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.
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
- 16 ounces 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.
My husband and I really like this recipe. I added garlic and fresh spinach. Will make this again!!
What kind of salami did you use?
Any should be just fine Maria!
Easy and so delicious!
Big hit with my 4th of July crowd.
Homemade salad dressing made all the difference. Many requests for the recipe. Thank you !
Used cheese tortellini. Delicious with salami but just as good without. Used any kind of Italian shredded cheese. Added sliced olives. Used Ken’s House Italian dressing. Delicious and easy. June, 2023.
This looks delicious I can wait to try this!
So glad you loved it!
Hit with the entire family. And that includes 4 picky kids! Bookmarked your website and will deep dive, thank you!!!
I am so happy to hear this recipe was a hit with the whole family Todd!
Loved it!!! Just left out the artichokes cuz I don’t like them. I’ve made it twice now.
So very yummy! Huge hit at the neighborhood bbq. So many ways to make your own creative variation and super easy with such a wow result!!
I am so glad you enjoyed this recipe Jamie!
This was a big hit at a graduation party I threw..
My husband and I are retired and spend a lot of time in our RV so I am always looking for easy to put together recipes. This was a HIT!! My husband had two bowls and kept commenting on how delicious it was. Couldn’t find the usual refrigerated cheese tortellini I buy, so used the frozen instead. Came out great! Added black olives and used bottled Wishbone Italian dressing. Will be a good addition to a potluck get together. Thanks for sharing! Will be making your Dorito casserole next :)
So happy to hear that, Helaine! We love this pasta salad too!
This was delicious and I plan on making it often.
So glad you loved it Karen!
Made this for my husband and my dad and they both absolutely raved about it! Definitely adding this to the regular rotation. And so easy to make!
I made this recipe as written. I added black olives to it.
Terrific combination of tastes and textures. It even tastes great without dressing.
So glad you enjoyed it, Catherine!
Made this today along with the Italian dressing. Delicious! My husband said it is a keeper!
Can not wait to make the pecan bars
hi I Love make
Looking forward to making this
Look forward to trying some of these recipes!
LOVE LOVE this. I made this this morning and OHHH my it is delicious. I added some pepperonis to mine. This is for sure a side dish where i go
So happy to hear that Paula! We love it so much too!