Cowboy Pasta Salad

The ingredients in this recipe for Cowboy Pasta Salad—bacon, ground beef, cheese, and hot sauce—are sure to please everyone. Perfect anytime for a quick meal or side dish during a barbecue in the backyard or on a game day!

For hot summer days, eat it with cool Southern Style Sweet Tea or an adult Alabama Slammer, and top off servings with some cowboy candy—candied jalapenos!

Cowboy Pasta Salad Recipe

Do you recall Cowboy Spaghetti? It's a modern take on spaghetti and meatballs that includes bacon, cheddar cheese, spicy sauce, and crumbled ground beef. And it was allegedly so named because cowboys enjoy such things. The unknown. I just know that my family like it.

It was so much fun to transform it into this Cowboy Pasta Salad that I anticipated it would be. It is extremely filling and savory because it contains lean ground beef, crispy hickory smoked bacon, cheese, and a tangy creamy dressing.

Everyone flocked to it and asked for the recipe when I served it at a potluck I held, so here it is. Not included: horses, lassos, and spurs.

Cowboy Pasta Salad Ingredients 

• 1 pound dried wagon wheel pasta
• 1 pound hickory smoked bacon , diced
• 3/4 pound lean ground beef
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• pinch red pepper flakes
• salt and pepper
• 1 cup mayonnaise
• 1/4 cup barbecue sauce
• 2 tablespoons Spicy Brown Mustard
• 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
• 2 & 1/2 teaspoons hot chili sauce
• 15 ounce can whole kernel sweet corn, drained
• 2 cups cherry tomatoes, halved
• 1 & 1/2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese
• 5 scallions, diced

Instructions

1. As directed on the package, cook the pasta until it is al dente in a big pot of boiling water. Drain and then run a cold water rinse. To avoid sticking, drizzle a little olive oil over the surface.
2. Meanwhile, cook bacon until crispy over medium heat in a sizable nonstick skillet. Transfer to a plate covered with paper towels with a slotted spoon to allow grease to drain.
3. Remove a little of the bacon grease before cleaning the skillet. Add the ground beef and simmer, stirring frequently, until it is thoroughly cooked and no longer pink. Cumin, red pepper flakes, a dash of salt, and pepper are used as seasonings. Remove the fat. Place aside and allow to fully cool.
4. Mayonnaise, mustard, Worcestershire sauce, hot chili sauce, and barbecue sauce should all be thoroughly blended and smoothed out in a very large bowl. Toss everything together to coat and incorporate the cooked pasta, bacon, beef, corn, tomatoes, cheese, and scallions.
5. Although we prefer this shortly after it is assembled at room temperature, leftovers are still delicious the next day.

Proper Storage

• Plan ahead. The day before you need the salad, you can prepare the dressing, fry the bacon and ground beef, and assemble and serve the salad. Keep each of them separated in their own refrigerator-safe containers.
• Keep leftovers. Although it is best served the same day it is made, this salad keeps for up to two days in the refrigerator when stored in an airtight container. I advise omitting the tomatoes when assembling this ahead of time and adding them just before serving. And keep some dressing aside or make extra to pour in as the pasta soaks it up overnight and it won't be as creamy.