Ranch, Bacon, and Parmesan Pasta Salad

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.

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.

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!!

Agree that chilling overnight is better. Also leaving bacon out until ready to serve, hate soggy bacon. Didn't have any carrots but did have partial container of diced mixed bell peppers and part of seedless cucumber(diced) so threw them in too. Before serving I topped the bacon with avocado slices and some chopped hard cooked egg that needed using and finished with a mix of grated cheeses--what I had in the house. The carnivors had to have grilled sausages on the side but salad alone is a good meal.

I make this all the time. I usually add frozen peas, black olives, smoked gouda cheese, an halved tiny grape tomatoes. Every time I make it it is gone very quickly.

I made this as is except the Parmesan was grated, and I used only a bit over half the onion. I like a lot of onion in pasta/potato salads but the whole thing just seemed a bit much. (Maybe mine was big.) I doubled the ranch dressing, and that was before it sat around soaking it up because it was already on the dry side. Looks like a lot of folks increased and even doubled the ranch. It's just dry as is. And I couldn't taste the Parmesan nor the bacon (even subtly). So all in all it was like having pasta with a few crunchy things and only a bit of flavor, sorry. (A shame since this is the kind of thing I would like. And I don't rate for doctoring up.)

I had to add a little more ranch. This was one of the best pasta salads I have ever had!!

3-16-2016 ~When you need a good, reliable pasta salad (meaning one most people are likely to like) this is a good choice. The idea of this is very familiar to me and brought back fond memories of a very similar Parmesan Peppercorn Ranch boxed pasta salad I used to make years ago when my kids were young (affectionately known in our house as “Parm Pep”) The only thing they would not eat was peas, so I painstakingly picked every single one of those dehydrated things out before the contents of the bag went into the boiling water. This time I made a point to ADD peas for all the times I picked them out! Can’t go wrong with this pasta salad, particularly if you use a dressing you know you like. In my case, I happened to have “Low Fat Buttermilk Ranch Dressing,” also from this site, on hand. This had a little too much Parmesan for me, so I would suggest starting off with less than the recipe calls for, then adding more if you wish. Rather than dicing the carrots I julienned them, which appealed to me more than crunchy/hard pieces. A helpful tip: many reviewers remarked they had to add much more dressing than the recipe directs because the pasta soaked it up. Rather than doing that, I do the same thing with pasta salads as I do with any other pasta dish – reserve some of the cooking water and add that to your pasta salad if it gets too dry after setting awhile. Works great, much better than milk for instance, and this way you don’t load it up with extra dressing.

This is so good I keep sneaking bites before the barbecue starts. I used hidden valley buttermilk seasoning dressing, the spicy one, and followed everything else. Thank you!

This was great with rotini, bacon and peas. I used half dry ranch with sour cream and half reduced fat Hidden Valley Ranch. Even better then next day.

Made for Recipe Group 6/13/2010. Simple, yet tasty. It was easy to put together. I used tricolor farfalle, and having no red onion and finding my vadalias rotten, ending up using some fresh chives and a little chopped vadalia I found in frig. I still like my pasta salads with a multitude of vegetables, but this was darn tasty! Thanks chef!

Will definitely be making this again. As suggested I used more dressing (12 oz as opposed to 8 oz) and didn't have a problem with the salad being dry. I took this to a pot luck and had several requests for the recipe. Thanks for a great recipe!

i think the secret to this salad is using BUTTERMILK ranch dressing! regular ranch isn't as flavorful for this recipe. i made this for a big birthday bbq and everybody loved it! thanks for the yummy recipe!

Pretty good. Don't be afraid to use lots of ranch and bacon.

I loved this salad. I made it for easter and it was a big hit. Make it ahead of time to allow the flavors to blend. Makes a BIG batch!! Delicious!!

We were pleasantly surprised w/the flavors in this! I used radiatore pasta & didn't measure the ranch. Very easy & tasty!

Made this for recipe group and we enjoyed it. It definately needed more than 1 cup of ranch (I used 2). I ended up not having any carrots, but I did have 1/2 of a green pepper, so I used that and also added a can of sliced black olives. This was tasty and I would make it again, maybe even adding some other veggies as well! Thanks for sharing. :)

I really like this recipe. I used bacon bits, added sliced black olives, and skipped the celery and carrots, though. The sauce does soak into the pasta, so if you like your pasta salad wetter, should start with more sauce or add a little bit just before eating. Works nice heated up, too!

