Chicken Bacon Ranch Pasta Salad

This Chicken Bacon Ranch Pasta Salad is the perfect summer pasta salad featuring grilled chicken, crispy bacon, veggies and creamy ranch dressing! Watch the video tutorial below to see how I make it, and don’t forget to stay tuned to the end of this post for the FULL PRINTABLE RECIPE!

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Happy summer, friends! Well, I suppose it’s not technically summer just yet, but where I live the weather has been so lovely and we’ve been spending lots of time in the sunshine!! The kids are finished school for the summer and we’ve already attended several barbecues – and it’s not even the end of June yet!

I don’t know about you, but when summer rolls around I look for any reason at all not to turn my oven on. We don’t have air conditioning in our house and since we live in the mountains we don’t really need it, but sometimes the heat of the day gets to be a little much with the sun streaming in our windows all day and the last thing I need is my oven adding even more heat to the mix.

And another thing about summer – it makes me SO lazy in the kitchen. Suddenly, I’m leaving all my bread-and-soup-making-from-scratch ways behind me and I’m whipping up all the no bake desserts and simple salads. And with all the fresh produce available in the summer time, who could blame me?

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This Chicken Bacon Ranch Pasta Salad contains all my favorite summer flavors, and it is SO easy to make for a simple summer meal or side dish. I make this for my family as a main dish for lunch, but it’s also great as a side dish for a big summer party or barbecue. And if you’re not into store-bought Ranch dressing from a bottle, just throw together this healthier homemade version from my favourite potato salad recipe, or try The Pioneer Woman’s homemade Ranch dressing for a not-so-light option. Both are truly delicious and will work great with this salad!

I hope you like this delicious Chicken Bacon Ranch Pasta Salad recipe! Let me know in the comments below, what’s your favorite side dish to take to summer barbecues?

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5 from 6 votes

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Chicken Bacon Ranch Pasta Salad

This Chicken Bacon Ranch Pasta Salad is the perfect summer pasta salad featuring grilled chicken, crispy bacon, veggies and creamy ranch dressing!

Course Side Dish

Cuisine American

Prep Time 15 minutes

Total Time 15 minutes

Servings 8 servings

Author Chrissie (thebusybaker.ca)

Ingredients

• 350 grams cooked pasta (my favourite to use is one box of Barilla brand Farfalle pasta)
• 2 cups cooked or grilled chicken (rotisserie chicken works well in a pinch!)
• 1 cucumber (cut into chunks)
• 2 cups cherry tomatoes (halved)
• 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese (plus extra for garnish)
• 1 cup chopped cooked bacon (plus extra for garnish)
• 3/4 cup homemade or store-bought Ranch dressing
• chopped parsley for garnish

Instructions

1. Cook the pasta according to the package directions and rinse under cool water.
   

2. Add the pasta to a large bowl, along with the chicken, cucumber, cherry tomatoes, shredded cheese, bacon, and ranch dressing.
   

3. Toss everything together well to coat and sprinkle some additional cheese, bacon, and chopped parsley on top for garnish.
   

4. Store the pasta salad in the fridge until ready to serve (up to one day ahead), or serve immediately.
   

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