I feel like pasta salads have been having a glow-up ever since we realized we don’t need to load them with a pound of mayo. No shame in enjoying the nostalgic, mayo-filled pasta salad, but wait until you try this incredible chicken bacon ranch pasta salad.
After I originally shared an amazing BLT pasta salad a few of summers ago I knew I wanted a new twist with delicious grilled chicken and a rainbow of veggies.
This wonderful pasta salad is mayo-free and filled with grilled chicken, crispy bacon, your fav pasta, all of the best summer produce, and the easiest, creamy homemade ranch dressing. Everyone at your next BBQ is going to fall in LOVE so be sure to put this one on your spring & summer holiday menu!
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Everything you’ll need for the best chicken bacon pasta salad
This healthy chicken bacon pasta salad is filled with flavor, colors and textures that make it absolutely irresistible. Here’s everything you’ll need to make it:
- Chicken: grilled chicken adds delicious flavor and protein to this pasta salad. See below for the best way to cook it!
- Bacon: salty, savory bacon is the star of the show in this pasta salad. I have instructions for cooking bacon on the stovetop in this recipe, but you can easily cook it in your oven with this tutorial.
- Pasta: feel free to use any pasta you’d like! I love cavatappi or bowtie noodles.
- Veggies: we’re adding colorful cherry tomatoes (heirloom ones make it extra pretty), corn, red onion, and avocado.
- For the ranch: I like to keep it simple by just mixing store-bought ranch dressing with some Greek yogurt for a boost of protein. You can also use my homemade greek yogurt ranch!
How to grill perfect chicken
Good news: I have an amazing tutorial for grilling perfect chicken breast every time! Head to the post to learn all of my tips and tricks, then use the chicken for this amazing pasta salad recipe.
Looking for even more ways to cook chicken? Try any of these four great methods for cooking chicken and add them right to the recipe.
Add your favorite type of corn
Feel free to add raw corn off the cobb to the salad for ease, otherwise, you can saute or grill it! I have the best method for grilling corn here.
Customize your chicken bacon pasta salad
Looking to mix up some of the ingredients? Here’s what I can recommend:
- Make it gluten free. Simply use your favorite gluten free pasta shape.
- Go vegetarian. Feel free to swap the chicken and bacon for a can of chickpeas!
- Add a boost of greens. Chopped romaine would be delicious for a BLT vibe, and arugula would add a wonderful zippiness.
- Cheese it up. This chicken bacon pasta salad would also be delicious with a sprinkle of freshly grated parmesan cheese, cheddar cheese, or even feta crumbles!
New dressings, same delicious pasta salad
If you don’t have any store-bought ranch on hand, feel free to try one of these delicious, dairy free dressing recipes to make creamy chicken bacon pasta salad:
- As I mentioned, my homemade greek yogurt ranch would be perfect.
- Go dairy-free with my spicy green cashew dressing or my jalapeño green tahini sauce.
- Add a kick of heat with my healthy chipotle ranch dressing.
Check out all of our healthy salad dressings here!
Make it ahead of time
This chicken bacon pasta salad will stay fresh in an airtight container in the fridge for about 3-4 days, so feel free to prep it the night before a picnic or BBQ, or prep it for your weekday lunches. I would recommend adding the avocado when you’re ready to serve so that it stays fresh.
More salad recipes you’ll love
- Summer Strawberry Spinach Salad with Avocado
- Street Corn Pasta Salad with Cilantro Pesto + Goat Cheese
- Spicy Ranch Chopped Chicken Cabbage Salad
- Italian Chopped Brussels Sprouts Salad
- Damn Good BLT Pasta Salad with Creamy Jalapeño Cashew Dressing
Get all of our delicious salad recipes here!
I hope you love this chicken bacon ranch pasta salad recipe! If you make it be sure to leave a comment and a rating so I know how you liked it. Enjoy, xo!
Ambitious Kitchen
Cookbook
125 Ridiculously Good For You, Sometimes Indulgent, and Absolutely Never Boring Recipes for Every Meal of the Day
Grilled Chicken Bacon Ranch Pasta Salad
Ingredients
- For the pasta salad:
- 2 grilled chicken breasts, cubed/diced (or sub 1 ½-2 cups shredded chicken)
- 8 ounces bacon
- 8 ounces cavatappi or bowtie pasta (or pasta of choice!)
- 1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved (I love using heirloom cherry tomatoes for color variety!)
- 1 ½ cups corn, grilled, raw or sauteed
- ¼ cup thinly sliced red onion (or sub diced green onion)
- 1 slightly ripe avocado, diced
- For the greek yogurt ranch:
- ¼ cup plain greek yogurt
- ⅓ cup store bought ranch dressing
Instructions
- Make sure you have your grilled or cooked chicken done ahead of time, or feel free to grill it first. This is a great recipe for using leftover chicken! Check out our post on how to make the best chicken breasts here. You can either dice it into ½ inch cubes or feel free to shred it. I prefer diced for this recipe, but it’s up to you and what you have on hand.
