Fresh & Easy BLT Pasta Salad (No Mayo)
A while back I needed to bring a pasta salad for a Monday night barbecue to celebrate a dear friend’s seventieth birthday. Since it was a busy day, I wanted an easy recipe.
I am not a fan of mayonnaise, so I created this ⭐️BLT pasta salad recipe. If you add bacon to pasta salad, nobody misses the mayo!
There were only scraps left in the serving bowl, so I would call this recipe a success!
This ⭐️no mayo pasta salad is not only easy, but it is “fresh” since it uses raw vegetables. The lemon zest and the lemon juice, along with the rosemary, certainly brighten up the flavor of the store-bought Italian salad dressing.
You can cook the pasta and bacon ahead of time, and then assemble the salad right before serving.
Since my store was out of the Romaine lettuce, I used green leaf. You can use your favorite variety of leaf lettuce.
For the tomatoes, use grape or cherry (garden fresh would be delicious). I left the tomatoes whole, but feel free to half them if you prefer.
A simple toss of all ingredients together combines the flavors beautifully. Serve as a side dish or a light meal. You could even slice a chicken breast on top for an easy dinner.
Fresh & Easy BLT Pasta Salad (No Mayo)
Ingredients
- 8 oz. pasta I used Private Selection Cavatappi from Kroger
- 6 slices thick bacon cooked & roughly chopped
- 3 cups green leaf lettuce roughly chopped or torn
- 1 cup grape tomatoes
- 1/3 cup Ken’s Simply Italian salad dressing or your favorite bottled Italian dressing
- zest of 1/2 lemon
- juice of 1/2 lemon
- 1 tsp. dried rosemary crushed
- black pepper ground, to taste
Instructions
- Cook pasta as instructed on package. Drain.
- Stir lemon zest, lemon juice, rosemary, and pepper into salad dressing.
- Transfer pasta to large bowl.
- Stir in dressing to coat pasta.
- Add lettuce, tomatoes, and bacon.
