Bacon and Basil Pasta Salad Recipe

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Happy Memorial Day! We celebrated yesterday with what would have been a great barbeque. Unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate. That didn’t stop us from enjoy some great food, including this wonderful Bacon and Basil Pasta Salad from Pillsbury that my mother discovered in their Sensational Salads cookbook. If you are looking for a great salad that has mild flavors and feeds a large crowd this one is perfect!

This recipe has a whopping 22 servings so it literally feels like a never ending bowl of pasta salad.

4.84 from 6 votes
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Bacon and Basil Pasta Salad

Prep Time 25 minutes
Total Time 25 minutes
Servings 22 (1/2 cup servings)
Author Pillsbury

Ingredients

  • 1 package 16 oz penne pasta
  • 1/2 lb sliced bacon
  • <g class="gr_ gr_55 gr-alert gr_spell ContextualSpelling multiReplace" id="55" data-gr-id="55">1 pint</g> grape tomatoes cut in half
  • 2 medium red or green bell peppers or one of each chopped (2 cups)
  • 4 medium green onions sliced (1/3 cup)
  • 1/3 cup red wine vinegar
  • 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
  • 1/2 cup olive oil
  • 1/2 cup chopped fresh basil leaves
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

Instructions

  1. Cook and drain pasta as directed on package. Rinse with cold water to cool and then drain.
  2. Meanwhile, cook bacon over medium heat approximately 8 minutes or until crisp. Crumble bacon. Refrigerate until serving.
  3. In large bowl, mix pasta, tomatoes, bell peppers and onions.
  4. In small bowl beat vinegar and mustard with whisk before adding oil. Beat again until blended.
  5. Stir in basil, salt and pepper.
  6. Pour dressing over pasta mixture and combine. Cover and chill for 2 hours.
  7. Sprinkle with bacon and toss to combine just before serving.

This salad is a great way to use up fresh basil and vegetables from your garden. It works perfect for cookouts and picnics. To save on time, consider pre-cooked bacon versus frying up your own. I do think this salad tastes best the first day or two when the bacon is still crispy.

Enjoy!

Pillsbury Bacon n Basil Pasta Salad

 

13 Comments

  1. This looks delicious. I’m always looking for a new salad to try, with it being bbq season you get tired of the same usual salads

  2. 5 stars
    This sounds absolutely awesome and what a great recipe for the summer months. I need to do something different and we all love pasta. I think with the tomatoes, pepper and green onions, this just has to be so good. Thanks for sharing! I love getting new recipes like this

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