Made with crispy bacon, juicy tomatoes, crisp lettuce, tender pasta, and creamy dressing, this BLT Pasta Salad is everything you love about a classic BLT sandwich in pasta salad form!
Bring a large pot of water to a rapid boil. Once boiling, salt the water with 1-2 tablespoons of kosher salt, add pasta, and cook the pasta according to package directions. Once the pasta has been cooked, drain, but DO NOT RINSE, and cool the pasta completely. You can speed the process up by spreading the cooked pasta onto a rimmed baking sheet.
While the pasta is cooking, dice the bacon into ½-inch strips and cook in a large skillet over medium-high heat until the bacon is crispy and browned. Remove the cooked bacon to a plate lined with paper towels to cool. Reserve 1 tablespoon of the bacon grease to use in the pasta salad dressing. See recipe notes for baking bacon.
To prepare the dressing, whisk together the 1 tablespoon of bacon drippings with ½ cup mayonnaise, 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar, 2 tablespoons minced shallot, 1 teaspoon sugar, and ¼ teaspoon salt in a small bowl.
Toss the dressing, cooked and cooled pasta, chives, tomatoes, lettuce, and bacon bits together until evenly distributed. Give a taste and add additional salt if needed.
Serve warm, or for the best flavor, cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes prior to serving.
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Notes
Bacon Grease: Feel free to omit the bacon grease from the dressing and use extra virgin olive oil in its place. You will also want to increase the salt to It adds incredible flavor, but the pasta salad is delicious without this addition. Pasta: Look for pasta with curves or ridges will work for this pasta salad, to help to catch the dressing and ensure every bite is flavorful. Rotini, Farfalle, penne, bowtie, corkscrew, cavatelli, or rotini pasta are all good options.Tomatoes: Grape or cherry tomatoes are best. If using vine-ripened tomatoes, be sure to seed them before adding them to the pasta salad, to prevent the pasta salad from becoming watered down.Bake Bacon: Rather than pan-fry the bacon, you can opt to bake your bacon. To bake the bacon, lay the bacon slices out onto a baking rack fitted over a rimmed sheet pan. Bake at 400 degrees F, until crispy and browned. Reserve 1 tablespoon of drippings from your pan for the dressing. Let the bacon cool, then dice up into bite-sized pieces.Storage: Store any leftover BLT pasta salad in the refrigerator for up to 3 days in an airtight container. Best if enjoyed withing 24 hours of preparation.