Italian Tortellini Pasta Salad
This dish is out of this world delicious. I’ll be making this to take to pot luck instead of regular pasta salad. Thank you for sharing. ~Carol W.
Why My Italian Tortellini Salad Is So Good
After years and YEARS of making this tortellini salad, it is STILL our family favorite. There is a reason it keeps coming back to the table: it works every single time.
- It is basically an Italian sub in pasta salad form. All those salty, savory Italian deli meats tossed with cheese tortellini and fresh mozzarella? It hits every single flavor note you want.
- Using four cheese tortellini instead of plain pasta adds a layer of flavor and richness you just can’t get from regular noodles. Every bite has that creamy cheese filling built right in.
- The homemade Italian dressing makes a real difference. You control the balance of oil, vinegar, and seasoning, and it coats everything so much better than bottled dressing.
- Fresh herbs pull everything together. Parsley and fresh basil add brightness that keeps the salad from feeling heavy.
- It gets better as it sits. The tortellini and meats absorb the dressing as it chills, making leftovers just as good, sometimes better, than the first serving. (Just make a little more Italian dressing to mix in before serving.)
Table of Contents
Key Ingredient Notes
- Tortellini: Get tortellini from the refrigerated section of the grocery store whenever you can. Fresh tortellini cooks quickly and has a much creamier, more tender texture than dried. For this salad, I recommend four cheese tortellini.
- Meats: It’s best to get your meats from the deli counter rather than the pre-packaged section. Ask them to slice it fresh so you can control the thickness. Thicker slices hold up better in the salad and give you more satisfying bites.
- Fresh mozzarella: Use fresh mozzarella, it has a soft, milky texture that holds its own in the salad without getting rubbery. You can buy it as a ball and cube it yourself, or look for ciliegine (small balls).
- Peppers: Banana peppers and pepperoncini both work here, they add that pickled brightness that balances the richness of the meats and cheese.
- Olive oil: Use a good quality extra virgin olive oil meant for the dressings not for cooking.
- White balsamic vinegar: This is milder and lighter in color than regular balsamic, so it won’t darken the dressing or overpower the other flavors.
Variations and Substitutions
- Tortellini – If you want to change up the flavor, try a spinach and ricotta tortellini for a milder, more delicate profile. Frozen tortellini works as well, just cook according to package directions.
- Meats: If you can’t find capicola, any good quality ham from the deli is a solid substitute. Use Genoa salami in place of hard salami, if that if your preference. Taste first!
- Cheese: Mix in some small-cubed provolone alongside the fresh mozzarella for a sharper note. And you can add some shaved parmesan over the top for a salty finish.
- Peppers: Banana peppers are a little milder and slightly sweet. Pepperoncini are a little spicier and tangier. Use whichever you prefer or have on hand, both work well.
- Vinegar: White wine vinegar is a good substitute for white balsamic if you don’t have it on hand.
- Dressing: if you don’t have time to make homemade Italian dressing, a good quality store-bought Italian dressing will work.
How To Make Italian Tortellini Salad: Steps and Tips
- Cook and cool the tortellini. Cook tortellini according to the package instruction and I highly recommend salting the cooking water. Drain and spread the tortellini on the parchment paper covered baking sheet to help it cool faster. You want it fully at room temperature before mixing anything else in.
- Chop everything while pasta cools.
- Make the dressing. Whisk all of the ingredients for the dressing until well combined or you can use a dressing shaker. Taste it but remember, that there are salty ingredients in the salad, so don’t over-salt.
- Add all the chopped ingredients to the cooled tortellini and toss everything together.
- Pour the dressing over the salad and toss well to coat everything evenly. Serve right away or cover and refrigerate before serving. The flavors come together well as it chills.
- Pro Tip: if making ahead more than 30 minutes to 2 hours, make extra dressing to add right before serving.
Storing Recommendation
To store leftover tortellini salad, transfer it into a food storage container with a lid and keep it refrigerated. Tortellini salad will last for 3-5 days refrigerated. You may need to add a little more dressing after it’s been in the fridge for a while because pasta tends to soak up all the dressing liquids.
Make Ahead Instructions
There are two ways to make this Italian tortellini salad ahead of time. You can cook tortellini the day before and then make the rest or the salad when ready. Or, take it a step further and prepare everything except for mixing in the dressing ahead of time.
