No one can stop eating this spaghetti salad! Big juicy chicken pieces, crunchy bacon, and avocado ranch dressing instead of mayonnaise give every bite great avocado flavor. My current favorite avocado dish! Plus: green for days!
The creamy avocado ranch dressing is the focus of this dish. Great: uppercase “G”. Regular readers know I capitalize with purpose! 😂
It’s more than making a mayonnaise-heavy dressing healthy. Make an avocado-forward salad into a luscious pasta salad.
We could simply add avocado chunks and call it good.
Using a dressing instead allows avocado to be incorporated throughout every mouthful, creating a creamy, delicious, and healthier pasta salad.
Win, win!
Oh, wait. An exception. I use a little mayonnaise. 😇 The dressing has 2 1/2 cups of “stuff” opposed to 1/3 cup. It adds a rich texture to the dressing, but yogurt or sour cream may work too!
This avocado pasta salad is rich but not overpowering.
This dish has seasoned chicken, egg, tomato, crispy bacon, and cherry tomatoes, making it a filling dinner.
You may exclude all of them or simply use veggies to make it a vegetarian main or side dish for summer nights. Feel free to customize!
Pasta Salad ingredient list with Avocado Ranch Dressing.
1. Avocado ranch attire
What you need for avocado ranch dressing.
Ranch Dressing, a creamy buttermilk and mayonnaise dressing with onion, garlic, and herbs, is popular in the US. Sometimes dried herbs are used, although fresh is preferred. Different herbs—dill, coriander/cilantro, mint, chives, and parsley—are used. I love dill with avocado. So I chose that!
Ingredients for Avocado Ranch Dressing: – Avocados For this dish, you’ll need 1 1/3 cups of avocado flesh from 2 ripe avocados. Why? Because, annoyingly, avocados vary in size. Quite absurd, right? 😂
Buttermilk, used to produce Ranch Dressing, is sour and pours like cream. Replace with equal parts yogurt and milk. Because buttermilk is rare in Australia, I tried it and found it to be a near-perfect alternative. So no need to buy it for this recipe!
Mayonnaise (just a tad!) — Another ranch staple, but a tiny ingredient in this avocado ranch dressing. Why bother? Because it gives the dressing a luscious mouthfeel that makes it so wonderful! To avoid it, use sour cream or yogurt.
I can substitute buttermilk and mayonnaise, but I recommend fresh dill! The vibrant freshness makes this dressing distinctive. If you don’t have or prefer dill, coriander/cilantro or chives work well. Although it tastes different, these herbs are utilized in several ranch dressings, so they’re on target. Personally, I like dill.
Lemon juice—for tang and greenness in avocado dressing!
Garlic — Dried garlic powder gives ranch dressing an earthy flavor. I liked fresh garlic for avocado.
Onion powder — I used raw garlic, but I prefer onion powder for its smooth onion flavor, which makes this dressing taste like ranch dressing. Try not to skip!
2. ADD-INS
You may dial back or replace, as described before. Dressing is the focus of this dish!
Chicken Pasta Salad with Avocado Ranch Dressing ingredients
I seasoned a chicken breast with paprika, salt, and pepper to make this pasta salad extra special. Replace with poached chicken breast, tuna, shrimp/prawns, or chop/shred leftover roast chicken.
Hard-boiled eggs (9 minutes). More protein and color!
Celery—For a crisp crunch like creamy Macaroni Salad. Highly recommended for texturing.
Bacon Do you need persuading to add this to your pasta salad? 😂
Dill: Yes! More fresh dill! It makes this pasta salad distinctive.
Cherry tomatoes are juicy and colorful.
Red onion—1/4 thinly sliced red onion adds much-needed freshness to this large tangle of goodies.
Pasta, yay! Don’t forget pasta—I nearly did! I used spirals, but you may use any form. Penne, ziti, elbow/macaroni, bow ties, rigatoni. Avoid smaller pastas like risoni/orzo, orecchiette, alphabet, dinosaur, and other novelty shapes (if you’re feeling childish 😂).
Creamy Ranch Avocado Pasta Salad recipe
Simply blend the avocado dressing ingredients, cook the pasta, and mix. Easy!
1. Avocado ranch attire
How to create Avocado Ranch Dressing
Scoop avocado flesh using a spoon.
Smush it into cups to measure 1 1/3 cups. With ripe avocados, this should be simple! 😇 We measure avocado flesh to utilize the proper quantity. Because avocados vary in size—so unpleasant!
Blitz – Combine the avocado flesh and dressing ingredients in a tall container that fits your stick blender head (I use my Nutribullet jug). Blitz till smooth. Quick—maybe 10 seconds? If using a food processor, scrape the sides as required.
Stick your finger in and taste your delicious Avocado Ranch Dressing! You may also change the flavor. If your taste is salty, add salt; if tangy, add lemon. Etc!
2. Baked seasoned chicken
Use store-bought roast chicken or poach a chicken breast to simplify. If you want to create a wonderful pasta salad, here’s how I season my chicken breast!
Making chicken pasta salad with avocado ranch dressing
To cook the bacon and chicken simultaneously, I used the oven. And no stove spatter!
With a meat mallet or rolling pin, pound the chicken to 1.5cm/ 2cm thickness.
Pour oil over and season both sides with paprika, salt, and pepper.
Bake at 220°C/430°F (200°C fan-forced) for 12 minutes or until internal temperature reaches 67°C/153°F.
Slice after 5 minutes of rest.
3. Crispy baked bacon
The oven lets me cook chicken and bacon at once, so I cooked the bacon there. Benefit: no stove spatter. Handy!
How to bake crispy bacon in oven
Place bacon on a rack over a tray. The rack crisps bacon by preventing it from floating in its own fat on the tray.
Bake 20 minutes until brown and crusty. Cooling crisps bacon.
4. Boiling eggs
I enjoy soft-set egg yolks in pasta salads. Cooked enough to cut the yolk cleanly but not “powdery” like hard-boiled.
- How I do it: Eggs in boiling water from the fridge Boil water thoroughly. Use a slotted spoon to delicately drop fridge-cold eggs into the water. Reduce the burner so the eggs are softly moving in the rippling water. Rapid boiling cracks shells! Start the timer and cook for 9 minutes.
- Peel in cold water — Use a slotted spoon to place the eggs in a big bowl or sink of cold water (ice water is ideal, but I never waste ice on eggs!). Peel in water after 5 minutes of cooling. It’s simpler. 😊
5. TOSS!
OK! After preparing everything, the finest part is mixing it. Wrong—eating it is the greatest part.
Mixing Avocado Ranch Dressing into Pasta Salad
BIG bowl – Toss all the pasta salad ingredients except the eggs in a large bowl until covered with avocado ranch dressing. I stressed BIG bowl for a purpose.
Add eggs last and gently mix to distribute.
Our work is complete! Eating time! Consider that it preserves well, so you may enjoy it for days!
I’ve eaten a lot of this in recent weeks. Made so much! I can’t stop eating it, as its name implies.
I hope you try it. This spaghetti salad stands apart in the world!
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