This Italian inspired tortellini salad recipe is a full meal deal!
Tortellini, salami, cheese, and veggies are tossed in Italian dressing for a hearty pasta salad. Serve it as a side dish or main dish all year long.
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You’ll Love This Tortellini Salad Because…
- Bright and beautiful, this recipe is jam-packed with flavor.
- This tortellini salad is great as a side dish but hearty enough to serve as a main dish, too.
- It’s great for parties or lunches since it’s easy to prep ahead.
Ingredients for Tortellini Salad
- Tortellini: Cheese or spinach tortellini is great in this recipe. Tricolor tortellini adds a pretty punch of color.
- Veggies: Vegetables including onions, red and green bell pepper, and cherry tomatoes add both color and lots of flavor.
- Bold Flavors: We love salami but you can use pastrami, prosciutto, ham, or pepperoni.
- Cheese: Since I use cheese-filled tortellini, I only add a sprinkle of parmesan for flavor. If using spinach tortellini, you can add chopped mozzarella.
- Dressing: Keep it quick with pre-made Italian dressing or make your own homemade Italian dressing.
Variations for Tortellini Salad
One of the best things about tortellini salad is the ingredients can be mixed and matched for whatever you have on hand!
- Artichokes, sun-dried tomatoes, and olives great additions.
- Up the protein with leftover shredded chicken or even grilled shrimp.
How to Make Italian Tortellini Salad
- Cook & drain tortellini. Rinse with cold water to stop the cooking.
- Combine with remaining ingredients according to the recipe below.
- Cover & chill before serving.
Quick Tip
As with most pasta salad recipes, the pasta will soak up some of the dressing as it sits. Cook the pasta until just firm and dress it very generously.
Leftovers
Italian tortellini salad will last up to 5 days in the refrigerator in a covered container. Simply stir and serve!
More Summer Salads
Did you make this Italian Tortellini Salad? Be sure to leave a rating and a comment below!
Italian Tortellini Salad
Equipment
Ingredients
- 18 ounces refrigerated cheese tortellini
- 1 cup Italian dressing homemade or store-bought, more as needed
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes halved
- ¾ cup diced salami
- ⅓ cup diced red onion
- ½ red bell pepper diced
- ½ green bell pepper diced
- 2 tablespoons shredded Parmesan cheese
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
Instructions
- Cook the tortellini in a large pot salted water al dente according to package directions.
- Once cooked, drain well and rinse under cold water to cool and stop from cooking.
- In a large bowl, combine cooled tortellini, tomatoes, salami, onion, bell pepper, Parmesan, and parsley. Add the dressing and toss well to mix.
- Refrigerate for at least 1 hour before serving. If desired, garnish with additional Parmesan cheese before serving.
Notes
- 1 cup marinated artichoke hearts, drained
- 1/2 cup pitted olives
- 1/2 cup sundried tomatoes
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Course Pasta, Salad, Side Dish
Cuisine American, Italian© SpendWithPennies.com. Content and photographs are copyright protected. Sharing of this recipe is both encouraged and appreciated. Copying and/or pasting full recipes to any social media is strictly prohibited. Please view my photo use policy here.
Absolutely delicious! I wish I had seen the part about adding black olives sooner, however. But we did added more salami since we were having it as a meal, and whipped up some garlic bread to go with it and it was devoured! Thank you!
Love love the Italian dressing & this salad.
May try the smaller tortellini in refrigerated section as Rana I cut in half (as other reviewers suggested) but still too large (maybe sb quartered) or maybe just Bowties. Still great as is. Added grated Parmesan cheese though so good.
Will definitely make again!
Love love the Italian dressing & this salad.
May try the smaller tortellini in refrigerated section as Rana I cut in half (as other reviewers suggested) but still too large (maybe sb quartered) or maybe just Bowties. Still great as is. Added grated Parmesan cheese though so good.
Will definitely make again!
I made this to provide some variety in my family’s work lunches. I omitted the salami and included marinated artichoke hearts. The Rana tortellini I used were quite large after I cooked them. So, I cut them in half. I find that most pasta salads are “meh”, but this was exceptional with the homemade dressing and lots of grated parmesan. My son even wrote me after lunch to thank me for the amazing salad :)
Excellent, I doubled all ingredients except dressing, onion and tortellini.
lunch or dinner all by itself
Hi Holly ~ love your recipes and making my grocery list. Quick question do you use frozen or refrigerated tortellini?
We use refrigerated tortellini for this recipe.
I love this recipe. You can add or omit ingredients. Always good no matter what. Everyone loves it. Made many times. Use Ken’s dressings – Three cheese my favorite.
Is this best served cold or at room temperature? Thank you.
I prefer to serve this salad chilled.
Absolutely.delicious!
Delicious. Don’t like peppers so I used olives instead. Next time I think I’ll add some marinated artichoke hearts, as Holly suggested. Used homemade dressing. Loved it, so did hubby.
Great salad
Hi. This recipe looks delicious. I was wondering if you used dried parsley or fresh parsley in yours?
I use fresh parsley.
Thank you!
Just made this tortellini salad and popped it in the fridge…tried a small bowl and it’s delicious…(left out the meat).
I know my friends will love it…thank you for such an easy yummy recipe. Love all your recipes, they are all easy..simple and delicious.
Could you put and English cucumber in this recipe?
Absolutely, Patrick, I think that would be a delicious addition!
I am really enjoying this salad. Love the flavor and crunch of the bell peppers. Next time I will add pepperoncini peppers. I used Garlic Expressions dressing. Seriously good!
Thanks, Teena! So happy you are enjoying it.
all these recipes are just wonderful!
Thanks, Linda! So glad you are enjoying them.
Haven’t made this yet but I’m wondering if anybody adds those little mozzarella balls it sounds like it would go good in this
I think that sounds like a delicious addition!