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.
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.
Table of contents
How to Make Tortellini Pasta Salad
- 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.
- 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
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.
Yes, once you cook the tortellini you can rinse it with cold water and chill it to be eaten cold.
Pasta salad will keep overnight you just have to make sure you drain it and refrigerate it in an airtight container.
Tips & Tricks
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.
Summer Salad Recipes
- Potato Salad without Mayo
- Greek Pasta Salad
- Creamy Cucumber Salad
- Shrimp Salad
- Mediterranean Quinoa Salad
Looking for more pesto recipes? Try these other recipes….
- Pesto Pasta with Rock Shrimp
- Turkey Pesto Pasta
- Arugula Pesto Pasta Salad with Grape Tomatoes
- Caprese Pesto Chicken
- Summer Basil Pesto Mezzaluna Soup
- Pesto Bucatini with Shrimp
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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Pesto Tortellini Salad
Equipment
- Stove Top
- Refrigerator
Ingredients
- 9 oz. Buitoni Refrigerated Whole Wheat Three Cheese Tortellini
- 5 oz. Spinach
- 3 tablespoon Pine Nuts toasted
- ¼ cup Pesto
- ¼ cup Sundried Tomatoes
- ¼ cup Artichoke Hearts drained
- ½ cup Parmesan cheese grated
Instructions
- 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.
- 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.
Notes
- 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.
Nutrition
Disclosure: There are affiliate links present in this post. That means if you click on a link and purchase something. I will receive a small percentage of the sale at no additional cost to you. Thank you for your continuous support of Katie’s Cucina!
Sonja
I just made this and it is *fabulous*
Katie
Sonja, thank you for taking the time to leave a comment. I’m so glad you enjoyed this salad!
Debbie
I just saw this delicious looking thing on Random Thoughts and made a beeline over here to see this blog and get this recipe. YUM. YUM.
Katie
Thanks for stopping by Debbie. I hope you’ll join me on my culinary adventures!
Gina
This looks so delicious and it seems easy enough to make! Thanks for sharing.
You might want to take a look here:
http://randomthoughtsfromanincoherentmind.blogspot.com/2012/06/pesto-tortellini-salad-in-spotlight.html
Congratulations!
Katie
Gina–thank you so much for the feature.
MommyNamedApril
this salad looks delicious!!! and i’m loving your cute table cloth 😀
Katie
Thanks April–now you know where that “table cloth” came from–the Walmart fabric clearance area!
Kristin
This looks so good, and such a great summer salad!! Thanks for joining us in the party!:)
Jessica@AKitchenAddiction
This sounds amazing! I love pesto sauce and I love tortellini!
Shelley
This looks sooooo yummy! I’m totally going to pin it and make it this week! Actually, if I had all the ingredients on hand I’d be putting it together right now for breakfast 😀
Debbie
Looks delicious! I’ll have to give this a try.
Saw you at Debbiedoo’s 🙂
debbiedoos
Oh my goodness, this is fantastic. I am a huge pasta lover. Thanks for sharing with the newbie party and the summer party.
Ashley Bee (Quarter Life Crisis Cuisine)
I love pesto, and I love interesting picnic ideas! Regular mayo-soaked pasta salad is so 90s. This is a great update 🙂
Katie
Lol you crack me up… “mayo-soaked pasta salad is so 90’s”! LOVE IT!
JulieD
This looks so good, Katie!!! I love pasta salads and I love that you added pesto to this one!
Katie
Thanks–it is great and a lovely spin on the classic pasta salad!
Maggie @ Midwestern Girl
Oh my heck, Katie…this looks AMAZING!!! Thank you so so much for sharing it at our Summer Blog Party!! You are awesome…;)
Pinning…
Katie
Thanks for having me Maggie!
Carrie's Experimental Kitchen
It sounds delicious Katie and the pictures are stunning as usual. Have a good week!
Katie
Thanks Carrie! I actually rephotographed this pasta dish because I wasn’t happy with my first set of photos! lol.