Pesto Tortellini Salad

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My Pesto Tortellini Salad is a perfect side dish for any barbecue, picnic, or even baby shower. Refrigerated tortellini are tossed in pesto sauce, spinach, artichoke hearts, and sun dried tomatoes. Toasted pine nuts and freshly grated Parmesan cheese finish this tortellini salad off for a delicious summer side dish.

Glass bowl filled with tortellini, spinach, tomatoes, and artichoke hearts.

I’m always looking for a good non-mayo based salad to entertain with year round, and especially in the summer. That’s where this Pesto Tortellini Salad comes in to play. I always use tortellini in soup, like my Sausage Tortellini Soup and my Instant Pot Spinach Tortellini Soup, but never for a pasta salad.

A few month back I co-hosted my best friends bridal shower. One of my tasks was to coordinate our lunch. Even though I was traveling 3 hours north I still planned to cook quite a bit. A week prior to the shower a coworker of mine shared the most amazing pesto tortellini salad with me. It was full of flavors, fresh, and at that moment I instantly knew it was going to replace the tried and true pasta salad I regularly make.

My coworker had created the recipe on his own. So with a few tweaks I came up with an even better cold tortellini salad. The base sauce to this salad is pesto. I used my Homemade Pesto Recipe. Although you can easily use a store bought pesto if you are pressed for time. I added in sun dried tomatoes, some wilted spinach, and artichoke hearts. Everyone at the bridal shower loved this recipe, and asked for the recipe.

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Why this Recipe Works
Ingredients
How to Make Tortellini Pasta Salad
FAQs
Tips & Tricks
Pesto Recipes
Pesto Tortellini Salad

Why this Recipe Works

Versatile – Making a pasta salad in general can be very versatile. Most of the times you can add or subtract a few ingredients and still get a delicious pasta salad.

Easy to Make – This pasta salad is extremely easy to make making this ideal for beginner cooks or someone who is looking to whip up a tortellini salad quickly.

Ingredients

Tortellini – I like to use the fresh refrigerated tortellini since it only takes a few minutes to cook. However, you can use the dried version.
Vegetables – I like to use a mix of fresh spinach that has been wilted, drained artichoke hearts, and julienne style sundried tomatoes. All the flavors help make this pasta salad delicious.
Pesto – I love to make homemade pesto, but when I don’t have enough basil on hand to make a batch I’ll buy a jar of store bought. Either way–it works for this recipe.
Pine Nuts – A few tablespoons of pine nuts gives the recipe a nice buttery nutty taste, plus add a little crunch.
Cheese – I like to use freshly shredded parmesean cheese; however, an Italian cheese blend works too. Make sure you use shredded and not grated for this recipe.

How to Make Tortellini Pasta Salad

Brown pot on a stove top with tortellini boiling.

In a large pot boil water and cook tortellini according to directions. During the last 30 seconds of cooking add the spinach and wilt. Drain the pasta and spinach and place in a large bowl.

In a small saute pan toast the pine nuts until they are golden brown then set to the side.

Glass bowl with pesto, sundried tomatoes, artichoke hearts, spinach and tortellini with blue and white cloth under bowl.

In the large bowl with the tortellini and spinach add the pesto, sun dried tomatoes, artichoke hearts, toasted pine nuts, and grated Parmesan cheese. Mix well until incorporated.

Refrigerate for at least 2 hours and serve cold.

FAQs

Glass bowl filled with tortellini, tomatoes, spinach, and pesto.

How many people does this tortellini salad feed?

If you are using this as a main side dish I would say only about 6 people. But if you are serving this tortellini salad at a pot luck you can get easily 10-12 servings out of it since people tend to get smaller portions because they want to try all the food.

Can tortellini be eaten cold?

Yes, once you cook the tortellini you can rinse it with cold water and chill it to be eaten cold.

Will Pasta Salad keep overnight?

Pasta salad will keep overnight you just have to make sure you drain it and refrigerate it in an airtight container.

Tips & Tricks

Glass bowl filled with a tortellini salad with vegetables on a marble countertop with a white subway tile back splash.

Here are a few of my favorite tips and tricks whenever I make this pesto tortellini pasta salad.

Make Ahead – Make this recipe up to one day in advance before serving.
Pesto – You can make your own homemade pesto or use a store bought refrigerated pesto.
Leftovers – Store leftovers in an airtight container for up to 3 days in the refrigerator.

Pesto Recipes

Glass bowl filled with a pesto tortellini salad with sundried tomatoes, and spinach.

Still looking for more ways to use up your pesto? Here is four more recipes that use pesto.

If you make this Pesto Tortellini Salad recipe, I would be honored and love for you to take the time to leave a star rating and comment! I spend hours developing and testing these recipes, and always love to hear feedback and user experience!

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