Enjoy this Summer Avocado Pasta Salad with creamy homemade dressing, for easy entertaining. Make ahead for a picnic or holiday potluck dish.

bowl of Summer Avocado Pasta Salad

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This Summer Avocado Pasta Salad is the perfect summer entertaining salad. It’s a quick and easy side or main dish full of sweet, juicy tomatoes, fresh peas, fresh dill, bacon and chunks of avocado. Toss together with a homemade creamy dressing–so good!

Summer Avocado Pasta Salad

When it comes to planning a summer barbecue, a pasta salad is always on our menu. This summer we’ve added this Summer Avocado Pasta Salad, Summer Italian Spaghetti Salad and Creamy Caprese Pasta Salad, to our summer dinners.

bite of Summer Avocado Pasta Salad

Easy summer entertaining – make a pasta salad

We love this colorful pasta salad, and it’s always a big hit at every potluck.

Usually when you think of a creamy pasta salad, you don’t think about it having peas, but this combo is the best. And anything tastes better with bacon, right?

We feel this is the right combo – with a light lemon-y dressing!

ingredients avocado salad

Ingredients needed for Summer Avocado Pasta Salad:

  • Bacon
  • Orecchiette whole wheat pasta, or small shells or bow tie – I use DeLallo
  • Mayonnaise
  • Lemon\Salt + Garlic powder + White pepper
  • Fresh dill
  • Cherry tomatoes
  • Avocado
  • English peas

deconstructed pasta salad

How do you make an avocado pasta salad?

  1. Cook the bacon until crisp; set aside on a paper towel. Crumble when cooled.
  2. Cook pasta according to package directions; strain and cool.
  3. In a small bowl, add the mayonnaise, lemon, salt, garlic powder, pepper and 1 Tbsp. dill.
  4. In a large bowl, add the cooled pasta, tomatoes, and peas. Toss to combine.
  5. Pour the dressing over the pasta mixture; toss gently and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
  6. Add in bacon and avocados right before serving.
  7. Garnish with remaining fresh dill and serve!

adding dressing to pasta salad

Tips and Substitutions:

  • Use your favorite pasta for this salad, but a great tip is small pasta is best.
  • Swap out the dill for fresh basil. Delish!
  • If you don’t like peas, you can add other veggies like bell peppers, carrots, even chopped zucchini and red onion.
  • In place of mayo, you can use Greek yogurt.

spoonful of Summer Avocado Pasta Salad

Enjoy pasta leftovers

I did make this for my family recently and they loved it. I will admit, very few leftovers were left in the dish! But I’m a sucker for leftovers. 

We also made it a few weeks ago and added fresh summer corn! YUM!

summer pasta salad

We love fresh peas right. I buy English peas at Trader Joe’s and they only take a few minutes to boil, drain, season, and enjoy!

Mm-m-m … with warm butter. Oh, and DeLallo whole wheat organic pasta … :)

The dressing … with fresh lemon and dill. And white pepper! I love cooking with white pepper!

This is very easy to make, and I think ultimately it’s the perfect summer salad!

pasta salad with bread

Connecting with people this summer

Our days are long, busy, full of things we want to do and things we do not want to do. Since our recent move, they can be exhausting and tiring. We still try to get together with friends, because we know we are made to live a connected life. We’ve had many role model people in our lives who have showed us how to prioritize hospitality. It’s so worth it, even in our business.

So who will we invite for dinner this week? (wink-wink)

Happy weekend, Friends!

bacon peas pasta

More pasta salads to try:

Macy’s Pacific Rim Pasta Salad

Bacon Cheeseburger Pasta Salad

BEST BLT Pasta Salad

Summer Macaroni Salad

pasta salad with bacon

bowl of Summer Avocado Pasta Salad
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Summer Avocado Pasta Salad

This Summer Avocado Pasta Salad is perfect for any picnic, lunch, dinner, or a Memorial Day or Fourth of July potluck dish.
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 25 minutes
Yield: 6
Print Recipe Pin Recipe Save Recipe

Ingredients
 

  • 8 slices bacon, chopped into one inch pieces
  • 16 oz. Orecchiette whole wheat pasta, or small shells or bow tie – I use DeLallo
  • ¾ cup mayonnaise
  • Juice of 1 lemon
  • ¾ teaspoon salt
  • ½ teaspoon garlic powder
  • ¾ teaspoon white pepper
  • 2 Tbsp. fresh dill
  • 1 cup halved cherry tomatoes
  • 1 avocado pitted, cut into chunks
  • 10 oz. fresh English peas, cooked and drained

Instructions
 

  • Cook the bacon until crisp; set aside on a paper towel. Crumble when cooled.
  • Cook pasta according to package directions; strain and cool. (You may need to run water over the pasta to prevent sticking.)
  • In a small bowl, add the mayonnaise, lemon, salt, garlic powder, pepper and 1 Tbsp. dill.
  • In a large bowl, add the cooled pasta, tomatoes, and peas. Toss to combine.
  • Add the dressing to the mixture; toss gently and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
  • Add in bacon and avocados right before serving. Garnish with remaining fresh dill and serve!

Notes

Originally posted May 2018.
Cuisine: American
Course: Salad
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Summer Avocado Pasta Salad