Turn Pasta Salad Into Your Main Dish With An Easy BBQ Upgrade

Just as pasta salad is a common side dish to serve with barbecue, you can combine these two iconic dishes into one hearty one-pot meal. Pulled pork is the BBQ upgrade your next pasta salad needs to make it the centerpiece of your next dinner. More so than brisket, sausage, or ribs, pulled pork has the ideal texture and flavor to incorporate into pasta salad. Its saucy preparation provides a complex flavor profile on top of the savoriness of the pork itself, while the shredded, tender texture blends easily into pasta salad for a well-distributed mix of ingredients in every bite.

We'll often fill a bun with pulled pork for a delicious sandwich or add a serving to a loaded baked potato, letting the bread or pulp soak up all that flavorful juice and sauce. But pasta salad is an equally delicious candidate to absorb pulled pork's juicy goodness. You can simply add leftover refrigerated or fresh pulled pork brought to room temperature to lightly dressed pasta salad, letting the juices bolster the pasta salad dressing as you blend it in with the rest of the ingredients. You can also strain the juices from pulled pork and make them the foundation for a creamy mayonnaise or olive oil-based pasta salad dressing.

Pulled pork is a barbecue tradition with regional as well as international variations. So you can plan your pasta salad recipe around the type of pulled pork you have left over. Luckily, we have a wealth of both pulled pork recipes and pasta salads to pair them with. For example, our easy pulled pork recipe made with brown sugar and your favorite brand of barbecue sauce, like this variety pack from Sweet Baby Rays, would be the perfect swap for sausage in this aromatic and creamy chicken sausage and bell pepper pasta salad.

This recipe for slow cooker al pastor is the Mexican take on pulled pork that pairs wonderfully with the zesty Southwest pasta salad with its tangy, sweet, and spicy chipotle and sour cream dressing. Hawaiian pulled pork is cooked in pineapple juice and soy sauce with plenty of garlic for the ultimate sweet and savory tropical treat. There's no more fitting pairing for this variation than a creamy Hawaiian macaroni salad with pops of aromatic crunch from celery, carrots, and onions.

If you're looking for a gluten-free alternative to pasta salad or a fall-inspired combination, our grilled sweet potato salad recipe is a smoky, sweet, and hearty dish that complements the smoky, tangy, and savory taste of this apple cider smoked pulled pork.