Club Sandwich Pasta Salad
Cold cuts, bacon, and ranch mayo over pasta. Day-one lunch out of the cooler.
- calories
- 520
- weight
- 5.5 oz
- cal / oz
- 95
- protein
- 18 g
- serves
- 8, scales
- prep
- 15 min
- cook
- 12 min
- total time
- 27 min
- water
- 2000 ml boiled
- cost
- $$
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Lunch
- Dinner
- Campfire coals
- Canister stove
- Liquid fuel
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Canoe / raft
- One pot
- Pre-mix at home
- Needs a cooler
- Basic
Ingredients
| Fusilli pasta | 1 lb | spirals hold dressing better than tubes |
|---|---|---|
| Cooked bacon | 1 lb | shelf-stable real bacon bits work and weigh less |
| Deli ham, diced | 3/4 cup | |
| Deli turkey, diced | 3/4 cup | |
| Cheddar, cubed | 1/2 cup | |
| Romaine, chopped | 2 cups | add at the last minute |
| Tomatoes, diced | 1/2 cup | |
| Mayonnaise | 1 1/2 cups | single-serve packets if you want no jar in the cooler |
| Milk or shelf-stable milk | 1/2 cup | |
| Ranch seasoning | 1 1/2 tbsp | |
| Garlic powder | 3/4 tsp | |
| Smoked paprika | 1/4 tsp | |
| Black pepper | 1/8 tsp | |
| Salt | to taste |
Method
- Boil the pasta in about 2 L of salted water until just soft. Drain it.
- Rinse the drained pasta with cold water until the pot stops steaming. Warm pasta melts the dressing.
- In the same pot or a lidded bin, stir the mayo, milk, ranch seasoning, garlic powder, paprika, pepper, and salt into a smooth dressing.
- Fold in the pasta, bacon, ham, turkey, and cheddar.
- Set the pot in the cooler for at least an hour.
- Stir in the romaine and tomatoes right before you serve. Any earlier and the lettuce goes limp.
This is cooler food, not pack food. Mayonnaise, deli meat, and cheese all need to stay cold, so it belongs at a trailhead or a basecamp with ice, and it should be eaten on day one. Cook the pasta on the stove or over a grate, then rinse it cold — that step is not optional, because dressing hitting hot pasta separates into an oily mess.
The dressing is thinned with milk so it coats every spiral instead of sitting in clumps; ranch seasoning does the flavor work that a jar of bottled dressing would. Lettuce and tomatoes go in last since both give off water and turn the whole pot soupy if they sit. If you want the same thing without a cooler, use shelf-stable meat and mayo packets and build it the hour you eat it.
Packing
Combine the dry seasonings in one small bag at home so camp mixing is one pour. Dice the meats and cheese at home too and keep them in the cooler. Romaine and tomatoes go in a rigid container so nothing crushes them.
Variations
- Swap the cold cuts for salami or shelf-stable pepperoni and skip the cooler for the meat entirely.
- Toasted panko or crushed crackers over the top brings back the bread from the sandwich.
- Powdered milk mixed thin covers the milk if your cooler is tight on space.
https://mealswithmaria.site/recipe-for-pasta-salad-cold