Recipe: Chicken BLT Pasta Salad

This recipe is a bit of a mixture of a couple of different recipes that I found online. I wasn't entirely sure what to expect.

• 1 1/2 cups uncooked pasta (I went with bow-tie)
• 3 cups torn lettuce/greens (I went with romaine)
• 1 lb of chicken, cooked and in bite-size pieces
• 1/2 lb of bacon, cooked and crumbled
• 1/2 cup grape tomatoes, halved
• 3 Tbsp mayonnaise
• 2 tsp BBQ sauce
• 3/4 tsp white vinegar
• salt & pepper to taste

1. Cook pasta according to package directions and rinse with cold water. I cooked my pasta, chicken and bacon last night and then just put them all in the fridge for easy assembly tonight.


2. Salad: Combine pasta, lettuce, chicken, bacon and tomatoes in a large bowl.

3. Sauce: Combine mayonnaise, BBQ sauce, vinegar, salt & pepper in a small bowl. Whisk together well. Depending on the BBQ sauce, it may be a bit thick, if it is too thick to pour, add up to 1/2 tsp of water.

4. Pour sauce over salad and toss to coat. Serve immediately. This made about 4-5 large servings. (the picture above is a sm-med serving, the picture below is what was leftover)


The recipes that I modified all had this as a side-dish. I decided to make it my main dish so I increased the amount of chicken and bacon. I think it would also be good with some additional veggies - cucumbers, shredded carrots, peppers, corn, etc. I meant to add cheese to it, but then I forgot until we were already at the table eating and no one wanted cheese enough to go get it.

It definitely needed more of the sauce, double or even triple it. I ended up making some more before I put the leftovers in the fridge. I cooked the chicken with Penzey's Arizona Dreaming seasoning mix - I love that mix. The sauce was delicious, just needed a lot more of it.

I'm not sure how well this will keep in the fridge since the lettuce is already mixed it. I guess I'll find out tomorrow. Next time I will probably just serve it with a bowl of lettuce so that I don't have to worry about the lettuce wilting and ruining the rest of it.

For easy printing, I also posted this on TastyKitchen.