- Next, cook your bacon: add bacon to a large skillet or pan and place over medium heat, cook bacon on both sides until crispy and golden brown. If the pan starts to smoke at any point, simply lower the heat. I always cook my bacon on medium-low heat. Once bacon is done, blot with a paper towel to absorb excess grease, then chop into bite-sized pieces and set aside.
- While your bacon cooks, you can cook your pasta until al dente, drain and then place in a large bowl.
- Mix together your greek yogurt ranch by combining greek yogurt and ranch dressing until smooth and creamy. Pour over the pasta and stir until well combined. Next add the chicken, chopped bacon, corn, halved cherry tomatoes, sliced red onion and avocado. Gently toss again, then taste and adjust seasonings as necessary, adding more salt and pepper or extra ranch dressing, if you’d like. Serves 6, or 4 as a larger meal. Garnish with extra corn, tomatoes, red onion, avocado and bacon.
Recipe Notes
Nutrition
Recipe by: Monique Volz // Ambitious Kitchen | Photography by: Eat Love Eats
This post was originally published on June 23rd, 2021, republished on May 23rd, 2022, republished on June 15th, 2023, and republished on May 6th, 2024.
store bought Italian dressing is good too.
That would be great in here!
That recipe sounds SOOOOO good…cannot wait to make it and eat it all!
I can’t wait for you to try it! Let me know how it goes 🙂
Loved this recipe!! Great summer salad and so tasty!
So happy to hear that, Jane! 🙂
Hi! Does this serve 6 as a side? Or a meal? Thanks!
Depends on your appetite, but you might want another side with this, like a green salad or veggie! 🙂
This recipe is legit! I made a few swaps for less fat/carbs. I used turkey bacon instead of pork. And instead of the pasta I added 2 more grilled chicken breasts. Also threw in some black olives. But I have no doubt this recipe would be delicious as-is too!
Those are all great substitutions, so happy you loved it! 🙂
Delicious; thank you! I omitted the bacon (didn’t have it) and added chopped romaine lettuce. The only change I would make next time is to use more greek yogurt and less ranch dressing (I found the ranch flavor to be a bit overwhelming) but I think that’s entirely because of the ranch I happened to have. Next time I’ll taste more as I go to get the ratio right.
I’m glad you loved it! Totally fine to use more Greek yogurt next time if your ranch is strongly flavored 🙂
IS this 8 oz of uncooked pasta or cooked pasta?
Uncooked!
So good!! I needed it to be dairy free so I used primal kitchen ranch and avocado oil Mayo for the dressing 🙂 love the creamy and smoky textures and flavors vs traditional Italian pasta salads!
That’s such a great dressing to use! I’m so happy you loved it 🙂
This is a summer favorite! Perfect if you are eating it in one go. If you do want to eat it as leftovers, do it quickly because the moisture from the tomatoes can start to create a wet bottom in your bowl/food container. I also would recommend adding the avocado as you use it (again, if you’re doing leftovers), rather than all at the beginning. This is a summer favorite of ours now!
Happy you love this one, Kate! And agreed that it’s best eaten sooner rather than later 🙂
If I’m using bolthouse greek yogurt ranch would I still mix with greek yogurt or is that only if it’s regular ranch? Or do you just recommend using regular ranch and mixing with yogurt?
Hmmm it’s totally up to you! I haven’t tasted that brand of ranch so I’m not sure how strong the flavor is. Whatever you end up doing, I’d recommend tasting it before mixing it into the pasta salad 🙂
Great pasta salad, comes together so easily and great to make ahead of time too. I left the corn out as I didn’t have any but I’m sure it didn’t detract form the dish as it was still so good 😋
Perfect! So glad you enjoyed this recipe 😊
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Made this in a pinch to go with some grilled chicken my husband is making for lunch. So. good. I searched up something quick to make and this recipe came up. I made it without the chicken in the salad as we were eating chicken as our main course. I had real bacon pieces, elbow macaroni, green onions, and sour cream on hand so I improvised a bit with these ingredients in addition to the written ingredients. It is very good! Can’t wait to try it with the listed ingredients—I’m sure it would be even better!
Sounds amazing! This one’s great for customizing with what you have on hand 🙂
More summer recipes with eggplants please. Eggplant is the perfect and versatile summer vegetable. You can make and come up with so many wonderful summer recipes with eggplants. Please, I beg you, share more summer eggplant recipes!! Please 🙏🏼💜💜
I’ll definitely keep that in mind!
Can you please include sodium values in your nutrition. Thank you.