My homemade, copycat version of Ruby Tuesday’s pasta salad. Rotini pasta, diced ham, peas and green pepper make for the perfect side dish for a summer party!
Generally speaking, I’m not a “chain restaurant” kind of girl. I live for finding little hole in the wall cafes, family-run diners and restaurants that only use locally-grown ingredients.
But I do have a couple exceptions, and the Ruby Tuesday salad bar is one of them.
Sweet mother, do I love their salad bar.
On my first pass, I pile my plate high with olives, egg, peas, peppers, carrots and a smidgen of lettuce underneath it all.
But on my second pass I load it up with the fruit salad and the pasta salad. I can’t get enough of the pasta salad – I really don’t even know what it is about it that’s so addictive to me.
The Ruby Tuesday closest to me is… well, not close at all. I got a horrible craving for the pasta salad recently and my only mission was to come up with a copycat recipe (I know, you’re shocked).
It’s still not 100% dead on, but this is pretty gosh darn close.
You only need 8 ingredients, most of which you probably have hanging around the house anyway. The hardest part about this recipe is waiting for it to chill before digging in.
I HATE WAITING.
The good news is that it’s totally worth the wait. Plus, it’s so easy to make a giant batch to serve at a summer party and it can be prepared ahead of time so that you can worry about more important things the day of the party, like decorations, music and inflating pretzel-shaped pool floats.
… what? That’s just me? Fine.
Let me know in the comments if you find a way to tweak the ingredients to get the recipe juuuuust right. I’ll owe you!
Update in April 2019: You guys have given some AWESOME recommendations in the comments – some from real life former Ruby Tuesday employees. Check them out if you want to make this more authentic – I’m not including them in my recipe card since it wasn’t my idea and I actually love my version as is, and I don’t want to give away their secrets without credit đ
More pasta, please!
- Shrimp Pasta Salad from Stress Baking
- Easy Greek Pasta Salad from As Easy As Apple Pie
- Mexican Street Corn Pasta Salad from Chelsea’s Messy Apron
- BBQ Chicken Bacon Ranch Pasta Salad from Taste and See
- Late Summer Veggie Pesto Pasta from Hunger Thirst Play
- Spicy Buffalo Macaroni Salad from Whitney Bond
Copycat Ruby Tuesday Pasta Salad
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 8 servings 1x
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Description
My homemade, copycat version of Ruby Tuesday’s pasta salad. Rotini pasta, diced ham, peas and green pepper make for the perfect side dish for a summer party!
Ingredients
- 1 lb rotini pasta
- 1 cup ranch dressing
- 1/2 cup mayonnaise
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 green bell pepper, diced
- 2 cups ham, cooked and diced
- 1/2 cup frozen peas
Instructions
- Cook pasta according to package directions, drain, and rinse with cold water. Set aside until completely cooled.
- In a very large bowl, combine ranch dressing, mayonnaise, salt and pepper.
- Add green pepper, ham, peas and stir to combine. Add pasta and stir again to combine.
- Cover bowl and place in refrigerator to chill completely.
- Serve cold and enjoy!
- Category: Appetizer, Side Dish
- Method: Stovetop
Keywords: ham and pea pasta, Copycat Ruby Tuesday Pasta Salad, summer salad, easy pasta salad, ham and pasta recipes, macaroni salad with ham, copycat recipes, restaurant recipes, copycat restaurant recipes, cold pasta salad recipes, rotini pasta salad
The recipe was originally published in June 2015 and republished in April 2019 with some shiny new pictures.
Hi. Just saw your recipe, I currently work at RT as a Garden Bar Employee and you are missing one ingredient. Rather than salt, we use garlic salt. Your proportions are a little off, but I don’t have the proportions memorized, just the ingredients.
âRuby seasoningâ is salt, garlic salt, onion powder, paprika & black pepper. My old neighbor was an owner of one that wound up shutting down eventually. He relinquished all the recipes to me. Total win!
And, youâre 100% correct, it most definitely has small-diced green pepper.
★★★★★
Any chance you know the measurements of each spice??
i would love the complete recipe from you. Thanks, Cathy
They have a Ruby Tuesday’s cookbook that has the original recipe in it, including the spices in the seasoning and a recipe for the dressing from scratch. It does have bell peppers and red onion.
Wow, Thatâs awesome!! Iâd love a recipe book. Can you help me out with the recipe to the Sonora Chicken Pasta/Queso recipe?
Hi Beth, Thanks so much for the info on the seasoning. Itâs so sad that youâre old neighbors store closed, but at least something good came from it. Iâve been missing the old queso and Sonora Pasta (the same sauce was used for both), but I canât find any recipes that even come close. I know it included spinach and sundried tomatoes because I worked for RT from 2000-05, but I was a server so I never found out the actual recipe. Is there anyway youâd be able to help me out? Thanks again and have a great night.
★★★★★
What kind of ham do you use?
Hi, Amber – thanks for stopping by! I usually use boneless ham steaks (just make sure they don’t have any extra flavors added in), and grab 2 packages when I make a batch. Hope this helps!
Totes love
I love this recipe, it’s always a big hit at parties. It tastes just like Ruby’s. Thanks so much!
★★★★★
Thank you so much for your kind words, I’m so glad you love it!