This salad was too bland. And the pasta sucked up all the ranch dressing while in the fridge. At serving time, I had to add another cup of ranch dressing just to get it to move off the serving spoon! Also, beware, the recipe makes a HUGE amount, a lot more than the 6 servings that the recipe says. More like 12 servings. Not sure how I would make it better, so I'll not make it again.

Made for Recipe Group 6/13/2010. Simple, yet tasty. It was easy to put together. I used tricolor farfalle, and having no red onion and finding my vadalias rotten, ending up using some fresh chives and a little chopped vadalia I found in frig. I still like my pasta salads with a multitude of vegetables, but this was darn tasty! Thanks chef!

I made this for a barbeque, and people just loved it! Very tasty!

I just finished putting this salad together for a potluck tomorrow and can't figure out how anyone could like it. Honestly, no flavor. I just spent the last 1/2 hour trying to make something edible out of it. Dull as dishwater. I hope by tomorrow it tastes better but I'm not holding my breath. I will add the bacon if I think I will serve it. I'm not wasting good bacon on it right now. Sorry I wasted the bowties and the parmesan already.

Great reciipe took to a family reunion and loved by all, I also added more Ranch dressing and red bell pepper, and added cooked diced chicken breast called it Bacon, chicken ranch pasta salad.

Very Good. The pasta absorbs a lot of dressing. Next time I will add the dressing right before serving/

Great pasta salad! I made this for the Recipe Group and was very impressed. I was a little worried about the combination of flavors and the vegetables...which were not your typical pasta salad veggies. However, I was pleasantly surprised...the veggies went really well with the bacon, ranch and parmesan. I only had a creamy parmesan ranch dressing, so I used that and it turned out REALLY well. I also put in more of each of the vegetables than the recipe called for. Other than that, I made this as written. My family really liked this...and I will make it again. Thanks for sharing!!!

soaks up a ton of the dressing. Easily double the amount. Just OK. The boxed versions are much better and easier!

Very simple and tasty salad! I used a carrot and a red pepper and I also used bacon ranch dressing. Could have used more parmesan and it does get a little dry sitting, so you may need to add more dressing.

Pretty good! Ranch flavor is a little strong, I recommend adding more cheese to balance out the flavor.

I made this as the Recipe Exchange Group Recipe for the week of June 7th. This was pretty good, though I confess I just eyeballed the Ranch instead of measuring it. I used whole wheat noodles, so the measurement was going to be off anyway (they're drier, even after fully cooked) so I figured I'd just wing it and keep adding til it looked right, and that worked fine. Thanks for the recipe, it'll be gobbled up and may make an appearance this 4th of July :) EDIT: 10/1/12: Needs more bacon.

This is easy and delicious!! I followed the directions for the most part. I rinsed my pasta after cooking to cool it down. I made this around noon for a 5 pm cookout. It did soak up most of the dressing but I just added about a 1/2 cup more of Ranch dressing and it was perfect. You could easily add any veggies you wanted. I will be making this again.

Very easy to make. I diced red pepper instead of onion. Like other reviewers said, the pasta does soak up a lot of ranch. I added more ranch before serving.

Made it as written, and have made it several times

I prefer to add the dressing to the warm pasta so it takes on the flavour. My favourite is French Dressing. I leave out the bacon and parmesan but add radishes, chopped green onion and peppers for colour. My family like shrimp or tuna. Make sure you add enough black pepper and take it easy with the salt. Mix all together and leave overnight in the fridge for better flavours.

Easy and tasty, I used tiny bow tie pasta and had to increase amount of Ranch dressing. I will most certainley make again

Great base for pasta salad! I didn't mean to make changes, as I'm sure the original was excellent, but needed to use ingredients I had on hand. I think almost any vegetables could be added depending on your taste. I used other reviewers ideas, mixing dry ranch mix with sour cream for plenty of flavor, added a little bottled ranch to keep it moist, and not adding the bacon (!) until almost ready to serve. For a little kick, I added in some southwest ranch and used pepperjack for the cheese. Also, I added sliced ripe olives and thawed (but not cooked) and well drained peas and carrots and 3 pepper/onion mix, along with some fresh chopped green onions. The carrots gave it a nice little crunch. Added a few halved cherry tomatoes on top along with the bacon. I wonder if a little salad oil would solve the dry problem some of the other reviewers had? I will keep this recipe and be glad to take it to another potluck for more complements!

