Chicken Bacon Ranch Pasta Salad

5 from 3 votes

Prep Time30

Total Time30

Servings: as a main (8 as a side)

Calories: 600kcal

Prepare chicken breasts by cooking as per your preferred method and then dice or shred.
Cook the bacon fully and move to a plate lined with paper towel to cool. Once cool, crumble into small pieces.
In a small bowl, stir together the ingredients for the Greek yogurt ranch dressing. Add water or milk one tablespoon at a time until you have reached a pour-able consistency.
Bring generously salted water to a boil and add the pasta. Cook as per the package directions for 2-3 minutes longer than it says for al dente.
Drain pasta, toss with olive oil and spread out onto a baking sheet for 5 minutes to cool slightly.
Add the pasta to a large mixing bowl and mix with ¼ cup of the ranch dressing. The pasta will soak up a bit of the dressing while it finishes cooling so for the best flavor, will will dress it again when we add the other ingredients.
While the partially dressed pasta finishes cooling, slice the tomatoes in half, shred the carrot and chop the green onions.
Add the vegetables, chicken, bacon and ½ cup of ranch to the bowl with the pasta and toss to combine. *I like to reserve about ¼ cup of the dressing to add just before serving.
For best flavor, I like to make this a couple of hours ahead and refrigerate it to allow the flavors time to blend.
Remove the salad from the fridge 20-30 minutes before serving so that the pasta softens a bit. Toss with the reserved dressing and serve.

Leftovers

Store leftover salad in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.