Cowboy Pasta Salad - The Keep At House Chef

This is likely one of the most filling pasta salads on the market! It’s full of meat, cheese, beans, and greens. Carry to a BBQ or make as a fast and simple dinner at house and we promise there received’t be any complaints about leaving hungry!

In case 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 carry 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 permits you to actually mess around with the warmth stage, so for those who prefer it scorching, be sure that to make use of medium to scorching 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 brief pasta like fusilli or penne.
Floor Beef: We like utilizing 80/20 beef for the most effective taste. Floor turkey or rooster works too if you’d like it slightly lighter.
Cheddar Cheese: Sharp cheddar brings slightly additional punch, however truthfully, any cheese you like will work. Pepper jack can be superior if you’d like slightly kick.
Cherry or Grape Tomatoes: Both one is ideal. Minimize them in halves or quarters so that you get the proper chew. A mixture of crimson and yellow tomatoes appears actually fairly too.
Black Beans: Give them a superb rinse and drain to maintain issues from getting soggy.
Canned Corn: Completely wonderful to make use of straight from the can, however you can too use uncooked recent corn or frozen corn.
Crimson Onion: Crimson onions are the most effective for consuming uncooked.
Jalapeño: Completely non-obligatory! Recent jalapeños add a pleasant spicy crunch, or use pickled for rather less warmth.
Bacon: Crumble it up! Cook dinner your individual or seize the pre-cooked variety.
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 the most effective taste, however bottled lime juice works too.

Modify the Warmth

Among the best issues about cowboy pasta is how simple it’s to tweak the spice. In case you’re into warmth, seize a scorching salsa verde, bump up the chili powder, and toss a couple of additional jalapeño slices on high. Not a fan of spicy? Persist with gentle salsa and skip the chili powder and jalapeños. Straightforward!

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

Make-Forward Directions

This salad’s tremendous simple to make forward. You’ll be able to whip up the dressing 1 to 2 days early and stash it within the fridge. Cook dinner the pasta and floor beef the night time earlier than, too. Simply maintain them separate so all the things stays recent. Once you’re able to eat, all you’ve obtained to do is chop the cheese and tomatoes and toss all of it collectively in a giant bowl. Completed and achieved.