Chicken Bacon Ranch Pasta Salad
Salad meets pasta salad in this Chicken Bacon Ranch Pasta Salad recipe. Perfect for an easy and delicious work lunch and it can be thrown together in just 30 minutes.
Servings: 4 servings
Ingredients
- 1.5 lbs chicken breasts or tenderloins diced into 2" pieces
- 7 oz container romaine lettuce shredded
- 8 strips bacon diced
- 8 oz dry rotini or fusili pasta high protein or whole grain can be used instead
- 6 oz cheddar cheese shredded
- 5 green onions diced
- 3/4 cup ranch dressing** homemade or store-bought
- 1-2 tablespoons poultry seasoning like Weber Kick'n chicken or Italian seasoning
- Pinch Perfect Salad Supreme to taste
- 1/2 cup croutons roughly chopped
Instructions
- In a large pan, add the bacon and cook over low heat until bacon is crispy. Set aside. Remove half of the pan drippings, leaving behind 2 tablespoons.
- Rub the chicken with 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Season liberally with your preferred seasoning. Cook the chicken in the skillet over medium-low about 3-4 minutes per side or until cooked through.
- While the chicken is cooking, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and cook the pasta according to the package instructions. Rinse the cooked pasta with cool water and drain well.
- Into a large bowl add pasta, diced chicken, cheddar, bacon, and green onions. Pour over most the dressing (reserving some) and toss. Sprinkle in the Salad Supreme seasoning to your liking, I do about 8-10 shakes.
- When it's ready to serve, add in the romaine lettuce, croutons and extra dressing and toss.
Notes
Low Fat Greek Yogurt Ranch
Mix all of these ingredients into a bowl and whisk until smooth:
1 cup plain greek yogurt
1 teaspoon each: dried dill, dried chives, dried parsley, garlic powder, onion powder
½ teaspoon salt
1/2 tsp cracked black pepper
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
1-2 tablespoons buttermilk or milk, as needed For Meal Prep To make this ahead, do not add the romaine or croutons until ready to serve. When packing it up for lunch, I'll put the pasta salad in a container and the romaine in a zip-top bag. The croutons and extra dressing can be added into condiment containers as well. See photos above in the blog post for inspiration.
1 teaspoon each: dried dill, dried chives, dried parsley, garlic powder, onion powder
½ teaspoon salt
1/2 tsp cracked black pepper
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
1-2 tablespoons buttermilk or milk, as needed For Meal Prep To make this ahead, do not add the romaine or croutons until ready to serve. When packing it up for lunch, I'll put the pasta salad in a container and the romaine in a zip-top bag. The croutons and extra dressing can be added into condiment containers as well. See photos above in the blog post for inspiration.