A Bird and a Bean

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BLT pasta salad

by 67 Comments

I saw this little beauty while browsing around the world wide web the other day.  Thanks Food Network.  YUM.

Kevin would seriously eat BLTs every day.

And he loves pasta salad.

So, I thought this was a perfect recipe.

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We celebrated Father’s Day a week early this year.

So, I made this Healthy BLT Pasta Salad for our family Father’s day cookout yesterday.  It was great!  I used bow tie pasta.  (ya know….for father’s day….haha)

I cooked them al dente’, but they still got kind of broken up when I tossed the ingredients together.  I was as gentle as I could be, which if you know me isn’t very gentle!  🙂  Maybe the corkscrew recommendation in the recipe would hold up better.  It still tasted amazing!  I also used half as much mayo and added Greek yogurt instead.  I might not add the lettuce next time and just put the pasta salad over lettuce as a meal.

We ate the left-overs today and it was still great.  But the lettuce would be more crisp if I did it that way. I thought it was interesting that the recipe called to saute the tomatoes.  It was a nice addition.  I actually really liked the way it tasted warm right after adding the tomatoes.

Warm, cold, room temp, fresh, left-overs….so many options.  🙂

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BLT pasta salad
Recipe Type: side dish
Author: a bird and a bean ..adapted from food network
This pasta salad is so good. It’s good warm, or cold. I like adding greek yogurt with the mayo to make it a little more healthy.
Ingredients
  • 12 ounce corkscrew shaped pasta
  • 1/2 cup milk
  • 12 ounces lean bacon
  • 4 medium ripe tomatoes, cut into chunks
  • 1 tablespoon chopped
  • fresh thyme
  • 1 clove garlic, minced Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
  • 1/4 cup mayo
  • 1/4 cup greek yogurt
  • 1/4 cup sour cream
  • 4 tablespoons chopped chives
  • 5 cups chopped romaine hearts
Instructions
  1. Cook the pasta in a large pot of salted boiling water according to package.
  2. Drain and toss with the milk in a large bowl; set aside. Crazy to toss it with milk. You won’t be sorry.
  3. Cook the bacon in a large skillet over medium-high heat until crisp. Drain. Discard drippings, but reserve about 3 tablespoons of drippings from the pan.
  4. Add the tomatoes, thyme and garlic to the pan and toss until warmed through; season with salt and pepper.
  5. Crumble the bacon, set aside 1/4 cup for garnish. Toss the remaining bacon and the tomato mixture with the pasta.
  6. Mix the mayonnaise, greek yogurt and sour cream with 3 tablespoons chives with the pasta until evenly combined. Season with salt and pepper.
  7. Add the lettuce; toss again to coat.
  8. Garnish with the reserved bacon and the remaining 1 tablespoon chives.
  9. Serve at room temperature. Or chilled the next day. Refrigerate leftovers. If there are any.

I think my favorite part of this salad is the way it looks in my trifle dish.  You can get one just like it right here!  I have the mini trifles too.  Seriously cute dishes.  They are pretty inexpensive, too.  Which is why I like them.  🙂

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Comments

  17. Sug says

    Question…do you drain the milk from the pasta after and before mixing with other ingredients or does the milk play a part in mixing with the mayo/sour cream mixture in coating the salad? Thanks.

    Reply

  33. Kittie says

    Glad to see where you used greek yogurt in this salad! Recently, I have used the yogurt in place of sour cream and so far it has worked really great as a substitution. Thanks~looking forward to trying this recipe!

    Reply

    • Erin says

      Hi John. Sorry about all “junk” that I write on my blog. I don’t have a recipe plug-in on the blog yet. I usually just copy and paste into Word and print when I find a recipe on a blog that doesn’t have recipe printing plug-ins. It just takes a second.
      But, if you follow the link to the Food Network at the top of the post, I am sure you can print it from there. They have a recipe plug in for sure. 🙂 Here is the link for you…. just in case….. http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/blt-pasta-salad-recipe/index.html
      Thanks for visiting. Great having you.

      Reply

    • Erin says

      Great question Barbara. It really would go great with many things. I think little sandwiches would be great with it, or even a breakfast casserole.

      Reply

  44. Megan says

    My sister made this for a family reunion this weekend, and in my favor, used gluten free rice pasta. IT WAS TO DIE FOR! Wonderful! I’m putting in my “new mom meal” file!!

    Reply

  45. Lisa Webb says

    I have tried plain greek yogurt 20 different ways to cut back fat and add protein to dishes, I have hated every one.
    Then I discovered Danon Oikos Greek yogurt dip (I like the roasted red pepper) It’s still packed with protein, lower in fat than sour cream or mayo and tastes lovely.
    Just a thought. Thanks for the great recipes.

    Reply

Trackbacks

  6. […] My BLT Pasta Salad is by far the most clicked on recipe here at a Bird and A Bean.  That got me thinking that people must need more pasta salad recipes.  🙂  I made a couple different versions and they were all tasty.   But, this one was the hands down winner.  Creamy and delicious!  Perfect for a party or potluck.  Enjoy! […]

    Reply

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