This Mediterranean tortellini salad options tender cheese-filled tortellini tossed with olives, pink peppers, and feta cheese in a spicy tomato sauce with chili flakes. It’s a simple, flavorful summer time facet dish that’s additionally excellent for lunches and meal prep!
From my orzo salad with pears, crunchy walnuts, and gorgonzola cheese to these enjoyable tortellini antipasto skewers, and this household favourite hen tortellini, we love utilizing tortellini in each which manner round right here!
Which brings me to this superb salad. With briny olives and tangy feta, this tortellini salad is PACKED with scrumptious, daring Mediterranean flavors. I make mine with 4 cheese tortellini, however any variety goes. The tomato sauce dressing is somewhat candy, somewhat tangy, and somewhat spicy. It’s severely addictive. Whip up this simple tortellini pasta salad for lunch, dinner, or as a facet. It’s one in all my favourite spins on mayo-free pasta salad, and simply as excellent for summertime meals.
Issues to Love About This Tortellini Salad
- Mediterranean-inspired flavors. That is a simple recipe loaded with candy roasted peppers, briny olives, and tangy feta with tomato sauce, with a touch of crushed chili warmth.
- A contemporary spin on pasta salad. Tortellini is a enjoyable twist that lends much more taste to this pasta salad. You may swap out cheese tortellini on your favourite meaty or vegetarian filling.
- No mayo. Tomato sauce rounds out the tacky tortellini and makes this tortellini salad wealthy and saucy with out mayo. It’s mild, contemporary, and scrumptious. That being stated, there’s all the time the choice to swap in a creamy dressing or French dressing, whichever you favor.
Elements You’ll Want
These are the components you’ll want, however as with most pasta salad recipes, nearly every part is versatile! I’ve included notes beneath and extra variation concepts afterward. Scroll all the way down to the printable recipe card for the total recipe particulars, adopted by a step-by-step with images.
- Tortellini – You’ll want a bundle of your favourite contemporary or frozen tortellini. I exploit four-cheese tortellini, however you’ll be able to substitute a veggie or meat-filled selection. It’s as much as you. And in case you don’t have tortellini, be at liberty to swap it for one more pasta, like penne, shells, rigatoni, and so on.
- Roasted Purple Peppers – My favourite is the jarred roasted pink bell peppers from Mezzetta. I’ll additionally typically substitute store-bought peppers with home made pink pepper relish. I all the time have it within the pantry!
- Olives – These may be inexperienced olives, black olives, kalamata, or any mixture of olives you’d like. For those who dislike olives, go away them out.
- Purple Pepper Flakes – You may skip these in case you’re delicate to spice, and easily stick to salt and freshly cracked pepper for seasoning.
- Tomato Sauce – Select your most popular jarred tomato sauce or spaghetti sauce. You may substitute store-bought with home made sauce, too.
- Basil – Contemporary basil chopped into skinny ribbons is greatest. You may substitute dried basil in a pinch (on this case, you’ll want 3x the quantity of dried basil).
- Feta Cheese – You possibly can additionally use goat cheese or parmesan.
Ideas and Variations
- Instantly rinse the tortellini after cooking. When you’ve boiled the tortellini, instantly drain and rinse the pasta below chilly water. This stops the pasta from cooking additional, which might make it mushy.
- Salt the pasta water. The key to flavorful pasta? 1-2 heaping spoonfuls of salt added to the water earlier than boiling. This is applicable to any pasta dish, chilly or heat.
- Extra add-ins. I like adapting this tortellini salad with extra Mediterranean-inspired add-ins like capers, sun-dried tomatoes, toasted pine nuts, mozzarella pearls, chopped artichoke hearts, and even somewhat anchovy paste for some umami richness.
- Add pesto. For a taste increase, stir in contemporary basil pesto, spinach pesto, or parsley pesto. You possibly can additionally skip the tomato sauce and substitute it with pesto as a substitute for a pesto tortellini pasta salad.
- Add protein. Bulk up this pasta salad with protein like sliced pepperoni, salami, prosciutto. You possibly can additionally toss in chopped grilled hen or shredded air fryer rotisserie hen.
- Totally different dressing. For those who’d choose to swap the tomato dressing for one thing else, borrow the Italian dressing from my Italian pasta salad, or attempt any of my home made salad dressings. Lots of them double for pasta salad dressings, too!
Make Forward and Storage
This chilly tortellini pasta salad is nice for meal prep. Make it as much as 2 days forward and preserve it refrigerated. You may as well retailer any leftovers hermetic within the fridge.
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Prepare dinner the tortellini. Boil the tortellini in accordance with bundle instructions. Drain and rinse; let fully cool.
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Assemble the salad. In a serving bowl, mix cooked tortellini, chopped pink peppers, inexperienced olives, pink pepper flakes, salt, pepper, and tomato sauce; stir till totally blended.
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Garnish and serve. Add ribbons of basil leaves over the salad, and sprinkle with feta cheese. Serve chilly.
- This salad may be made 1 to 2 days forward. Hold refrigerated.
Energy: 378kcal | Carbohydrates: 44g | Protein: 18g | Fats: 15g | Saturated Fats: 6g | Polyunsaturated Fats: 0.4g | Monounsaturated Fats: 2g | Ldl cholesterol: 56mg | Sodium: 1374mg | Potassium: 189mg | Fiber: 5g | Sugar: 4g | Vitamin A: 660IU | Vitamin C: 14mg | Calcium: 274mg | Iron: 3mg
Dietary information is an estimate and offered as courtesy. Values might fluctuate in accordance with the components and instruments used. Please use your most popular dietary calculator for extra detailed information.
Easy methods to Make Tortellini Pasta Salad
This simple tortellini salad comes collectively very quickly flat following the steps beneath.
