BBQ Chicken Bacon Ranch Pasta Salad

BBQ Chicken Bacon Ranch Pasta Salad – completely drool-worthy summertime dish!  This easy pasta salad recipe is brimming with the most delicious ingredients… smoky bacon, creamy avocado, bright tomatoes, hearty pasta, lean grilled chicken, and the most luscious homemade buttermilk ranch dressing!

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Jump to:

• Making This Easy Chicken Bacon Ranch Pasta Salad:
• Here’s just a bit of avocado nutrition for you:
• BBQ Chicken Bacon Ranch Pasta Salad Recipe
• A few other easy pasta salad recipes I can’t wait to try this summer:

How’s your summer going?  Technically summer officially started a few days ago, but honestly, it’s always summer where I live so I kind of lose track of the seasons. You gotta love the sunshine state - good ole' Florida.

We’ve got a few trips planned so far, nowhere incredibly fabulous, but we will get to see lots of dear friends which is my favorite part.  Oh, and then there’s the beach which is my other favorite part.  Yes – there’s just nothing like good friends, sunshine, and those turquoise waters.  Ahh summertime livin'.

What about you, any fun plans?  Family vacations?  Day trips?  Get-togethers or cookouts?

Sometimes you don’t have to go anywhere, it’s just nice to invite some friends and family over for some grilled yumminess.  Right?

It’s just so easy to heat up that grill and whip up something delcious. Like caprese chicken, sriracha pork chops, or a Philly cheesesteak dog.

And if you're like me there's all that summer produce that I'm longing to use for all my favorite side dishes and salads. Like my Broccoli Grape Salad which includes bacon as well (it seemed important to mention that), all my fresh corn dishes including my very favorite - Corn Salad with Jalapeno and Cilantro, then garden tomato-filled recipes, and of course, all recipes involving squash and zucchini. 

I think summertime cooking is the best of all the seasons!  This brings me to today's bright and tasty recipe… BBQ Chicken Bacon Ranch Pasta Salad with… wait for it… AVOCADO!

Isn’t she just gorgeous!?

I think all of my favorite things are in this easy pasta salad.

There’s grilled chicken, cherry tomatoes, red onions, homemade ranch dressing, avocado, and BACON!  It's such a winning combination.

Allow me to share how this deliciousness comes together.

Making This Easy Chicken Bacon Ranch Pasta Salad:

This Creamy pasta salad recipe can really be broken into several steps – all of which can be prepared ahead of time and then assembled before serving.

First, mix together the dressing ingredients and refrigerate until you're ready to add them to the pasta.

Then, turn the grill on high for the bbq chicken breasts, and preheat the oven to cook your bacon.  I line a baking sheet with tin foil, add the strips of bacon, and voila… 10ish minutes later (depending on the thickness), perfectly cooked bacon with no grease splatters to clean up!  #alwayswinning

Next, get your pasta cooking according to the package instructions.  It’s easy to turn this recipe into a gluten-free pasta salad, just be sure to use your favorite gluten-free penne pasta.

While that’s cooking, season your chicken breasts with salt and pepper, spritz them with high-heat cooking spray, and grill them for 6-7 minutes per side (depending on how big your chicken breasts are and how hot your grill gets). 

You’ll want to let them rest for about 5 minutes so the juices don’t run out, then cut them into bite-size pieces and set them aside.

PS:  I always use a digital kitchen thermometer (<- affiliate link) to temp my chicken to be sure it’s not over or undercooked.  What can I say – I’m not much of a ceviche chicken girl. Lol

Be sure to set some timers on your phone/microwave for all these different ingredients you have cooking at once. Or if multitasking is not your thing just do them one at a time.

Finally, slice and cut the red onion, and cherry tomatoes.

Chop up your bacon and cut the avocados into one-inch pieces.

Side note: Do you know anyone that doesn’t enjoy avocados?  Yeah, me neither. That would be unbelievable since there's so much to love about them.

Here’s just a bit of avocado nutrition for you:

• There are about 160 calories in half an avocado!
•  A medium-sized avocado contains 30 grams of fat: 4.2 grams of saturated fat, almost 20 grams of monounsaturated fat (aka the “good” fat), and 3.6 grams of polyunsaturated fat
• One avocado has 13.5 grams of fiber - which can help you to feel fuller and more satisfied.
• One avocado on the larger side has about 975 grams of Potassium. That’s 27% of your daily requirement.  Potassium helps maintain fluid balance, and allows the nerves and muscles to work properly.
• Avocados are also a good source of vitamin C, vitamin K, and folate.

And if you’re like me you’re probably wondering “How many carbs in avocado?”  They are very low on the glycemic index, rating less than 15, and won't spike your blood sugar.  However, they do have about 17 carbs for a larger-size fruit... along with 4 grams of protein.

Yes – I said fruit! I’m not sure you’ve ever stopped to ask… is avocado a fruit or vegetable?  Well, it is in fact a fruit.  What can I say – I’m solving all your avocado mysteries here today!

For all of this and more avocado nutrition facts click here.

Moving on.

Now for the rest of this pasta salad recipe.

Once you have all of your ingredients in a big bowl, drizzle on your homemade ranch salad dressing (or your favorite store-bought version), give it a good toss, and devour!

This chicken penne pasta is brimming with the most delicious ingredients… Smoky bacon, creamy avocado, bright tomatoes, hearty pasta, lean grilled protein, and luscious buttermilk ranch dressing. 

Are you drooling all over yourself???  Cause I am.  I start salivating at just the thought of this heavenly BBQ Chicken Bacon Ranch Pasta Salad!

I can't wait for you to give this yummy summer recipe a try!  Be sure to come back and let me know what you think in the comments below!

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A few other easy pasta salad recipes I can’t wait to try this summer:

• Greek Tortellini Pasta Salad
• Macaroni Salad with Dill Pickles
• Tortellini Pasta Salad
• Caprese Pasta Salad
• Shrimp Pasta Salad