A cold pasta salad with creamy mayonnaise dressing tossed with pasta, crispy chopped bacon, shredded green lettuce, diced tomatoes, cheddar cheese, and red pepper flakes. Serve this quick and easy BLT Pasta Salad for bbqs, summer holidays during May, June, July, and August, potlucks, and as a side dish.

BLT Pasta Salad brings back memories of summer potlucks with family. It’s served cold and it’s refreshing during the hot summer months. I love the combination of crisp green romaine lettuce with juicy cherry tomatoes, crunchy bacon, and cold pasta. I often refer to this summer salad as my bacon pasta because it’s loaded with all my favorite summer potluck recipe ingredients. 

Since it’s the first grill of the season, I want it to be special. I’ve been waiting for this day for months. If you like classic summer side dish recipes with a twist, then you’ll love this pasta salad side dish. It has incredible flavor and tastes just like a BLT sandwich that we’ve all come to love.  

This time of year I love to hit up visit a few local farmer markets. I stock up on anything that is in season and store in the refrigerator then plan meals around each hull. What I dislike the most about stocking up on fresh fruits and vegetables is that some of it does go bad pretty quickly.

 It’s a constant struggle to finish everything before it spoils. Often, I’ll make a summertime pasta salad or try my hand at new salad recipes with fresh summer produce to use up all those fresh garden vegetables. This salad is just one of many salads that is perfect to serve for dinner, lunch, a potluck, graduation party, summer holidays, and backyard barbecues.

How to Make BLT Pasta Salad

1. Cook bacon according to package directions.
2. Cook pasta.
3. Drain pasta and rinse under cold water.
4. Make the dressing.
5. Add pasta to bowl.
6. Stir in chopped bacon, cheddar cheese, sliced tomatoes.
7. Toss to combine pasta salad and dressing well.

Tasty Variations and Flavor Additions

• red onions
• shallots
• dill
• green onions
• salt
• garlic powder
• freshly minced garlic
• mustard
• pickles
• apple slices
• spinach
• pepper jelly
• fig jelly
• elbow macaroni
• rotini pasta
• homemade ranch dressing
• black pepper
• sour cream
• vinegar
• turkey bacon
• flavored mayo
• roma tomatoes, or grape tomatoes
• pepperjack cheese, sharp cheddar cheese, monterey jack cheese, feta cheese, blue cheese, goat cheese

With spring in full swing, you’ll want to make a fun and flavorful dish that are perfect for barbecues.  This ridiculously easy pasta with bacon BLT Pasta Salad is perfect as an appetizer, side-dish, or even a main dish.

What are some of your favorite picnic dishes to make this time of year?

More Potluck Dishes You’ll Love

• Loaded Baked Potato Salad
• Classic Baked Beans
• Italian Pasta Salad
• Strawberry Shortcake Fluff Salad
• Creamy Cucumber Salad
• Broccoli Salad
• Dill Pickle Pasta Salad
• Cherry Fluff Salad
• Caprese Pasta Salad
• Strawberry Pretzel Salad

updated 6/22