Recipe for Creamy Bacon Tomato and Avocado Pasta Salad at Life's Ambrosia

Folks today I would like to share with you what is sure to be my go-to pasta salad this summer for all the pot-lucks, BBQs and patio dinners that are sure to come up. With this recipe I challenge you to forget the box; forget the pre-made stuff at your deli grocer. You aren’t going to want it after you give this a try. Just think, creamy refreshing lemon dill dressing coats perfect pasta, creamy avocados, sweet tomatoes and crispy bacon. It’s like summer in a bowl.

I actually got the idea for this salad from one of my favorite sandwiches: Bacon, Lettuce, Tomato and Avocado. Sure the traditional BLT is great, but add some avocado and I’ll love you for life. What can I say? Avocado just does that to me. But enough about my slightly odd obsession with one of California’s greatest exports aside from Mickey Mouse, let’s get back to this salad. It really is quick; you just need to let the flavors mingle for about 30 minutes or so. If you want to make it a little more in advance, my advice is to add the avocado about 30 minutes before serving. You don’t want it to start to turn brown.

Serves 4

You will need:

6 slices bacon, chopped into one inch pieces
1/2 pound dried rotini pasta
1/2 cup mayonnaise
juice of 1 lemon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon white pepper
1 teaspoon dried dill
1 cup halved cherry tomatoes
1 avocado pitted and sliced

Cook bacon until crisp. Transfer to a paper towel lined plate.
Cook pasta according to package directions. Strain. Run cold water over the top until the pasta is cooled.
While your bacon and pasta are cooking, whisk mayonnaise, lemon, salt, garlic powder, pepper and dill together in a bowl.
Stir cooled pasta, cherry tomatoes, sliced avocado and reserved bacon into the dressing. Toss to combine. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Serve.

Enjoy!

Like this recipe? Recommend it to your friends!

Responses to "Creamy Bacon Tomato and Avocado Pasta Salad"

“
mcdonalds!
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- sam

“
How can you go wrong with bacon and avocado?? I can’t wait to try this!
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- Jenn's Food Journey

“
Cook 2 pounds of bacon: One to eat while prepping ingredients, the other to use in recipe!
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- baconator

“
recipe looks divine. i think i’ll try it with turkey bacon (and perhaps some light sour cream in place of some of the mayo). to keep the avocados from turning brown you could dice them and toss them in some of the lemon juice in the recipe before adding to the salad. the acid will help prevent the oxidation of the avocado.
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- judy

“
Just finished tossing this together. Once I tasted it, waiting for my love to come in from mowing the lawn to join me was no longer an option. Oh, Sweet Mother of all that is tasty! This is SO GOOD! I am a dill junkie so I went heavy on that (and used fresh baby dill). I did go with turkey bacon (as mentioned in another comment) and it works.

Thank goodness for StumbleUpon!!!
”

- Jan

“
I hope you enjoy it Jen! Baconator- I like your thinking! Judy, thank you for the tip about the avocados! Jan- I’m glad to hear that you liked it! Hopefully you saved some for your love ;-)
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- Deseree

“
Now I know what to bring to the BBQ I’m going to tonight :) Yum!
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- Taylor

“
This has been bookmarked! YUM! Wow… love everything in and about this salad!

xxMK
Delightful Bitefuls
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- Mary

“
The creamy avocado, juicy tomatoes and salty bacon would make for a great combo!
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- Kevin (Closet Cooking)

“
Thanks for the yummies, you should try it with really good avo’s like we get here in Hawaii… smoother, richer, and sweeter than any of california’s baby Haas avo’s
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- avoville

“
Yum! This caught my eye on Foodgawker. Can’t wait to make it—it just screams, “Summer!” :)
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- Sandie {A Bloggable Life}

“
I substituted the bacon for tempeh bacon ”fak’n bac’n” and the mayo for vegenaise!
Luckily none of my friends eat vegan/vegetarian, so I can have it all to myself! jk, they’ve tried it and enjoyed it!
”

- Ashley M

“
First of all who in the heck….. if they are going to a BBQ, potluck,or having one, makes a HALF pound of macaroni salad.???? ONE pound for a SMALL get together, (4-6) anything over that is 2 lbs easy. Double the macaroni, make it a pound of bacon and triple the mayo……..NOW your cookin.! Skip the dill, double the GP and add = amt onion powder!!!!
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- GSmooth

“
I make something similar but I also add feta cheese and a bottled creamy greek feta dressing instead of mayo. Now I am craving this at 11pm at night and I have none of the ingrediets!
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- Kim

“
I have made this multiple times, but I also added a 1/ cup of diced oven roasted chicken… It has been a hit every time!! Thank you so much for this fantastic recipe! My extended family now won’t stop begging for me to make it again, hahaha
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- Laura

“
I have made this multiple times, but I also added a 1/2 cup of diced oven roasted chicken… It has been a hit every time!! Thank you so much for this fantastic recipe! My extended family now won’t stop begging for me to make it again, hahaha
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- Laura

“
Awesome pasta salad! I just made one the other day, and blogged about it too! I used this recipe for Rotini Pasta Salad It was so delicious!
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- Sophia

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I HAVE SEEN A LOT OF PASTA RECIPES, PERHAPS HUNDREDS , BUT THIS ONE REALLY TAKES THE CAKE !!!!!!!!!!!!!! I CAN’T WAIT TO MAKE IT !!!!!!!!!
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- LAUREN

“
Okay, I just made this and it is so delicious, I want to eat the whole bowl!!

I have bookmarked your blog along with several of your scrumptious looking recipes!!
Thanks for sharing!!
Have a wonderful day!!
Diane~
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- Diane

“
Just one look, and now I have to reconsider not buying bacon anymore… thanks for yet another inspiring recipe.
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- Julie G

“
Wow.. I can’t wait to try this recipe! Pinned it to my Pinterest! :)
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- Sook

“
I rarely comment when I make a recipe from a blog but I had to with this one. Saw it on Pinterest and couldn’t wait to try it. This is a seriously amazing salad. I made it for myself tonight thinking I’d have it all to myself. To my horror my children love it. :) I used garlic salt instead of garlic powder as I was out, and I did increase the dressing a little. Otherwise, followed to a T. Really, really awesome.
”

- Tali

“
Wow, I made this yesterday and i absolutely loved it. It was SO TASTY!! My husband loved it as well. I just regret that I didn’t double the recipe so I could still have some for today. I used fresh chopped chives instead of dill, because it was what I had in hand, and it worked really good. Thanks for the recipe!
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- Kari

“
This could get me in trouble! What’s not to like? Saw this on Pinterest and will definitely repin. Thanks!
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- Brenda

“
Very delicious, but I felt it had way too much dill. Next time I will use about 1/4 tsp of dried dill or 1 tps of fresh, not 1 tsp of dried dill because that much way over powered the recipe.
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- Lynna