Italian Tortellini Salad – the Ultimate Pasta Salad Recipe
The perfect pasta salad or side dish for any pot-luck, picnic, cookout or backyard barbecue! This delicious tortellini salad is loaded with all of your Italian favorites, like salami, tomatoes, olives, banana peppers, red onion, and topped with Italian dressing and shredded Parmesan cheese!
Growing up in the mid-west, pot luck dinners were always a community-wide event! Every home cook brought their best dishes, including salads, fried chicken, sandwiches and decadent desserts to share with everyone! The food was ALWAYS fabulous, and typically enough to feel the crowd twice over. People NEVER brought store-bought food to a pot luck – that was a big no-no! The two unwritten rules of pot luck dining were always 1) bring enough to feed your family, and 2) bring something homemade. My tortellini salad would be the perfect dish to share for any pot luck event.
Loaded with fresh, delicious tomatoes, onions, peppers, olives, and mini-pepperoni, this salad could easily be a meal in itself. The tri-color tortellini pasta comes together wonderfully with the rest of the ingredients making an amazingly colorful dish. The shredded Parmesan cheese really brings the salad together and is complimentary to the cheese tortellini.
I tend to use frozen pasta for this tortellini salad, however, if you have dry pasta that’s available to you feel free to use that instead.
This tortellini salad is very simple to make, and comes together quickly and easily. Feel free to use a store-bought Italian dressing, as is coats the pasta and veggies well and adds a nice, complimentary flavor. It also brings all of the ingredients together, including the fresh vegetables, cheeses and pepperoni.
Here’s a shopping list of ingredients you’ll need for this fantastic tortellini salad:
- Frozen or Dry Tortellini
- Mini Pepperoni
- Sliced Black Olives
- Red Onion
- Cherry or Grape Tomatoes
- Yellow Banana Peppers (can be found in a jar, near the olives and pickles at the supermarket)
- Shredded Parmesan cheese
- Ground Pepper
Here’s the easy, delicious recipe for my Italian Tortellini Salad:
Yields 8 servings
The perfect pasta salad for any pot-luck, picnic, cookout or backyard barbecue! This delicious tortellini salad is loaded with all of your Italian favorites, like salami, tomatoes, olives, banana peppers, red onion, and topped with Italian dressing and shredded Parmesan cheese! The ultimate side dish for any meal!
15 minPrep Time
15 minCook Time
30 minTotal Time
Save RecipeIngredients
- 10 oz. small or medium cheese tortellini pasta (tri-color or regular)
- 1 (5 oz.) pkg, mini pepperoni's
- 1 c. cherry tomatoes (red and/or yellow), quartered
- 1 (3.8 oz.) can, black olives, drained
- 1/2 c. red onion, diced
- 1/2 c. jarred mild yellow banana peppers, chopped
- 1 c. Italian salad dressing
- 1 c. shredded Parmesan cheese
- pepper to taste
Instructions
- Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain and rinse with cold water. Let set to cool.
- In a large mixing bowl, add the mini pepperoni, tomatoes, olives, red onion, and banana peppers. Toss with the cooled tortellini pasta. Add the dressing and cheese and toss all ingredients to coat. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour before serving. Serve chilled.
- Store in an air-tight container for up to 1 week.
The next time you’re invited to a pot luck dinner, or back yard cookout, bring this fantastic Italian Tortellini Salad. It’s such a wonderful dish to share with your friends and family and will definitely become a new pot luck favorite that everyone will ask for! Enjoy! ~Erin
Here are a few of my other Pot-Luck and Summer Cookout favorites that everyone is sure to love:
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