Tortellini Pesto Salad

  4.7 – 87 reviews  • Tortellini Pasta Salad Recipes

This chicken curry recipe is typical of North Indian (Punjabi) cuisine. Serve with basmati rice and freshly made roti or naan from India.

Prep Time: 20 mins
Cook Time: 15 mins
Additional Time: 1 hr
Total Time: 1 hr 35 mins
Servings: 6

Ingredients

  1. 1 (9 ounce) package cheese tortellini
  2. 1 small red bell pepper, julienned
  3. ¾ cup broccoli florets, blanched
  4. ⅓ cup shredded carrots
  5. ⅓ cup pitted green olives
  6. 1 clove garlic, chopped
  7. ½ cup mayonnaise
  8. ¼ cup prepared basil pesto
  9. ¼ cup milk
  10. 2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
  11. 1 tablespoon olive oil
  12. 1 tablespoon distilled white vinegar
  13. 1 bunch fresh spinach leaves

Instructions

  1. Gather all ingredients.
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  3. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Place tortellini in the pot and cook until al dente, 7 to 8 minutes. Drain and cool.
  4. Mix cooked tortellini, bell pepper, broccoli, carrots, olives, and garlic in a large bowl.
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  6. Whisk mayonnaise, pesto, milk, Parmesan cheese, oil, and vinegar together in a separate bowl. Pour over tortellini and vegetables and gently toss to coat.
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  8. Dotdash Meredith Food Studios
  9. Cover and place in the refrigerator until chilled, about 1 hour. Serve over spinach leaves.
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Nutrition Facts

Calories 383 kcal
Carbohydrate 26 g
Cholesterol 31 mg
Dietary Fiber 4 g
Protein 11 g
Saturated Fat 6 g
Sodium 615 mg
Sugars 3 g
Fat 27 g
Unsaturated Fat 0 g

Reviews

Heather Carson
I’ve made this more times than I can count since I discovered this recipe last year. My husband goes crazy over this pasta salad and it’s made it onto his favorites list. I like the olives although I sub marinated artichoke hearts now when I make it because my partner does not like them. It’s great as is, but I prefer less mayo, more pesto, no oil, roasted red peppers instead of fresh. I just toss the spinach leaves in as well because this never makes it to leftovers. I love the fresh garlic! It’s probably one of my favorite aspects of this dish and it adds a little bite. Easy, quick, yummy, and versatile. 🙂
Amy Mays
This was AMAZING! I made this for a group of 25 people using 2 lbs of tortellini and doubling the rest of the ingredients and it was completely gobbled up! Awesome!
William Spencer
I didn’t make the dressing, I just used pesto because I have an allergy to eggs and an intolerance to vinegar. It was delicious. I loved all the variety in the salad. I served half of it over spinach and half over mixed greens since I am the only one eating it and I didn’t want to get bored. I loved it both ways. I’m going to take this next time we have a family get together.
Rita Padilla
Very tasty!
Dr. Karen Sherman
This is one of the best pasta salads I have EVER had! I doubled the recipe and brought it to a BBQ…It was the first thing devoured and was gone within 30 minutes! My husband asked me to make it again the very next day for just us and he usually dislikes pasta salads. If I could give it more than 5 stars, I would!
Maurice Parker
This was a great pasta salad. I added roasted peppers instead of red pepper. Definitely making it again!
Jacqueline Pineda
This tortellini salad is delicious! I did make one change…I used sun dried tomato pesto instead of basil, and it turned out fabulous! Thank you Onlythetruthannie
Alexander Thompson
I made this but made some substitutions. No mayo or milk. The green olives were not in fact weird in this, so I’m glad I didn’t listen to the reviews. I used baby multicolored carrots & tricolor tortellini. I also used romano instead of parmesan. It was a hit.
Patricia Smith
Awesome recipe as it stands. Mayo mellows the flavor of the pesto though, next time I’ll reduce the first and increase the latter. Added the milk last and eyeballed it for the dressing consistency. Adding this one to the recipe book!
Jessica Jensen
It was excellent but I also added 4 chopped up marinated artichoke hearts. This is the only pasta salad I have ever truly enjoyed I always find them so bland.
Mark Martinez
I didn’t love this as much as I wanted too, but we still enjoyed it. I thought after letting it sit an hour that it needed some “zing” so I added freshly cracked black pepper, chopped green onion and lemon juice.
Emily Hall
I can never make enough of this dish, it seems! This gets special request often from my family. Easy and delicious! I think it would be great the next day fresh from the fridge as a cold pasta salad, but I don’t have leftovers!
Amanda Williams MD
This is a delicious salad with a good starting point –I changed it up some- no green olives, but use artichokes -left out garlic as pesto has garlic and I think I will use more pesto next time – just a little bit of milk and less mayonnaise – 1/4 cup and I added some chopped green onion and put the spinach right into the salad >> very nice summer salad
Brandon Beltran
This salad was delicious and perfectly balanced for a meatless meal. I stuck to the recipe with the exception I had to double it to feed my family of 8. Also to prepare lunches for the next work day. I also had to use a milk alternative(Oat milk) but it came out fantastic, flavorful. Oh and had to make my own pesto instead of jar brands. Great Great Great!
Clinton Williams
Wow!!! I’ve never been great at pastas but the time taken to do this was AMAZING! Put together a fresh ingredient basil pesto rather than buying premade. Used all of the ingredients and added sun dried tomatoes to the salad and added water cress to the bed of spinach. Like I said, it was AMAZING and I will do this many times again.
Thomas Robinson
I made it according to the recipe but added grape tomatoes. I will definitely keep this in my recipe file and make it again.
Susan Spence
this recipe was amazing! I added chicken but forgot the vinegar but it still tasted so good.
Erica Scott
This was delicious! I didn’t make any changes (aside from doubling the recipe) and it was perfect. Will definitely make this one again.
Kevin Orr
Very good!!! I served it warm as I didn’t read the recipe until it was too late. But it was still delicious and made for a nice main dish. Only change I made was to use balsamic vinegar and Kalamata olives as suggested by some.
Adrienne Herman
Nice change from the run of the mill pasta salads.
Tammy Paul
I have made this a few times, adjusting the veggies I put in and once when I wasn’t feeling well I did the dressing without milk and mayonnaise, definitely didn’t hurt anything.

 

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