This creamy pesto tortellini salad is easy to make and loaded with summer flavor. Fresh and colorful, this tortellini pasta salad can be made ahead of time and is the perfect side dish to serve at summer parties or to take to a potluck.
About This Pesto Tortellini Salad Recipe:
This pesto tortellini salad has a brilliant new flavor from homemade spinach pesto (with basil) tossed with fresh cherry tomatoes and mozzarella balls. It’s so good, that you’ll be including this to your summer staples.
It’s new, light, and loaded with herby, dynamic pesto.
Quick to make: It takes only 20 minutes (from making pesto to a prepared salad). Or it can takea fair 10 minutes if you’ve pesto prepared or use a store-bought one.
It’s healthy and super basic to make.
It is perfect for picnics or summer gatherings.
Make this tortellini salad ahead of time as meal prep and appreciate it as a speedy lunch.
Ingredient:
For Spinach Basil Pesto:
2 cups baby spinach, packed
1 cup Basil leaves, packed
½ cup Walnuts
¼ cup Vegan parmesan cheese
3 cloves Garlic
⅓ cup Extra virgin olive oil
Salt & Pepper, to taste
3 teaspoons Lemon juice
For Tortellini Salad:
10 oz Cheese tortellini
1 cup Grape tomatoes, or cherry tomatoes, cut into half
6 oz Mozzarella pearls, or balls, cut into half
¼ cup Pine nuts, toasted
½ cup Pesto, from the above recipe or use store-bought
How To Make Pesto Tortellini Salad?
Make Spinach Basil Pesto:
To a nourishment processor, add baby spinach, basil, parmesan, walnuts, garlic, salt, pepper, and lemon juice.
Also, add oil.
Cover and run the processor until it is a pesto consistency.
You may be required to stop and scrape the sides with a spatula and blend again. You’ll require ½ cup of pesto and store the rest for later use.
Make Tortellini Salad:
Bring a large pot of water to a rolling boil and then include a liberal pinch of salt. Include tortellini and cook as per the package instructions or until al dente. Deplete the water, toss the pasta in a tablespoon of olive oi,l and let them cool down.
Take cooked tortellini, divided grape tomatoes, mozzarella pearls, and pesto in a large bowl.
Toss everything together until every alcove and corner of the cheese tortellini is covered with pesto.
Lastly, garnish with toasted pine nuts.
Expert Tips For Tortellini Salad:
Always include salt once the water comes to a boil. Salted water takes longer to come to a boil.
Cook tortellini until al dente meaning slightly underdone (toothsome bite). The remaining cooking is done while the pasta is cooling down and they become perfectly soft.
Don’t disregard tossing the cooked tortellini pasta in some olive oil to avoid them from staying with each other.
Toasting pine nuts: Dry roast them in a pan on medium-low heat until lightly brown and aromatic. Or toast them in the oven at 350 degrees F for approximately 5 minutes on a baking sheet in a single layer.
You can utilize store-bought pesto instead of making it at home.
Add pesto to room temperature or cold pasta to hold the pesto’s vibrant green color. Though you can include it to warm tortellini, the pesto will get cooked somewhat and result in the loss of that vibrant color. Either way, it tastes good.
