Jul 4 2023

Ultimate Bacon Chicken Ranch Pasta Salad

Name: Ultimate Bacon Chicken Ranch Pasta Salad
Prep time: 10 min
Total time: 10 min
Cuisine: pasta
Ingredients: 1 cup buttermilk; 1/4 cup buttermilk ranch seasoning; 1/2 cup mayo; 1/2 cup sour cream; 1/2 pound cooked pasta; 3 cups cooked chicken, chopped; 6 slices thick-cut cooked bacon, crispy and chopped; 2 cups shredded cheddar, freshly shredded; 3 green onions

Find the recipe card at the end of the post. Make sure to read the content as it contains chef tips, substitution options, and answers to FAQs to help you succeed the first time around!

Posts may contain affiliate links that help enable me to continue to provide you with free recipes. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. Please see my Privacy Policy for details.

Transform chicken, crispy bacon, cheddar cheese, and cooked pasta coated in a homemade ranch dressing into the most amazing pasta salad!

The No-Lettuce Salad

I grew up where we had 3 types of salads – potato, macaroni, and iceberg lettuce. That’s it. It wasn’t until I was maybe in middle school did I ever had a pasta salad with meats, dressings and other yummy things.

Then it was like a switch got flipped in my Mom as she quickly became the QUEEN of non-lettuce salads. If we had leftovers in the fridge say of chicken for more than a day, it was quickly turned into a pasta salad. This was her way to keep leftovers, new.

Make The Buttermilk Ranch Dressing

The real star of this dish is the dressing. Yes you can absolutely buy storebought but I prefer homemade as I can adjust the thickness and tweak it as I want.

I start with my homemade buttermilk ranch seasoning mix and then just add in a few ingredients and voila – perfect buttermilk ranch dressing!

Grab Your Ingredients

The beauty of this recipe is you can make this with leftover chicken you grilled up or even store-bought rotisserie chicken. I opted for a bunch of grilled chicken I had made.

Cooked Pasta – any pasta shape that either has holes or ridges is perfect
Cooked Chicken
Crispy Bacon
Shredded Cheddar – seriously, grate your own
Green Onions
Ranch

Add The Ingredients To The Bowl

I found it best to mix this in a much larger bowl AND only add about 1/2 – 3/4th the amount ranch dressing to start off with. This way it’s easier to mix and also you can add the rest of the dressing right before serving.

Mix It Up!

I’m not going to lie here folks. as soon as I was done mixing it up, I HAD to take a spoonful to taste. The smell of this was so incredible! Like the bacon was still warm and when it hit that grilled chicken and ranch dressing… intoxicating!

Let’s Eat!

Before we do, can I just mention how much I LOVE this board from John Boos?! It’s their Maple Wood End Grain Round board with stainless steel handles and is 18″ round x3″ thick!!!

This can be both a meal or a side dish; it’s whatever you want it to be! Orignally this was served as a cold side with grilled veggies and chicken.

Hot Or Cold, This Salad Is AMAZING!

By day 3 I wanted to try something else – so I added a bit more cheese and warmed it up. Folks seriously… this was a whole new dish! Seriously this immediately became an entree for me. It was absolutely outstanding!

That extra cheese just made it. And another thing you can try – top it with buttered panko and bake it just until the panko browns.

You’re welcome!

Recipe Substitutions

Because someone will ask or if you’re like me and have to always modify a recipe/dish, you want to know what works and what doesn’t.

Pasta – This is the foundation of the dish so you really can’t omit it but you can go with any type of pasta, including gluten free. That all works!
Bacon – okay okay if you really don’t want it, you can omit it or go with turkey bacon or even vegetarian/vegan bacon
Cheese – I made this with pepperjack and it was exceptional. Just go with a cheese you can shred or crumble
Chicken – try bbq’d chicken or even breaded chicken. As long as it’s cooked, that’s all you need!

Recipe Additions

Because again, if you’re like me, you need to modify!

Veggies – chopped tomatoes, broccoli, white beans, black beans, or green chilies work really well in this
Heat – add in buffalo sauce or sriracha to the ranch to give it a great kick!
Crispy Wontons – adding crispy wontons or tortilla strips to the salad for added crunch
BBQ – add bbq sauce in with your ranch to add more of a bbq flavor. Top with crispy onion straws too!

Make Ahead Salad

You can make this dish up to the day before serving. This is one of the reasons why you save some of the dressing. When you make any type of pasta salad, it will inevitably soak up the sauce/liquid. So right before serving you need to add a bit more ranch to moisten it up.

I would not recommend freezing this however you can definitely make this and portion it out in the fridge for meal preps!