Avocado Pasta Salad is a rich, creamy and totally delicious pasta salad loaded with fresh juicy tomatoes, crisp bacon and creamy avocados. This pasta salad uses avocados in place of mayonnaise for a dressing that is rich and creamy yet loaded with the benefits of avocado! 
Avocados are pretty much one of my favorite things ever! They are healthy, rich and creamy!
I add them to salads, spread them on crackers and eat avocado toast for breakfast at least a few times every week! I’ve been making Avocado Dressing & Dip forever… avocado is so velvety, it makes a perfect base for a dressing in place of mayonnaise!
With summer here, I love meals that don’t require turning the oven on and cold pasta salads fit the bill perfectly.
They can be prepped ahead of time and are the perfect well rounded meal (often with protein and veggies) and great feed the kids before we run out the door to soccer practice! Even better, the leftovers are always yummy meaning lunch tomorrow is already done if we’re lucky enough to have some left!
This recipe marries my favorite avocado based dressing with the same ingredients I top my avocado toast with for the perfect flavor combination!
Juicy ripe tomatoes, crisp smoky bacon, fresh cilantro, a hint of green onion and deliciously creamy diced avocados! The very best part of this recipe is the luscious avocado dressing… full of flavor and silky smooth! To make this a main dish we sometimes add chopped grilled or rotisserie chicken.
Avocados have a rich and creamy texture because they contain monounsaturated fat which is a good fat and can help lower cholesterol when eaten in moderation of course!
Avocado Tips
- Placing avocados in a paper bag with ripe bananas will help them ripen faster. (Due to the ethylene gas naturally released from the bananas).
- Once ripe, avocados will keep in the fridge for 4-6 days.
- When storing a cut avocado, brush the open edge with lemon or lime juice and wrap in plastic before refrigerating. This will help keep avocado from browning as quickly.
- If you have too many ripe avocados, they can easily be frozen. Scoop out the green flesh and 1/2 tablespoon lemon juice per avocado. Puree in a blender or food processor and freeze in a freezer bag. Defrosted avocado is great in this recipe or for guacamole!
- The fats in avocados are great for your skin. Rub the empty peels on your elbows or heels before tossing to soak in some of the benefits of this delicious fruit!
Like most pasta salads, I generally make this a few hours before serving. If you find the avocado dressing thickens too much add a little bit of buttermilk and give it a quick stir before serving. Although I enjoy the leftovers of this pasta salad for a couple of days, due to the nature of the avocados, this pasta salad is best made on the day it is served.
Ingredients
Salad
- 8 ounces rotini or bow tie pasta
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes diced
- 8 slices bacon cooked crisp and crumbled
- 1 green onion thinly sliced
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
- 1 avocado diced
- 1 teaspoon fresh lime juice
Dressing
- 1 avocado
- ½ lime juiced
- ¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro
- ½ teaspoon cumin
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ cup buttermilk
- ¼ teaspoon salt or to taste
- black pepper
Instructions
Dressing
- Place all dressing ingredients in a blender and process until smooth.
Salad
- Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain and run under cold water.
- Toss diced avocado with lime juice.
- Combine all ingredients in a large bowl gently toss with dressing.
- Refrigerate 1 hour before serving.
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Course Salad
Cuisine American© SpendWithPennies.com. Content and photographs are copyright protected. Sharing of this recipe is both encouraged and appreciated. Copying and/or pasting full recipes to any social media is strictly prohibited. Please view my photo use policy here.
More Recipes You’ll Love
Hi I was wondering if i made up a big batch how many days would it keep for
Thanks
Because this recipe has fresh avocado it doesn’t keep very long. We’ve eaten it as many as two days after making. It does discolor slightly.
Made this tonight. Loved it! Great instructions.
Hubby loved it. Wants to make it every week.
Some changes we made….no bacon, almond milk instead of buttermilk and added 1/4 of a red pepper.
Thanks for a yummy supper!
Virginia
I’m glad your family enjoyed this! Thank you for sharing your substitutions for other readers that are looking for dairy free options!
When you put it in the refrigerator for an hour is it supposed to be covered? Thanks.
Yes, I would store it covered.
I made the avocado bacon pasta dish. Not crazy about it. Makes A LOT and the avocado gets dark and the pasta is kinda chewy a day later. Eh. There’s better ways to use your daily calories.
This looks divine and sounds amazing! Can’t wait to try!
Yes, they are fine to be made one day ahead of time. I do prefer to make it the day I am serving if possible though.
This salad looks AMAZING!
Thank you, we love this one!
How many does this serve?
