blt pasta salad

At this point, I could probably whip up this pasta salad in my sleep. It’s always in heavy rotation at my house during warmer months because it is hands down my husband’s favorite dish I make. Can’t say I blame him though- what’s not to love about creamy pasta with bacon? Personally, I love that this recipe allows me to get my pasta fix without actually eating that much pasta (the whole recipe only contains 1/2 box of pasta, which you’d never guess if you didn’t look at the recipe).

Ingredients

Instructions

1. Set the oven to 375°F
2. Place the bacon on a foil-lined baking sheet. Do not wait for the oven to preheat. Go ahead and place the bacon in the cold oven (this ensures the fat in the bacon renders slowly so you don’t end up with any rubbery pockets of fat). Cook the bacon for 15-20 minutes. Once the bacon has reached your desired level of crispiness, remove it from the oven and place it on a paper towel lined plate to soak up the bacon grease. Once cool, roughly chop the bacon
3. Line a second baking sheet with parchment paper and place the chicken thighs on the prepared baking sheet. Season the chicken thighs with salt and pepper. Once the oven reaches 375°F, roast the chicken for 30 minutes until it is cooked through and the internal temperature reaches 165°. Once the chicken is out of the oven, let it rest for 5 minutes before chopping it into bite sized pieces
4. Meanwhile, cook the pasta according to package directions and strain
5. In a large bowl, mix the mayonnaise, garlic powder, and paprika. Add the pasta, chopped bacon, chopped chicken, quartered tomatoes and chopped spinach to the bowl. Mix well and season with salt and pepper to taste
6. Chill in the fridge for at least a couple of hours before serving

Serves 4

Note*: I’ve also made this with gluten free pasta, and while I enjoy the taste of gluten free pasta, I recommend sticking to traditional pasta for this recipe. This is one of those dishes where the leftovers are even better and I find that gluten free pasta doesn’t hold up quite as well the next day.