Transform chicken, crispy bacon, cheddar cheese, and cooked pasta coated in a homemade ranch dressing into the most amazing pasta salad!
The No-Lettuce Salad
I grew up where we had 3 types of salads – potato, macaroni, and iceberg lettuce. That’s it. It wasn’t until I was maybe in middle school did I ever had a pasta salad with meats, dressings and other yummy things.
Then it was like a switch got flipped in my Mom as she quickly became the QUEEN of non-lettuce salads. If we had leftovers in the fridge say of chicken for more than a day, it was quickly turned into a pasta salad. This was her way to keep leftovers, new.
Make The Buttermilk Ranch Dressing
The real star of this dish is the dressing. Yes you can absolutely buy storebought but I prefer homemade as I can adjust the thickness and tweak it as I want.
I start with my homemade buttermilk ranch seasoning mix and then just add in a few ingredients and voila – perfect buttermilk ranch dressing!
Grab Your Ingredients
The beauty of this recipe is you can make this with leftover chicken you grilled up or even store-bought rotisserie chicken. I opted for a bunch of grilled chicken I had made.
- Cooked Pasta – any pasta shape that either has holes or ridges is perfect
- Cooked Chicken
- Crispy Bacon
- Shredded Cheddar – seriously, grate your own
- Green Onions
- Ranch
Add The Ingredients To The Bowl
I found it best to mix this in a much larger bowl AND only add about 1/2 – 3/4th the amount ranch dressing to start off with. This way it’s easier to mix and also you can add the rest of the dressing right before serving.
Mix It Up!
I’m not going to lie here folks. as soon as I was done mixing it up, I HAD to take a spoonful to taste. The smell of this was so incredible! Like the bacon was still warm and when it hit that grilled chicken and ranch dressing… intoxicating!
Let’s Eat!
Before we do, can I just mention how much I LOVE this board from John Boos?! It’s their Maple Wood End Grain Round board with stainless steel handles and is 18″ round x3″ thick!!!
This can be both a meal or a side dish; it’s whatever you want it to be! Orignally this was served as a cold side with grilled veggies and chicken.
Hot Or Cold, This Salad Is AMAZING!
By day 3 I wanted to try something else – so I added a bit more cheese and warmed it up. Folks seriously… this was a whole new dish! Seriously this immediately became an entree for me. It was absolutely outstanding!
That extra cheese just made it. And another thing you can try – top it with buttered panko and bake it just until the panko browns.
You’re welcome!
Recipe Substitutions
Because someone will ask or if you’re like me and have to always modify a recipe/dish, you want to know what works and what doesn’t.
- Pasta – This is the foundation of the dish so you really can’t omit it but you can go with any type of pasta, including gluten free. That all works!
- Bacon – okay okay if you really don’t want it, you can omit it or go with turkey bacon or even vegetarian/vegan bacon
- Cheese – I made this with pepperjack and it was exceptional. Just go with a cheese you can shred or crumble
- Chicken – try bbq’d chicken or even breaded chicken. As long as it’s cooked, that’s all you need!
Recipe Additions
Because again, if you’re like me, you need to modify!
- Veggies – chopped tomatoes, broccoli, white beans, black beans, or green chilies work really well in this
- Heat – add in buffalo sauce or sriracha to the ranch to give it a great kick!
- Crispy Wontons – adding crispy wontons or tortilla strips to the salad for added crunch
- BBQ – add bbq sauce in with your ranch to add more of a bbq flavor. Top with crispy onion straws too!
Make Ahead Salad
You can make this dish up to the day before serving. This is one of the reasons why you save some of the dressing. When you make any type of pasta salad, it will inevitably soak up the sauce/liquid. So right before serving you need to add a bit more ranch to moisten it up.
I would not recommend freezing this however you can definitely make this and portion it out in the fridge for meal preps!
Ultimate Bacon Chicken Ranch Pasta Salad
Transform chicken, crispy bacon, cheddar cheese, and cooked pasta coated in a homemade ranch dressing into the most amazing pasta salad!
- Prep Time: 10
- Total Time: 10
- Category: cookout foods, easy recipes, leftover ideas, pasta, salads
- Method: no bake
- Cuisine: cookout foods, easy recipes, leftover ideas, pasta, salads
Ingredients
Homemade Buttermilk Ranch
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 1/4 cup buttermilk ranch seasoning
- 1/2 cup mayo
- 1/2 cup sour cream
Pasta salad
- 1/2 pound cooked pasta
- 3 cups cooked chicken, chopped
- 6 slices thick-cut cooked bacon, crispy and chopped
- 2 cups shredded cheddar, freshly shredded
- 3 green onions
Instructions
- In a bowl, whisk together the ranch dressing and set aside. To a large bowl add the pasta salad ingredients and pour in 1/2 -3/4 of the ranch dressing. Gently mix, and coat all of the ingredients.
- Transfer to a covered bowl and refrigerate for 1 hour. Right before serving, mix and if necessary, add some of the remaining ranch dressing.
- This can be served hot, warm, or cold. Store leftovers in the fridge,
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