"Cowboy" Barbecue Pasta Salad

In an effort to have more salad (pot luck, picnic, etc.) choices that our family likes, I thought I would try this barbecue "cowboy" version, since all the ingredients looked like things my family will like. Often, it just comes down to the dressing for a salad, because everything else is pretty easy to customize. While everyone ate the salad and enjoyed it, Chris really liked it, which is huge because he doesn't always like pasta salads! So, this is a winner for us. 

The original recipe called for wagon wheel pasta (to go with the cowboy theme) but I couldn't find any in town so I used bowtie. It also called for cherry tomatoes (which I subbed with sundried tomatoes) and a fresh cut scallion (which I won't eat)... so... changes were made, substitutions added, but that's the beauty of cooking!

"Cowboy" Barbecue Pasta Salad

Ingredients:

• 1 pound dried wagon wheel pasta, or small pasta of choice
• 1 pound hickory smoked bacon, diced
• 3/4 pound lean ground beef, or swap for Italian sausage
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• pinch red pepper flakes, optional
• salt and pepper
• 1 cup mayonnaise
• 1/4 cup barbecue sauce
• 2 tablespoons spicy brown mustard
• 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce or steak sauce
• 2 & 1/2 teaspoons hot chili sauce, optional
• 15 ounce can whole kernel sweet corn, drained
• 2 cups cherry tomatoes, halved (I used a jar of sundried tomatoes, drained and chopped)
• 1 & 1/2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese (I also think cubed cheese would be great)
• 5 scallions, diced, optional

Directions:

1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil; cook pasta until al dente according to package directions. Drain and rinse under cold water. Drizzle with a little olive oil to prevent sticking.
2. In the meantime, sauté bacon in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat until crispy. With a slotted spoon, transfer to a paper towel lined plate to drain off grease.
3. Wipe out skillet, leaving a little of the bacon grease. Add the ground beef; cook, breaking it up into tiny crumbles, until cooked through and no longer pink. Season with cumin, red pepper flakes, and with a pinch of salt and pepper. Drain off fat. Set aside to cool completely.
• Or, if you are using pre-seasoned sausage instead, I saved the cumin, red pepper flakes, salt and pepper for the sauce in the next step.
4. In an extra large bowl, whisk together the mayonnaise, barbecue sauce, mustard, Worcestershire sauce, and hot chili sauce until combined and smooth. Add in the cooked pasta, bacon, beef, corn, tomatoes, cheese, and scallions; toss to combine and coat.
5. We enjoy this best right after it's assembled at room temperature, but leftovers the next day are definitely still delish.

Marsha's Notes:

I did do half again as much of the dressing ingredients to make our salad extra saucy and creamy, and I have no regrets. It helped the salad stay saucier the next day without being overly saucy when initially served.

I also think this would be good with other tex-mex ingredients, such as a can of beans, olives, or maybe some peppers, if you like those.

To show you the difference some ingredient substitutions make, here is the image from the original recipe to compare with mine. It's all about what your family likes and what you will eat.

I also think you can see how much drier this salad looks without the extra dressing.