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May 11, 2022 By Julia Pinney Leave a Comment

Bacon Tomato Pasta Salad

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This Bacon Tomato Pasta Salad is perfect to make all summer long. Loaded with grape tomatoes, smokey bacon, cubed mozzarella cheese and red onions all wrapped up in a light vinaigrette. A great dish for potlucks, barbecues or as a lunch any day of the week.

Close up of the Bacon Tomato Pasta Salad
Bacon Tomato Pasta Salad

As summer approaches each year, I am always thinking of new salads I can make. I absolutely love pasta salads like my Sun Dried Tomato Pasta Salad and the easy Red Pesto Pasta Salad. I love all the different flavour combinations you can come up with and the sky really is the limit. I have another pasta salad planned to come out in a few weeks that I’m sure you’ll all love. And what makes this salad great? The bacon…hahaha! I’m not even kidding when I tell you how much flavour it brings to the salad. Do you like bacon in salads?

Bacon Tomato Pasta Salad in a bowl with a green and white tea towel.
Bacon Tomato Pasta Salad

Ingredients

  • Pasta – I used spiral/fusilli pasta for this recipe
  • Fresh ingredients – grape tomatoes and red onion
  • Cheese – I chose to use fresh mozzarella in this pasta salad.
  • Bacon – I just cooked regular bacon and crumbled it for the salad
  • Dressing – this recipe uses a vinaigrette that consists of lemon juice, olive oil, white wine vinegar, salt, black pepper, sugar and parsley.

REMEMBER, The full recipe and instructions is always found at the end of the post in the recipe card.

Ingredients on a white table top to make a summer pasta salad.
Ingredients to make the Bacon Tomato Pasta Salad

Instructions

  • Cook pasta – Cook pasta according to package, drain and rinse with cold water. Set aside.
  • Make vinaigrette – In a small bowl, combine the lemon juice, olive oil, vinegar, salt, pepper, sugar and fresh chopped parsley. Whisk really well to combine.
  • Combine salad – In a large salad bowl combine the pasta, grape tomatoes, chopped onion, crumbled bacon, cubed mozzarella and the vinaigrette. Stir really well to combine. Cover and refrigerate for about one hour before serving.
  • Serve – Serve cold or at room temperature.
Chopped tomaotes on a cutting board.
Cut the grape tomatoes into quarters
Lemon vinaigrette for a pasta salad.
Make the vinaigrette
Cooked pasta in a colander.
Cook and drain the pasta
Ingredients in a oval bowl for a pasta salad.
Add all the ingredients to a large bowl
Pasta salad in a white oval bowl.
Stir well to combine and chill for one hour

Recipe Tips

  • Cooking pasta – pasta salads are best with al dente pasta. This means the pasta will still have a bit of a bite to it and not be falling apart soft. I cooked this pasta al dente in 8 minutes. But remember, all pasta brands are different.
  • Cooking bacon – the easiest way to cook bacon is on a baking sheet. Line it with parchment paper or aluminum foil. Place the bacon strips on the baking sheet and cook in a preheated 375 degree F/190 degree C oven to desired doneness. I like to cook IT well to crumble and it took about 12 minutes.
  • Make it in advance – This salad is best the day it’s made but can easily keep overnight in the fridge to take to a potluck or serve at a barbecue the following day.
Close up of the Bacon Tomato Pasta Salad.
Bacon Tomato Pasta Salad

Substitutions

  • Spiral pasta – for the pasta element I used spiral pasta because the flavours stick to it easily. If you prefer you could use penne no problem at all for this salad.
  • Mozzarella cheese – I used cubed fresh mozzarella pasta for this salad. If you prefer you could use another cheese like cheddar, feta, Gouda, Swiss or Havarti.
  • Grape/cherry tomatoes – I love these tomatoes because they are a great size and give a wonderful flavour to summer salads. However, if you are not a fan, you could leave them out and substitute chopped bell peppers.
  • Bacon – I feel this is a must for the salad and would leave it just as it is!
  • Vinaigrette – This salad has a fresh taste with the Lemon Vinaigrette. Alternatively you could make it creamier using a Creamy Greek Yogurt Dressing, Ranch dressing or any of your favourite salad dressings.
Bacon Tomato Pasta Salad in a bowl and extra grape tomaotes in a bowl.
Bacon Tomato Pasta Salad

