A super-easy pasta salad, which is perfect for summer picnics or BBQs. Pasta is tossed with bacon, Parmesan, carrots, celery and red onion in a ranch dressing.
Lettuce or cabbage can also be substituted for the pasta in this recipe for a lighter summer salad with crunch.
Easy and delicious! I did however use half the amount of pasta called for... As for the dressing I chose to use "No-Mayonnaise Ranch Dressing" from this site. I cut down on the red onion and instead of celery I used sweet peas. Using shredded Parmesan was a nice change from Cheddar and we loved the combination of "bacon and ranch"! Overall, very good after being chilled for a few hours. - 24 Mar 2011 (Review from Allrecipes US | Canada)
Made this for Memorial Day picnic. I omitted the carrot and the parmesan cheese. Added a little bell pepper and a few sliced black olives. Substituted cheddar cheese for the parmesan. I was afraid the bacon would get soggy mixed in with the dressing, so I layered the cheese and the bacon on top of the pasta mixture just before serving for a nice presentation. I made this the night before and the pasta absorbed a lot of the dressing, so be liberal with it. I ended up using a full bottle. Everyone loved it. Not a smidgeon left. - 02 Jun 2010 (Review from Allrecipes US | Canada)
I'm not a fan of pasta salads but thought the idea of using Ranch Dressing was intreguing. We really liked this!! I followed exactly and agree you may need to add more Ranch as mine absorbed much of the dressing. I will also double the bacon next time and liked the idea of others to add it before serving (although it was fine as is for us). Thank you!! - 09 Jun 2010 (Review from Allrecipes US | Canada)