I think this pasta salad was very good but I think it would have been better if I had added more ranch dressing. Also....I used Bacon Ranch flavored dressing instead of plain ranch.

Oh my it is so good!! My brother could not stop eating it!!

I followed the recipe pretty closely, but I saved time and effort by cutting up my bacon slices before frying them in the skillet. Stirring the diced bacon was a lot easier and less time-consuming than flipping the slices. Overall, very good.

The first time I made it I made it

Grated and squeeze dried carrot. Used peppercorn ranch dressing. Needed almost entire bottle. Also needed additional salt and pepper.

This turned out really good! I have a green pepper plant going

Everyone loved this recipe. Simple to make, great summer dish.

Needed to add more mayo, really good.

I added an entire package of Hidden Valley Ranch dressing, prepared as the packet calls for. Some people really liked this but I didn't think it was the best

This is actually a dish that my family has been making for years, though we do ours differently. For one, rather than just out of the bottle ranch dressing, we do mayo with ranch powder. That lets us go a bit thicker on the dressing. We also use medium shell pasta. But the big difference is that we use chicken pieces in our mix, so it is a chicken, bacon, ranch pasta salad.

It turned out great! My family lover it! I used the mini farfalle pasta (not quite a whole 16 oz box) and added some cheddar cheese. I will definitely be making this again!

I used fake bacon cuz I'm vegan but it is delicious and fake parmesan cheese

I made this for the Recipe Group recipe. This was very easy and good. I did use rotini pasta instead of the bow tie since that is what I had on hand. Also added some diced tomato and olives, I like more veggies in my pasta salad. I had to add about an extra cup of dressing to the salad. I don't know if that was because of the pasta I used or what but I know I didn't add that much extra veggies. The kids of course loved it. Thanks

I made a very small amount of this for my 11yr old to take as a school lunch. My little picky eater does not like celery so I omitted it and I also used chives instead of red onion as that is my son's preference. I did not have fresh bacon on hand so I substituted deli ham. I also did not have regular ranch dressing and ended up substituting with cucumber ranch which ruined it! Had the recipe called for it, I would have given zero stars. I ended up rinsing the pasta and used a dry packet of ranch dressing with a little sour cream and it was perfect for my son. He said it was the best cold pasta EVER! I will definitely make this again but will use real bacon next time. I do recommend the dry packet of ranch as the spices in the packet make it very tasty. Thank you for sharing.

I doubled the amount, the ranch amount was perfect but I added 1/2 tablespoon of pepper and 1/8 cup lemon juice for my doubled batch. It was amazing.

My clients loved it. So did I. Definitely will visit this recipe again. Easy to prepare and a great transition from a winter vegetable to a spring/summer treat. Thank you for sharing.

probably my fault,a bit lighter on the parmesan or even cheddar!!!

Very tasty and Easy.

So good. The only thing I did different was I omitted the celery. Even my husband enjoyed it and he doesn't like Ranch dressing. I think next time I will add a little more bacon and maybe some grape tomatoes.

This is excellent. I omitted the celery and carrot and added peas and used a full package of turkey bacon.

Very good it a nice change from regular macaroni salad

I have been making pasta salads for decades so I don’t usually save recipes for them. I already know things we like in them and I change them up for variety based on whatever I have on hand. However, I’d never seen a recipe using bacon, ranch dressing and Parmesan so I kept this one as a reminder. I’d given this one more stars if I could. Hubs loved it. Since I was using it as a summer supper (it’s been hot in Tampa for weeks now) I did add more bacon. Some of you will cringe at that, and also that I crisped up precooked bacon which saves time and mess. Instead of dicing carrot I used about a half bag that I bought already shredded. Since that was a lot of crunch I omitted the celery which is not a fav in our house anyway. I did add diced yellow bell pepper and added frozen peas. Hubs wants this again, so it makes this a real keeper! Thanks Chef John Politte for sharing a wonderful mistake.

This is fantastic but I did not add celery I used buttermilk ranch I made and fried the bacon with a little lemon juice and brown sugar then added a little marzetti simply lemon salad dressing and peas to the salad sweet salty lemon deliciousness

As is, this recipe was ok. I used ceasar because I don't like ranch. I added a capful of vinegar, it was missing acidity. And a little extra salt and pepper made it great. We loved it!

It is a tasty dish and easy to make