What to Serve With This Bacon Tomato Pasta Salad

Like many summer salads, they go great with barbecues, to bring to potlucks, to have as a light lunch or to serve with dinner. I served this recently with Chicken Cutlet Sandwiches and it went down great. And they would go really well with the Grilled Barbecue Chicken Skewers or The Cheesy Barbecue Chicken Sliders to keep the kids happy.

Bacon tomato pasta salad in an oval ceramic dish.
Bacon Tomato Pasta Salad

Frequently Asked Questions

Do pasta salads need to be refrigerated?

Pasta salads with creamy dressings and cheese need to be refrigerated. However, if the pasta salad doesn’t contain a creamy dressing, cheese or any other dairy, you can keep it at room temperature for hours without having to refrigerate it.

Can you make pasta salads in advance?

The great things about pasta salads is they are best made in advance. Many you can make the day before serving and others, like this one, can easily be made up to eight hours before serving.

Does it matter what kind of pasta you use in pasta salad?

Most short pasta will work in pasta salads. And you can play around with different flavours of pastas as well. I like to use spiral pasta because the flavours stick really well to this shape pasta.

close up of bell pepper pasta salad
Bell Pepper Pasta Salad
Zucchini Pasta Salad in a Lemon Vinaigrette
Easy Red Pesto Pasta Salad

Bacon Tomato Pasta Salad in a bowl with a green and white tea towel.
Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Bacon Pasta Salad

This Bacon Tomato Pasta Salad is perfect to make all summer long. Loaded with grape tomatoes, smokey bacon, cubed mozzarella cheese and red onions all wrapped up in a light vinaigrette. A great dish for potlucks, barbecues or as a lunch any day of the week.
Prep Time15 mins
Cook Time10 mins
Chill time1 hr
Total Time1 hr 25 mins
Course: Salad, Side Dish
Cuisine: North American
Keyword: pasta salad, potluck, summer salads
Servings: 6 servings
Calories: 319kcal

Ingredients

  • 8 oz spiral pasta
  • 1 1/2 cups grape tomatoes quartered
  • 5 oz mozzarella cheese cut into cubes
  • 1/2 cup red onion finely diced (approximately 1/2 small red onion)
  • 8 strips bacon cooked and crumbled
  • 1/3 cup fresh lemon juice
  • 1/4 cup olive oil
  • 2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
  • 1 teaspoon sugar
  • small bunch fresh chopped parsley (about 2 tablespoons)
US Customary – Metric

Instructions

  • Cook pasta according to package, drain and rinse with cold water. Set aside.
  • In a small bowl, combine the lemon juice, olive oil, vinegar, salt, pepper, sugar and fresh chopped parsley. Whisk really well to combine.
  • In a large salad bowl combine the pasta, grape tomatoes, chopped onion, crumbled bacon, cubed mozzarella and the vinaigrette. Stir really well to combine. Cover and refrigerate for about one hour before serving.
  • Serve cold or at room temperature.
Nutrition Facts
Bacon Pasta Salad
Amount Per Serving (1 serving)
Calories 319 Calories from Fat 144
% Daily Value*
Fat 16g25%
Saturated Fat 5g31%
Polyunsaturated Fat 2g
Monounsaturated Fat 9g
Cholesterol 20mg7%
Sodium 349mg15%
Potassium 214mg6%
Carbohydrates 32g11%
Fiber 2g8%
Sugar 3g3%
Protein 11g22%
Calcium 135mg14%
Vitamin C 6mg7%
Vitamin A 471IU9%
Iron 1mg6%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

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Filed Under: Recipes, Salads & Sides Tagged With: pasta salad, potluck recipes, summer salads

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