This Pesto Tortellini Pasta Salad isn’t only a common pasta salad. Filled with contemporary substances; it’s excellent for last-minute summer season meals with its pillowy-soft tortellini, salami, Parmesan cheese, sun-dried tomatoes, and arugula, all tossed in a scrumptious pesto dressing. That is incredible as a light-weight meal or summer season facet dish.
In the course of the summer season months I like to have a couple of ready salads in my fridge that we will all get pleasure from for fast meals. This Pesto Tortellini Pasta Salad is a household favourite and one which I like to make for a summer season potluck or yard bbq as a result of it’s a dish that everybody all the time enjoys. You may make it a couple of hours or perhaps a day prematurely, and it travels effectively too! Whether or not you might be serving this as a summer season facet dish, straightforward lunch or meal prepping it for the week forward, this tortellini pasta salad will turn out to be a favourite you will discover your self making time and again.
Why You Will Love This Pesto Tortellini Pasta Salad
- This fast and simple 15-minute pasta recipe is full of the right mix of umami flavors.
- The flexibility is infinite! Preserve studying to see all my strategies.
- Filled with contemporary taste and delightful colours that is the right dish to really feel a crowd at a summer season BBQ.
- That is nice for meal prep, make a batch and revel in it for fast meals all through the week.
- That is the right salad meal-prep at first of the week and revel in all week lengthy.
Components You Will Want
- Cheese Tortellini: You should utilize frozen tortellini or contemporary tortellini for scrumptious outcomes. I like utilizing cheese-filled tortellini however any kind of tortellini will work.
- Basil Pesto: Each do-it-yourself pesto and store-bought pesto will work. Remember to select a very good high quality pesto, it’ll make an enormous distinction within the taste of the salad.
- Olive Oil: I believe extra-virgin olive oil provides the most effective taste, however you can even use avocado oil.
- Lemon Juice: Contemporary lemon juice provides a vivid, scrumptious taste to the straightforward salad dressing. You might additionally add a pinch of lemon zest.
- Kosher Salt: Slightly salt is all you want due to all the opposite umami flavors.
- Salami: Thinly sliced salami provides an excellent protein punch to this straightforward pasta salad. Be at liberty you swap it for sliced prosciutto, bresaola or speck
- Parmesan Cheese: I really like to purchase the massive Parmesan flakes for this salad, however you should utilize finely grated Parmesan.
- Solar-dried Tomatoes: You’ll want to minimize the sun-dried tomatoes into small items for a style in each chew. Diced cherry tomatoes or grape tomatoes would additionally work.
- Pine Nuts: As a result of a scrumptious, nutty crunch is all the time a good suggestion. You too can use sliced almonds or chopped cashews.
- Shallots: Contemporary shallots add nice taste to this salad. You too can use purple onion.
- Arugula: A contemporary, peppery inexperienced addition is each stunning in shade and scrumptious in taste. Use spinach for a light inexperienced possibility.
Yow will discover extra particulars within the recipe card beneath.
Kitchen Instruments You Will Want
- Giant Pot
- Colander
- Slicing Board
- Sharp Knife
- Small Bowl
- Giant Serving Bowl
Make This Pesto Tortellini Pasta Salad Recipe
- Carry a pot of salted water to a boil. Add within the tortellini and cook dinner al dente, in accordance with bundle directions (Watch out to not overcook it). Drain in a colander and run beneath chilly water. Switch to a big bowl.
- Add within the salami, parmesan, sundried tomatoes, pine nuts, and shallots.
- In a small bowl, stir collectively the pesto dressing substances.
- Pour the dressing over the pasta salad and toss. Toss in arugula proper earlier than serving.
Methods to Modify
- Make your personal contemporary basil pesto, or attempt a variation like Kale and Pistachio Pesto or Broccoli Pesto.
- Don’t have lemon juice? White wine vinegar or purple wine vinegar are nice acidic selections.
- Trade the salami for pepperoni or prosciutto.
- Don’t take care of sun-dried tomatoes? Contemporary tomatoes of any form may even work.
- Add extra taste and selection with artichoke hearts, kalamata olives, black olives, bell peppers, or any of your favourite contemporary greens.
- Trade the Parmesan cheese for Mozzarella pearls or Feta cheese.
- In the event you don’t take care of arugula, spinach, or curly kale additionally work.
Dietary Customizations
- Omit the pine nuts you probably have a nut allergy.
- Make it gluten free by utilizing a gluten free tortellini
- Make it grain free by swapping the tortellini for a grain free pasta corresponding to Banza or Kaizen
- Make it vegan by leaving out the salami or utilizing vegan salami and skipping the cheese
- Use dairy-free pesto and miss the Parmesan for a dairy-free pasta salad.
Prepping Forward and Storing Leftovers
Meal Prep: The important thing with meal prepping this isn’t to overcook the tortellini. You may put together this salad and toss it within the dressing a day prematurely, simply you should definitely maintain off including the arugula till proper earlier than serving.
Leftovers: Benefit from the leftovers as a chilly pasta salad or convey them again to room temperature the following day. Retailer leftovers within the fridge in an hermetic container, and they’ll final for 3-4 days. Drizzle with olive oil or a spoonful of pesto if the salad has dried out.
Serving Options
This scrumptious salad is ideal by itself as a foremost dish or as a facet dish as a part of an enormous summer season unfold. Listed here are a few of my favourite dishes to serve with this pasta salad.
Extra Hearty Salad Recipes You Will Love:
In the event you make this Pesto Tortellini Pasta Salad recipe let me know within the remark part beneath, I might love to listen to what you suppose or take a photograph and tag me (@everylastbite_) on Instagram, I really like seeing your pictures!


Pesto Tortellini Pasta Salad
This Pesto Tortellini Pasta Salad is not only a common pasta salad. Filled with contemporary substances; it’s excellent for last-minute summer season meals with its pillowy-soft tortellini, salami, Parmesan cheese, sun-dried tomatoes, and arugula, all tossed in a scrumptious pesto dressing. That is incredible as a light-weight meal or summer season facet dish. The pasta salad could be made a day prematurely, simply you should definitely solely add the arugula proper earlier than serving. Leftovers will final for as much as 4 days within the fridge.
- 12 oz cheese tortellini
- ⅓ cup pesto
- 3 tbsp further virgin olive oil
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- ¼ tsp salt
- ½ cup skinny strips of salami
- ½ cup parmesan flakes
- ⅓ cup roughly chopped sundried tomatoes
- 2 tbsp pine nuts
- 1 tbsp finely diced shallots
- 2 cups arugula
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Carry a pot of salted water to a boil. Add within the tortellini and cook dinner in accordance with bundle directions. As soon as cooked, drain in a colander and run beneath chilly water for a minute.Switch to a big bowl.
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Add within the salami, parmesan, sundried tomatoes, pine nuts and shallots.
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In a small bowl stir collectively the pesto, olive oil, lemon juice and salt
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Pour the dressing over the pasta salad and toss. Proper earlier than serving add within the arugula and toss till included.
Energy: 333kcalCarbohydrates: 30gProtein: 11gFats: 19gSaturated Fats: 4gPolyunsaturated Fats: 2gMonounsaturated Fats: 6gLdl cholesterol: 23mgSodium: 481mgPotassium: 262mgFiber: 3gSugar: 5gVitamin A: 491IUVitamin C: 5mgCalcium: 121mgIron: 2mg