Crisp cucumbers and bell peppers combine with soft, plump cheese tortellini and herby Italian dressing to make the best Tortellini Pasta Salad recipe. Packed with black olives, sun-dried tomatoes, mozzarella pearls and more!
Why We Love This Recipe
- Easy to Customize: Use your favorite tortellini, veggies, and meats, including salami, ham, or even tofu to make this recipe to your liking.
- Great for Get-Togethers: You’ll love making this easy tortellini pasta salad in advance and bringing it to cookouts, picnics, and more.
- My Go-To Pasta Salad: With oodles of cheese tortellini, meats, and veggies, this pasta salad is drenched in Italian dressing and a crowd-fave, just like ramen noodle salad and tomato basil pasta.
The Best Tortellini Pasta Salad Recipe!
This tortellini pasta salad is amazing. Normally I think pasta salads are usually a huge hassle (to be frank), but this one is actually worth it. Think: plump cheese tortellini coated in herby Italian dressing packed with luscious mozzarella pearls, tasty sun-dried tomatoes, and tangy red onions with Pepperoncini and a bounty of filling spinach! It’s the perfect blend of pasta and salad, with the best of both worlds in terms of flavor, texture, and satisfying meal-time yum.
Cheese Tortellini Pasta Salad Ingredients
- Tortellini: I like refrigerated cheese tortellini for the quickest cooking and good flavor.
- Veggies: I used bell peppers, cucumbers, spinach, and red onions, but you can swap this to your liking.
- Mix-ins: lovely Kalamata olives and sun-dried tomatoes add delicious flavor & color to this dish.
- Mozzarella: use mozzarella pearls or diced balls
- Protein of choice: I used diced salami, but you can use cubed pan seared chicken, ham, and more.
How to Make Tortellini Pasta Salad
Making pasta salad with tortellini isn’t as bad as you might think. Just whisk the salad dressing, cook the pasta, and toss with chopped veggies & add-ins.
- Stir together dressing ingredients in a bowl: Italian dressing, Parmesan, garlic, and honey. Cover and refrigerate.
- Cook and drain tortellini, adding to a large salad bowl, then toss in 1/2 of the dressing.
- Add bell peppers, cucumbers, spinach, protein, onions, olives, tomatoes, and mozzarella. Stir and fold to coat.
- Right before serving, drizzle with the rest of the dressing. Enjoy the best ever spinach & cheese tortellini pasta salad!
Dressing for Tortellini Pasta Salad
We’re going to make a super easy 4 ingredient dressing that will add so much flavor to this recipe. Just whisk these ingredients together and toss half of it with the salad. The rest will be used right before serving.
More homemade salad dressings: honey mustard dressing, ranch dressing, and Asian salad dressing.
How to Make Cold Tortellini Pasta Salad
To make this recipe cold, simply follow the recipe as directed, then chill in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes. Then, toss with the remaining salad dressing.
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More Pasta & Salad Recipes
Tortellini Pasta Salad Ingredients
- 20 oz container refrigerated cheese tortellini
- 1 orange bell pepper, chopped
- 1 red bell pepper, chopped
- 1 cup cucumber, diced
- 1 cup fresh spinach
- 1 cup protein of choice: diced tofu, salami, ham, etc.
- ½ cup red onion, finely diced
- ½ cup Kalamata olives, keep whole
- 7 oz. sun-dried tomatoes, drained and chopped
- 4 to 6 oz. mozzarella pearls, or diced balls
- Salt and pepper, to taste – I didn’t need it
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Add all Salad Dressing ingredients to a bowl. Stir until well blended. Cover and set in the refrigerator until needed.
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Cook tortellini according to package instructions. Drain and add to a large bowl. Stir dressing to mix well. Pour ½ the dressing mixture over the warm tortellini. Stir to coat.
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Add the rest of the Tortellini Pasta Salad ingredients to the bowl. Stir and fold to coat.
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Before serving, add in the rest of the dressing and toss to coat—you can start with less and add more as desired. Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve immediately, or cover and refrigerate for 2 hours.
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- *Can use ½ teaspoon garlic powder instead
- For the best flavor, refrigerate for 30 minutes to 2 hours. I also loved this the next day!
- Dressing – you might have leftover dressing, I ended up using about 1 cup to coat my tortellini salad. You can keep the extras to re-toss and coat the salad on Day 2 and 3, as the dressing will absorb during storing.
- Also try my Asian Salad, Pesto Pasta Salad, Italian Pasta Salad, Ramen Noodle Salad.
