Pasta salad is super easy to make and super filling too! You don’t have to spend a lot of money to make a hearty meal for everyone.
Bow tie pasta is a really popular dish in our country. It’s because you can create it so many different ways and add your own spin to it. The best part of it is that bow tie pasta looks and tastes gourmet without going broke preparing it. It’s the perfect meal to whip up on a busy week day.
The secret to the best bow tie pasta is vinegar! I know, sounds different, but trust us when we say that it’s definitely the secret ingredient that makes bow tie pasta taste delicious and just about any other food to be exact.
What You’ll Need
* 16 oz. bag bow tie pasta, cooked and drained
* 8 oz. bag frozen peas, thawed
* 15 oz. can kidney beans, drained and rinsed
* 1 can whole small black olives, drained
* 1 cup grated cheddar cheese
* 1 pint basket cherry or grape tomatoes, halved
* 1 cup real bacon bits (pork bacon or turkey bacon)
* 1 cup of your favorite salad dressing (we recommend using Italian dressing)
* 1/3 cup of raspberry vinaigrette
* Sea Salt
* Black pepper
Directions
The first step in this creation is to cook your bow tie pasta and drain it. Make sure you let the pasta cool down enough to where it’s not burning hot. Bow tie pasta doesn’t take long to boil either (around 8-10 minutes).
While the pasta is cooking you can prep all your other fresh ingredients. Go ahead and slices your tomatoes into halves and chop up your freshly cooked bacon or you can use bacon bits.
Once you have all your ingredients prepped and ready to go transfer the cooked and cooled pasta into a large mixing bowl. We prefer to use a glass bowl so you can see all the beautiful colors in the bow tie pasta.
Add your peas, beans, olives, tomatoes and bacon and toss gently until all the ingredients are evenly distributed. Then you will need to add your salad dressing and vinaigrette and toss vigorously until everything looks mixed very well.
After you have mixed the pasta the best you can go ahead and add the shredded cheese, salt and paper to taste. Be careful not to over salt the pasta since the dressing and vinegar will already have a strong taste ass it is.
Once everything is mixed well place a cover over the bowl and let it chill in the fridge for about 1 hour before you serve it.
Serving the Pasta
Once the pasta has chilled to perfection take it out of the fridge and serve in a large chilled bowl. You can serve the pasta with a warm breadstick or a warm bowl of soup. You can pair a lot of different sides and dishes with this delicious pasta. We love to serve warm cheese bread with our bow tie pasta dish. Enjoy!
Image Credit: istockphoto.com
