This is the our family's favorite Pasta Salad because it has it all! It has a perfect balance of sweet, savory, and tart flavors in each and every bite.
1tspcrushed red pepper flakesmore or less to taste
2tspbrown sugar
1tspcoarse sea saltmore or less to taste
1/2tspblack pepper
Instructions
Bacon:
Preheat oven to 400°, line a rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil, and place a wire rack inside the baking sheet. You may need to lightly grease the wire rack to prevent bacon from sticking.
Lay raw bacon strips on the wire rack and bake for 13-20 minutes, depending on the thickness of bacon. (Thick cut bacon may take up to 25 minutes.)
Take bacon out of the oven and set aside to cool enough to crumble.
Pasta Salad:
Cook pasta in salted water according to the package instructions, drain, and cool completely before mixing in the other ingredients.
While pasta is cooking and cooling, slice onion and bell pepper and cut cherry tomatoes in half.
For the dressing: combine all the dressing ingredients in a salad dressing shaker or a mason jar with a lid and shake well.
Combine cooled pasta, onions, bell pepper, tomatoes, crumbled bacon, banana peppers, and shaved Parmesan cheese in a large mixing bowl and mix to combine.
Note: if you want to serve pasta salad at room temperature, you can definitely do that. Simply combine everything with the dressing, mix well and serve.
If you want to serve the salad cold, mix in half the dressing with pasta salad mixture and the refrigerate if for about 2 hours. When ready to serve, mix pasta salad with remaining dressing and serve.