Best BLT Pasta Salad

Chef Buggsy Mate's Note:

This is the only pasta salad my husband will eat. The dressing though similar to other BLT salads on the site has one major difference and it really adds a wonderful zip to the salad. When ever I serve this salad several people go home with the recipe.

• Total Time: 35 mins
• Prep Time: 15 mins
• Cook Time: 20 mins

Ingredients:

Serves: 6-8

Yield: 1.0 salad

• 1 (7 ounce) box elbow macaroni
• 8 slices bacon, cooked crisp and crumbled
• 3 roma tomatoes, diced
• 1/2 head iceberg lettuce, shredded
• 3 -4 green onions, chopped

Dressing

• 3/4 cup mayonnaise
• 1/2 cup barbecue sauce (I prefer using any original flavor)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 2 -3 tablespoons lemon juice (I often use fresh squeezed)

Directions:

1. Fry bacon until crisp, place on paper toweling to drain.
2. Cook pasta following package directions.
3. While pasta is cooking crumble bacon, chop tomatoes, and green onion.
4. Drain pasta and run under cold water.
5. Add pasta, tomatoes, bacon, and green onion to a large bowl and stir to combine.
6. Place all dressing ingredients in a small bowl and mix well.
7. Pour dressing over pasta and stir until thoroughly combined.
8. Shred lettuce just before serving. Add it to the salad; giving it one last good stir.
9. Refrigerate.

Reviews

[Leggy Peggy]

A great salad that really does taste like a BLT but with pasta instead of bread. I couldn't bring myself to make the full amount of dressing because I thought it would make the dish too wet. So I cut back both the mayo and bbq sauce by just over a third. The end result was perfect. Five of us enjoyed it for lunch, and I'll be making it often. Thanks for posting.

[Andi of Longmeadow Farm]

Wonderful salad, and easy to make too! I used the precooked bacon, and that helped it get done sooner! I didn't change one thing, the taste was perfect just the way it was. I especially loved using the smaller shell/pasta because it really keeps the dressing right inside the shell. Thanks for posting!

[flower7]

I needed something for our Post-Holidays Holiday Potluck at work and this fit the bill perfectly. I made 1.5 times the recipe (which was a ton!) and used pre-cooked bacon (2.3 oz pkg) and pre-shredded lettuce (10 oz) to save time. The only change I made was to cut back the mayo just a little bit (used 1 cup instead of 1 1/8 cup). Many of my co-workers told me how good it was. Thanks for helping me preserve my standing among them as a great cook! :) - Jan 6, 2010. UPDATE: I made this again for this year's potluck and only made one recipe (instead of 1.5) and it was plenty. I again used pre-cooked bacon (8 slices) and an 8 oz pkg of lettuce. I still cut back the mayo a Tbsp or two. The only thing I did different this time was using homemade bbq sauce - Easy BBQ Sauce. Got rave reviews again! Thanks again for sharing! :)