This makes 4 servings.
I love the sound of this Definitely going to make, and will watch out for other recipes
I hope you enjoy it! It is incredibly yummy!!
This salad looks and sounds really delicious. My daughter is allergic to dairy products so I’d need to substitute the buttermilk for her, any suggestions?
You could try a dairy substitute. I’m not very familiar with most dairy free products however buttermilk is a little bit thicker than some of the dairy free products so you might want to start with a little bit less liquid to get the right consistency. Mine was about the consistency of yogurt or sour cream. Hope that helps.
1 c. almond milk soured with 1 tbsp. lemon juice (let sit at least 15-20 min before using) works wonderfully as a dairy free buttermilk substitute!
Thank you for sharing Sarah! I had no idea that would work with almond milk!
U can use any dairy free milk, I used unsweetened coconut. Add 1 Tbs of either lemon juice or ACV to 1 cup of you milk of choice. Works great.
How about coconut milk yogurt? I’m going to try it as I can’t do dairy myself! I’ll try to remember to update how it does!
Can the dressing be made (days) in advance)?
I wouldn’t make the dressing too far ahead of time because the avocado can brown. I usually try to make it the day of, a few hours would be fine though.
This is my favourite 15minute recipe hands down.
It’s great because you can cut up regular tomatoes instead of cherry or grape, more or less of whatever kind of pasta you have in the cupboard (I use spirals or penne) depending on how many mouths you’re feeding and I add lots of baby spinach for my leafy green hit. With or without the green onion, a whole bunch of cilantro; I make it at least once a week. Thanks so much!
I’m so glad you love it!
This pasta was very interesting. The key is to allow the dressing to sit at least the one hour , like the recipe says. Time is your friend with this one. I added red onions, but they were a bit overpowering. I think radishes or sweet onion would be a good choice! I had to add a touch more cumin and garlic powder than called for, but that is the beauty of this recipe- very easy to adjust it to your own flavor profile. I used bow tie but would have preferred the rotini! this was very fresh and tasty! Thanks for posting!!!
Thank you for your feedback and your great suggestions!
For my family members who don’t like cilantro, I make this with fresh parsley. It’s delicious. I also add diced cucumber.
Great tip, thank you for sharing Betty!
I noticed you said you can make this up a head of time. So there’s no issues with the avocado or the dressing turning brown?
I usually make this one a few hours ahead of time and don’t have any problem with browning.
So excited to make this tonight :) one thing on the initial ingredients I saw coriander, when I clicked the link to get the cooking instructions the coriander isn’t listed in the ingredient…
That’s interesting, I just checked my pin and it also says coriander (6 tbs which would certainly be a lot if it were dried coriander). Cilantro is also known as coriander in some locations, it would appear Pinterest changed the cilantro to coriander. I also notice that it’s listed under produce and not spices. :)
I hope that helps! Enjoy the pasta salad, we love this one!
so is it dried coriander or fresh? they are very different!
The ingredients include fresh cilantro (which Pinterest changed to coriander). Fresh cilantro is correct.
great, thank you. I will try this tonight, it sounds delicious! I had to look up what cilantro is as the fresh is also called coriander in Australia, I love it but my husband hates it, so I might use some parsley in his share, I’ll let you know how it goes
It was delicious, thank you, that creamy avocado dressing is amazing!
I’m so glad you loved it Melody! I agree,I could eat that dressing with a spoon!
Tried my tablet, my PC and mobile. Trying to open your recipes on PinInterest does not work. Just loads and loads but nothing. I have to go thru your site and type in the recipe “Apple pie dumpling”. But the good news is, I got to see your whole site!!! Love it. Just wish I could go directly to you thru Pin. Kate from Canada
Thank you for letting me know Kate, I will definitely look into it!
What’s the serving size for this?
This recipe will make 8 servings (½ cup).
This was a nice change to the usual salads we have at the 4th of July BBQ. I skipped the cilantro because I LOATH it. It was fine without it. Next time I might add some diced cucumber and maybe even some black beans to add layers of flavor. I suggest that if you plan on making this, you do so only if you can serve it within an hour or two so as it will begin to turn brown even with the lime juice. It’s really not something you bring to a potluck unless you have a short drive. It’s better suited for your own gatherings at your own home. Or, make the pasta, bacon, green onion, tomato & just cut and fold in avacod when you get where you’re going & mix dressing there as well. This was good and will remain in our recipe index. Thanks!
Thank you for the great tips Erin!! I’m glad you enjoyed this salad!
This recipe is delicious , thanks for sharing. I’m always looking for new things to try :-).
Simon