Cowboy Pasta Salad - The Keep At Dwelling Chef

This is without doubt one of the most filling pasta salads on the market! It’s filled with meat, cheese, beans, and greens. Deliver to a BBQ or make as a fast and straightforward dinner at dwelling and we promise there received’t be any complaints about leaving hungry!

In the event you love this recipe, you’ll love our “cowboy caviar” Black Bean and Corn Salad.

Why Our Recipe

Loaded with all the great things. We’re speaking beef, bacon, cheddar, and veggies.
Our creamy selfmade salsa verde dressing brings a smoky kick you’ll love.
Makes for a brilliant filling dinner, or deliver it to a potluck or BBQ to feed a crowd.

A Bowl full of Cowboy Pasta Salad displaying the ingredients on top.

Half of this pasta salad’s flavorful goodness comes from our scrumptious, selfmade dressing. It’s our secret ingredient! Bear in mind, pasta salad is simply pretty much as good because the dressing you placed on it. Our cowboy dressing is made with salsa verde, lime juice, and loads of smoky spices and seasonings. The salsa lets you actually mess around with the warmth stage, so in case you prefer it sizzling, make certain to make use of medium to sizzling salsa.

Ingredient Notes

Overhead layout of Ingredients for Cowboy Pasta Salad.

Rotini Pasta: Rotini’s nice for grabbing onto all that dressing. No rotini? Use one other quick pasta like fusilli or penne.
Floor Beef: We like utilizing 80/20 beef for one of the best taste. Floor turkey or hen works too if you need it a bit of lighter.
Cheddar Cheese: Sharp cheddar brings a bit of additional punch, however actually, any cheese you like will work. Pepper jack can be superior if you need a bit of kick.
Cherry or Grape Tomatoes: Both one is ideal. Minimize them in halves or quarters so that you get the right chew. A mixture of pink and yellow tomatoes seems actually fairly too.
Black Beans: Give them a great rinse and drain to maintain issues from getting soggy.
Canned Corn: Completely nice to make use of straight from the can, however it’s also possible to use uncooked recent corn or frozen corn.
Purple Onion: Purple onions are one of the best for consuming uncooked.
Jalapeño: Completely elective! Recent jalapeños add a pleasant spicy crunch, or use pickled for rather less warmth.
Bacon: Crumble it up! Prepare dinner your personal or seize the pre-cooked form.
Salsa Verde: Seize a jar of your favourite gentle or medium salsa verde. Use no matter warmth stage you want.
Lime Juice: Recent-squeezed is at all times going to have one of the best taste, however bottled lime juice works too.

Modify the Warmth

The most effective issues about cowboy pasta is how simple it’s to tweak the spice. In the event you’re into warmth, seize a sizzling salsa verde, bump up the chili powder, and toss just a few additional jalapeño slices on prime. Not a fan of spicy? Follow gentle salsa and skip the chili powder and jalapeños. Simple!

Closeup image of Cowboy Pasta Salad with dressing drizzled over it.

Make-Forward Directions

This salad’s tremendous simple to make forward. You possibly can whip up the dressing 1 to 2 days early and stash it within the fridge. Prepare dinner the pasta and floor beef the evening earlier than, too. Simply maintain them separate so every thing stays recent. Whenever you’re able to eat, all you’ve acquired to do is chop the cheese and tomatoes and toss all of it collectively in an enormous bowl. Performed and accomplished.