Dilly Bacon Pasta Salad
with Bell Pepper, Tomato, Feta & Italian Dressing
- Milk
- Wheat
Forget everything you know about those ‘80s-era pasta salads (which, let’s face it, were mostly mayonnaise). Our version is a game-changer, packed with all kinds of flavor bombs and textural contrasts for a fresh spin on a beloved classic. We start with curly cavatappi tossed with shallot, tomato, bell pepper, carrot, and a zippy Italian dressing. Next comes extra-crispy chopped bacon, tangy crumbled feta, and a shower of chopped dill for fresh herbaceousness throughout. Now that’s a pasta salad to remember!
Ingredients
3 ounce
Carrot
4 ounce
Bacon
½ cup
Feta Cheese
(Contains: Milk)
6 ounce
Cavatappi Pasta
(Contains: Wheat)
3 ounce
Italian Dressing
(Contains: Milk)
1 unit
Tomato
1 teaspoon
Chili Flakes
1 unit
Bell Pepper
¼ ounce
Dill
1 unit
Shallot
Not included in your delivery
teaspoon (tsp)
Salt
1 teaspoon (tsp)
Olive Oil
teaspoon (tsp)
Black Pepper
Nutrition Values
Utensils
Cooking Steps
• Wash and dry produce. • Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Once boiling, add cavatappi to pot. Cook, stirring occasionally, until al dente, 9-11 minutes. • Drain and rinse cavatappi with cold water; shake off any excess water.
• While pasta cooks, heat a medium dry pan over medium-high heat. Add bacon*; cook, turning occasionally and adjusting heat if browning too quickly, until crispy, 6-10 minutes. • Turn off heat; transfer to a paper-towel-lined plate. Once cool enough to handle, roughly chop.
• Meanwhile, dice tomato into ½-inch pieces. Halve, core, and dice bell pepper into ½-inch pieces. Trim, peel, and thinly slice carrot into rounds. Halve, peel, and thinly slice half the shallot (whole shallot for 4 servings). Roughly chop dill.
• In a large bowl, whisk together Italian dressing, a drizzle of olive oil, and as many chili flakes as you like. Taste and season with salt and pepper if desired. • Add tomato, bell pepper, carrot, and shallot to bowl; toss until fully coated.
• Once cavatappi is drained and rinsed, transfer to bowl with veggie mixture. Add half the bacon, half the feta, and as much dill as you like. • Toss until fully combined. Taste and season with salt and pepper if desired.
• Divide pasta salad between shallow bowls. Top with remaining bacon and remaining feta. Serve.
Bacon is fully cooked when internal temperature reaches 145°.
Customer reviews
Review summary
Updated on Dec 2025- Flavor: Many enjoyed the unique flavor combination, though some found the dill or shallots overpowering.
- Ease of prep: Quick and easy to make, with several mentioning it took only about 15 minutes.
- Suggestions: Consider cooking or finely dicing the carrots; some preferred adding extra dressing for more flavor.
- Leftovers: Tastes great cold and makes excellent leftovers, perfect for work lunches.
- Portions: Generous servings; many had enough for multiple meals or to serve as a side dish.
Reviews from our home cooks
Five stars. No, TEN stars. I literally chose my menu this week based around this dish. I don't know why, but it just jumped out at me. The dill... the Italian dressing... the bacon. Wow, it was everything I wanted it to be. The ONLY critique, is that the carrot was a little strange. I would've preferred a cucumber or another colored pepper. Otherwise, YUM. I will be making this recipe again, and ordering every time it's available through HF.
A very good summer light meal, I didn't add the dill to the whole salad, I am not fond of the herb. so it was chopped up and put in a small bowl for my family to add to their individual serving , which they said tasted really good, might need a bit more bacon if possible. Overall it was a very tasty recipe.
This is maybe stupid because it's clearly called a pasta SALAD but somehow I had the impression this would be a warm recipe and I was a little underwhelmed by it as a cold pasta salad. The dill and and shallot were very strong flavors while the carrot was a little bland but chewing it raw felt like it took a lot of work and for what? I'm sorry, it just didn't hit. I might enjoy the cold salad of it all more if the carrot was at least roasted and therefore softer and more flavorful? I don't know. This is a rare miss for me.
This was good the dressing plus the feta plus the bacon made for a nice taste. You should probably instruct people to slice the carrots super fine, e.g. with a mandolin, or dice them into 1/4 ×size pieces. They were too large/too hard to fit in with the rest.
Love a cold pasta salad. Offer more of these. No matter what season they are always good. I actually added more to it as well, canellini beans, Kalamata olives, and artichoke hearts, and more dressing that I had. It was good. And plenty of leftovers.
This was a mix I'd never thought of before but it was so good and so easy! I didn't have dill in my order but I really don't like dill so the taste was still delicious even without it. I'll definitely make this again!
My husband doesn't really like bell peppers, so I decided to roast it along with the carrot. I probably should have done that to the shallot as well to make it less pungent. It was a tasty recipe though.
Not overly high on dill flavoring but present. Great reheated. Perfectly balanced. Really good meal and lunch.
This was the one dish I wasn't sure about when I ordered it but I've been willing to try new things and this was really good. It's a perfect summer dish.
Delicious! Love this as a main dish, a side and to take for my lunches. So good!
