have been having a really hard time keeping track of the days. They’ve been blurring together since mid-March when my kids were released from school. I’ve even wished people a happy Tuesday on social media when it was actually Wednesday. And with school now out for the entire year and no summer activities so far to speak of, it looks like we’re in for the Blursday Blues for the foreseeable future.
Free Bacon for Blursday
Luckily, we’ve got your back with this recipe for BLT pasta salad and free bacon as well! America’s 60,000+ pig farmers and the National Pork Board want to pass out free bacon to put a smile on your face. If you’d like to score a package, all you have to do share a picture featuring bacon, tag @NationalPorkBoard on a public social media account (twitter, instagram, or facebook) and include #BaconforBlursday!!
The National Pork Board will select up to 1,000 people across the country at random to receive a package of pre-cooked bacon to boost their morale and make their “Blursday” a bit better. And with your free bacon, I hope you’ll make this delicious recipe I’m sharing today!
How to Make Super Easy BLT Pasta Salad
Nothing screams summer like a BLT made with garden fresh tomatoes served on a hot summer day. If you love BLTs, you will also love this salad. Featuring crisp romaine lettuce, fresh tomatoes, and homemade ranch dressing, it’s even better with avocado and cucumber. But the piece de resistance – the crispy bacon and the feta cheese. Bacon makes everything better, does it not?
You will not regret making this quick and easy salad for a busy weekday evening or as a side dish to take along to a summer cookout or BBQ. While it’s really easy to make, having a few things prepared ahead of time will speed up the process even more.
Note: Though it can be eaten right away, we prefer this salad chilled. If you have time, prepare the noodles and bacon ahead of time, and combine with the dressing a couple hours before serving. Add the veggies at the end so they don’t get soggy during refrigeration.
How to Make this BLT Pasta Salad Even Faster
The good news is, you can have this from-scratch recipe on the table in under an hour even if you haven’t prepped anything at all. Like most things in life, however, preparation will speed up the process. A few tasks to make the recipe go faster include, making the ranch dressing ahead of time, or or using pre-made dressing if you prefer. I promise though, using homemade ranch dressing will be a great use of your time!
Bake Bacon for Perfect Bacon Every Time
Another prep ahead task you can do is make your bacon ahead of time. Did you know that bacon is really easy to batch cook? My favorite bacon cooking method is to bake it in the oven. You can make crispy bacon in about 20 minutes in a 425 degree oven! The best part – no mess! No splatters! No smoky mess! Also, it’s really easy to save the bacon grease when you bake it in the oven. I use bacon grease for so many delicious purposes.
Once you have a few ingredients prepped, here’s how to put it all together!
Quick & Easy BLT Pasta Salad with Cucumber and Feta
Quick & easy BLT pasta salad will quickly become a beloved main or side dish for busy summer nights. With a quick prep and a fabulous taste, your whole family will approve!
Ingredients
- 1 pound pasta (corkscrew, bowtie, or similar)
- 10 slices bacon, cooked crispy and diced
- 1 head romaine lettuce, shredded
- 1 pint cherry or grape tomatoes, halved or quartered
- 3/4 cup homemade ranch dressing,
- 1 small cucumber, sliced optional
- 1/2 cup feta cheese, optional
- Sliced green onions, optional
Instructions
- Cook pasta in a large pot according to package directions. Drain and rinse with cold water.
- Cook bacon if it is not cooked, drain, and dice.
- Shred lettuce, prepare tomatoes, cucumber, and green onions.
- Toss veggies with pasta, bacon, ranch dressing, and feta cheese. Add salt and freshly ground pepper to taste.
- Enjoy!
Notes
Note: Though it can be eaten right away, we prefer this salad chilled. If you have time, prepare the noodles and bacon ahead of time, and combine with the dressing a couple hours before serving. Add the veggies at the end so they don't get soggy during refrigeration.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
10Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 580Total Fat: 49gSaturated Fat: 9gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 37gCholesterol: 43mgSodium: 1129mgCarbohydrates: 26gFiber: 2gSugar: 9gProtein: 9g
Nutritional Data is provided as a courtesy and may not be always be correct.
For more great pork recipes, head over to the Pork.org. or Yummly.com/pork. What’s your favorite way to eat bacon?
YUM! Definitely pinning this to make for Independence Day!
It’s a keeper at our house! 🙂
Tried smaller sized salad. Fabulous! A crowd pleaser when we can entertain 10 people safely. The homemade ranch dressing was A+ I will never buy bottled ranch dressing again.
Oh yay! I am so glad to hear that! Thank you for commenting. <3