I love a good summer pot luck. Especially if it includes pasta salad.
We recently had a family barbecue while Stephanie was in town, and I decided I would put myself in charge of the pasta salad.
I decided I wanted to make it a more hearty pasta salad, so I looked around and came across this cowboy pasta salad.
You guys. There is no better pasta salad out there. It was meaty, delicious, and incredibly easy to throw together.
My husband took a side of it to lunch the next two days, because he couldn’t get enough of it, and wanted to savor it.
If you are looking for the perfect pot luck dish for any upcoming barbecue or summer festivity, we highly recommend this Cowboy Pasta Salad.
would ground turkey work instead of ground beef?
I have only made this recipe using ground beef. I am sure ground turkey would work just as well, however, the flavor will be a little different.
Ground beef tastes a little more hearty, and even a little more sweet, so I recommend using ground beef. I used a low fat, high lean, ratio of beef. I used 93% lean and 7% fat, and it was delicious.
If you do use ground turkey, I recommend seasoning it, with some grilling seasoning, or a little Worcestershire sauce, to give it a more hearty flavor.
steps to making the perfect cowboy pasta salad:
sneak in extra veggies:
If you have a picky eater, this is a great recipe to sneak in some extra veggies, without them even noticing. We recommend adding these veggies, for a few more health benefits:
- green bell pepper
- red bell pepper
- red onion
- cucumber
- carrot shreds
- zucchini
- radishes
- broccoli
- cauliflower
Really any veggie would work, but these would taste delicious, and go unnoticed for sure.
looking for more pot luck dishes? here are a few of our favorites:
- Pizza Pasta Salad
- Deviled Egg Potato Salad
- Roasted Veggie Pasta Salad
- Fresh Fruit Salad with Citrus Glaze
- Asian Chopped Chicken Salad
Serves: 9-12
15 minPrep Time
20 minCook Time
35 minTotal Time
Ingredients
- 1 pound ground beef (cooked)
- 8 slices bacon (cooked and crumbled)
- 4 cups macaroni noodles (cooked)
- 1 (8.5 ounce) can corn (drained)
- 1 cup shredded Monterrey Jack Cheese
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes (diced)
- 8 green onions (diced)
- 1/2 cup barbecue sauce
- 1/2 cup mayonnaise
- 1 Tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
- 1 teaspoon spicy brown mustard
- 1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
- Salt and pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Cook your ground beef until there is no pink.
- In a separate pan, cook and crumble your bacon.
- Cook your noodles as directed on the package, and drain them.
- In a large bowl, combine your noodles, ground beef, crumbled bacon, corn, cheese, tomatoes, and green onions.
- In a smaller bowl, combine your barbecue sauce, mayonnaise, Worcestershire sauce, spicy brown mustard, plain Greek yogurt, garlic salt, and salt and pepper.
- Pour the sauce mixture over the pasta salad mixture, and mix until well combined, and the pasta is evenly coated.
- Store in fridge until ready to serve.
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