Creamy Bacon Ranch Pasta Salad with Pasta, Peas, Carrot, Bacon Bits and Ranch! This pasta salad will soon be a favorite at all your parties!
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I love a great pasta salad at any party I’m at. They are a staple and always seem to be hits! My favorite is Cashew Chicken Rotini Salad, but it has a contender now for that favorite spot in my heart! This Bacon Ranch Pasta Salad is right up there with it. So creamy and delicious. I know you are going to love it too! It’s loaded with pasta, peas, carrots and ranch seasoning. Anything with ranch is a winner in my book!
I’ll admit it. I use the Kraft box salad mixes. They are so dang handy when you are trying to get a quick supper together in the summer, but I thought it was time that I made my own version of my favorite boxed salad mix, Bacon Ranch Pasta Salad!
I have to admit it’s really not much harder than the boxed version and it tastes way better!
This salad is a perfect summer treat to accompany your grilled food. It is going to be replacing my need for the box mixes. Plus, I usually have everything on hand to make this salad. It doesn’t get better than that!
Ranch and Bacon Pasta Salad
If you are grilling out in this fabulous spring weather we have been having this will be the perfect addition to your meal. Plus it’s easy!
I’m in summer mode and I’m all about easy recipes right now. I love to throw easy recipes on the grill and have a side with them and eat out on the patio. Plus, for some reason the kids LOVE to eat on the patio.
They are so bummed if we have to eat inside during the summer. As in you’d think I was cutting a limb off.
Grilling is handy for me because the kids always want to be outside after work and then they can play, I can play/supervise/cook all at the same time.
I love making this salad ahead of time so I can just pull it out of the fridge and we are ready to go.
Add a main dish, some fresh fruit and grilled vegetables and we are ready to go!
This is always a winner at any potluck we go to. It’s got “normal” ingredients and the kids love it, plus the adults do too. It seems like anything with ranch and bacon is always a winner.
If you want to make it a main dish just add in some grilled or shredded chicken and you’d have an entire meal!
Ingredients Needed for Bacon Ranch Pasta Salad
- Pasta
- Ranch dressing
- Sour cream
- Frozen peas
- Shredded carrot
- Bacon bits
How to Make Bacon Ranch Pasta Salad
Like I said before this pasta salad is REALLY easy to make! As in it has approximately two steps.
Prepare you pasta according to the directions on the package. Rinse with cold water and drain well.
In a large bowl combine all the remaining ingredients, stir to combine. Add pasta and mix well. Chill for 2 hours before serving.
Complete your meal with these recipes
Creamy Pasta Salad Loaded with Pasta, Peas, Carrot, Bacon Bits and Ranch!
- 1 lb pasta
- 3/4 c. mayonnaise
- 3/4 c. sour cream
- 1 c. frozen peas thawed
- 1 c. shredded carrot
- 1/2 c. real bacon bits
- 1 oz dry ranch dressing mix
- Prepare pasta according to directions. Rinse with cold water and drain well.
- In a large bowl combine other ingredients. Stir in pasta and combine well. Chill for 2 hours before serving.
If your pasta is dry after sitting for a while add in a little more mayo and sour cream or milk!
Krista says
Glad you liked it Julie and thanks for the kind words! ~EMM
Sunshine says
mmmmmm…I must make this!
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caterers in new york says
I added some parmesan cheese and it tasted really delicious. Thank you very much.
Jaime @ Mom's Test Kitchen says
Lol, I’ve got three of those boxes sitting in my pantry right now!! <3
Thanks for sharing this for the round up!
Rhonda Barrett says
I loved the Suddenly Salad version I had a few years ago, but wanted a homemade version for my family reunion, so your recipe was it with a few changes. I used:
1 lb. Rotini pasta
1 cup light mayo
1 cup light sour cream
1 packet of Hidden Valley Ranch Dip mix
2 cups of frozen peas & carrots
8 sliced of freshly fried and chopped bacon
A bit of 2% milk
Evening before:
While the pasta was cooking, I put the frozen peas & carrots in the colander and mixed the sour cream, mayo and Hidden Valley Ranch Dip mix together in my large serving bowl. After the pasta was cooked, I poured the pasta directly onto the peas and carrots and stirred them together in the colander at the same time the cold running water was stopping the cooking process on the pasta. I then added the pasta, peas and carrots to the dressing mixture, and mixed it altogether. I covered it and refrigerated it overnight.
The next morning:
While I fried and chopped up the bacon, I had the salad mixture sitting out to “thaw”. Since it “dried” out after being refrigerated, I stirred in a little milk and added the bacon.
It was perfect. My family loved it. For just my bff and myself, I’ll cut the recipe in half.
Thanks for sharing this with the world.
Julie Evink says
Sounds like great twists on this recipe! Glad you enjoyed it!