This Mediterranean tortellini salad options tender cheese-filled tortellini tossed with olives, purple peppers, and feta cheese in a spicy tomato sauce with chili flakes. It’s a simple, flavorful summer time aspect dish that’s additionally good 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 rooster tortellini, we love utilizing tortellini in each which manner round right here!
Which brings me to this wonderful 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 type goes. The tomato sauce dressing is somewhat candy, somewhat tangy, and somewhat spicy. It’s severely addictive. Whip up this straightforward tortellini pasta salad for lunch, dinner, or as a aspect. It’s one in all my favourite spins on mayo-free pasta salad, and simply as good 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 possibly can 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 gentle, contemporary, and scrumptious. That being mentioned, there’s at all times the choice to swap in a creamy dressing or French dressing, whichever you favor.
Substances You’ll Want
These are the elements you’ll want, however as with most pasta salad recipes, nearly all the things is versatile! I’ve included notes beneath and extra variation concepts afterward. Scroll right down to the printable recipe card for the total recipe particulars, adopted by a step-by-step with pictures.
- Tortellini – You’ll want a package deal of your favourite contemporary or frozen tortellini. I exploit four-cheese tortellini, however you possibly can substitute a veggie or meat-filled selection. It’s as much as you. And if you happen to don’t have tortellini, be happy to swap it for one more pasta, like penne, shells, rigatoni, and so on.
- Roasted Purple Peppers – My favourite is the jarred roasted purple bell peppers from Mezzetta. I’ll additionally generally substitute store-bought peppers with home made purple pepper relish. I at all times have it within the pantry!
- Olives – These might be inexperienced olives, black olives, kalamata, or any mixture of olives you’d like. Should you dislike olives, depart them out.
- Purple Pepper Flakes – You possibly can skip these if you happen to’re delicate to spice, and easily keep on with salt and freshly cracked pepper for seasoning.
- Tomato Sauce – Select your most popular jarred tomato sauce or spaghetti sauce. You possibly can exchange store-bought with home made sauce, too.
- Basil – Contemporary basil chopped into skinny ribbons is finest. You possibly can substitute dried basil in a pinch (on this case, you’ll want 3x the quantity of dried basil).
- Feta Cheese – You would 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 beneath 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 enhance, stir in contemporary basil pesto, spinach pesto, or parsley pesto. You would additionally skip the tomato sauce and exchange 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 would additionally toss in chopped grilled rooster or shredded air fryer rotisserie rooster.
- Totally different dressing. Should you’d favor to swap the tomato dressing for one thing else, borrow the Italian dressing from my Italian pasta salad, or strive 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 too can retailer any leftovers hermetic within the fridge.
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Prepare dinner the tortellini. Boil the tortellini in line with package deal instructions. Drain and rinse; let utterly cool.
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Assemble the salad. In a serving bowl, mix cooked tortellini, chopped purple peppers, inexperienced olives, purple pepper flakes, salt, pepper, and tomato sauce; stir till completely combined.
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Garnish and serve. Add ribbons of basil leaves over the salad, and sprinkle with feta cheese. Serve chilly.
- This salad might be made 1 to 2 days forward. Maintain 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 supplied as courtesy. Values could differ in line with the elements and instruments used. Please use your most popular dietary calculator for extra detailed information.
The right way to Make Tortellini Pasta Salad
This straightforward tortellini salad comes collectively very quickly flat following the steps beneath.
