Easy Bacon Pasta Salad

Pretty much everything is better once you add in a little bit of bacon. This pasta salad is loaded with lots of veggies so you don’t have to feel bad about adding in the flavor bomb of bacon. If you need a simple meal to bring to a potluck or backyard barbque or you just want an easy side for a summer supper at home – this recipe for Easy Bacon Pasta Salad is sure to be your new go to recipe.

One thing about preparing this recipe is that you really need to pay attention to your knife cuts. For it to have a pleasant eating experience, you really want to get everything to basically the same size of the pasta you choose to use. I like to us Ditalini (sometimes called macaroni salad pasta). I can almost always find it in the bulk bins at my grocery. You can also use small elbows, orzo or even the larger Israeli style couscous. Then you want to make sure you cut the onions, cucumbers and bell peppers to pieces that are basically the same size as the pasta will be cooked. This takes a little extra time, but with a nice sharp chef’s knife, you can get it done pretty quickly.

For the dressing – you can go store-bought or homemade. If you go store-bought, I would suggest using Olive Garden’s Original Italian Dressing. It works so nicely with these ingredients, and also has some parmesan cheese in it already, so it really comes together. If you want to make your own, you can do 1/2 cup olive oil, 1/4 cup White Vinegar, 1 tablespoon dijon mustard, 1 tablespoon pepperoncini juice, 1 tablespoon grated parmesan cheese, 1 tablespoon Italian seasoning, 2 teaspoons garlic powder and 1 teaspoon onion powder.

Now Let’s Get Cookin’!

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Easy Bacon Pasta Salad

Loaded with fresh veggies, lots of bacon and a simple vinaigrette, this pasta salad makes a perfect side dish.

Course Salad, Side Dish

Cuisine American

Keyword bacon, bbq sides, cucumber, easy pasta salad, easy sides, pasta dishes, Pasta Salad, pasta side dish, red bell peppers, red onion, Side Dish

Prep Time 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes minutes

Cooling Time 30 minutes minutes

Servings 6

Ingredients

• 1½ lb Ditalini Pasta or other extra small pasta
• ½ lb Bacon
• 1 Red Bell Pepper diced
• 1 Orange Bell Pepper diced
• 1 English Cucumber diced
• ½ Red Onion diced
• ½ cup Parmesan Cheese grated
• 1 cup Italian Dressing

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Instructions

• Start water boiling for pasta.
• In a frying pan over medium-high heat, cook bacon until crispy. Remove to a paper towel covered plate.
• Add pasta to boiling water and cook for 2 minutes less than directed on the package. Drain in a colander and rinse with cold water to stop the cooking process. Move to mixing bowl, cover and place in refrigerator for 30 minutes to cool.
• Chop cooked bacon into bites.
• Remove pasta from refrigerator and add vegetables, bacon bits, parmesan cheese and Italian dressing. Toss to evenly coat. Cover and store in refrigerator until ready to serve (Up to 4 days).