- Prepare Just Tortellini: If making tortellini ahead of time, cook and cool tortellini. Mix cooled tortellini with a little bit of Italian dressing or olive oil so it doesn’t stick together too much. Store cooked tortellini in a food storage container with a lid, in the refrigerator, until ready to use.
- Prepare most of the pasta salad: You can also prepare the salad completely without the dressing and tomatoes. I find it’s best when tomatoes are cut and added to the salad right before serving. If dressing is added the night before to any pasta salad, pasta tends to soak in all the liquid and the salad will be dry.
- Prepare the dressing: combine everything for the dressing and shake it well. Store in an air-tight container or right in a dressing shaker, in the refrigerator.
Italian Tortellini Salad FAQs
Absolutely. Bell peppers, cucumber, red onion, olives, or artichoke hearts are all great additions. Add whatever Italian-flavored ingredients you enjoy.
Yes! The original version of this recipe used herbs de Provence and it’s a wonderful variation. It gives the dressing a slightly more floral, aromatic flavor. Use whichever you prefer or have on hand.
Yes, a good quality store-bought Italian dressing works fine. You can also use your favorite local restaurant’s Italian dressing if you have one you love. Homemade just gives you more control over the flavor balance.
Yes. Just cook it according to the package directions and make sure it cools completely before adding it to the salad.
The tortellini and meats absorb the dressing as the salad sits. Just drizzle in a little extra dressing and toss before serving. Doubling the dressing from the start is a great move if you plan to have leftovers, just store half separately.
Some More Tortellini And Pasta Salad Recipes To Try
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Italian Tortellini Pasta Salad Recipe
Ingredients
Tortellini Salad:
- 20 oz three cheese tortellini
- 10 oz cherry tomatoes cut in half
- 2/3 cup pepperoncini peppers or banana peppers chopped
- 1/4 lb capicola ham chopped
- 1/4 lb pepperoni chopped
- 1/3 lb hard salami chopped
- 8 oz fresh mozzarella cheese mini balls or chopped
- 2 Tbsp minced Italian parsley
- 6-8 basil leaves minced
- Salt
Dressing:
- 1/2 cup virgin olive oil
- 3 Tbsp white balsamic vinegar white wine vinegar can be substituted
- 1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
- 3 garlic cloves pressed
- 1/4-1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes Use more or less according to personal taste
- 1 tbsp Italian seasoning
- Salt
Instructions
- Cook tortellini according to the package, drain well. To cool it faster, spread the cooked tortellini on a large parchment paper covered baking sheet in one even layer with some space in between.
- Chop meats, tomatoes, pepperoncini peppers and cheese.
- Add cooled tortellini into a large mixing bowl and add the chopped meats, cheese, and veggies.
- Mince herbs and add it to the mixing bowl as well. Add some salt and mix well.
- In a jar with a lid or in a small mixing bowl, combine ingredients for the dressing. Close the jar and shake well, or whisk.
- Pour dressing into the bowl with tortellini mixture and mix until fully incorporated.
- Cover and refrigerate salad before serving.
Video
Notes
- Serving: This salad is great cold or room temperature! Personally, I prefer it at room temperature because some ingredients in the dressing and tortellini filling do solidity. It is a personal preference though.
- Storing: store leftover tortellini salad covered air-tight, in the refrigerator for 3-5 days refrigerated. You may need to add a little more dressing after it’s been in the fridge for a while because pasta tends to soak up all the dressing liquids.
- Prepare Just Tortellini: If making tortellini ahead of time, cook and cool tortellini. Mix cooled tortellini with a little bit of Italian dressing. Store cooked tortellini in a food storage container with a lid, in the refrigerator, until ready to use.
- Prepare most of the pasta salad: You can also prepare the salad completely without the dressing and tomatoes. So prepare pasta, meats, cheese, banana peppers, and herbs and mix it all together. Transfer everything into a food storage container with a lid. Store the salad mixture in the refrigerator for up to 24 hours. Add dressing and cut tomatoes when ready to serve.
Nutrition
Originally published on Will Cook For Smiles on May 27th, 2015.
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Categories:
Appetizer Recipes, Backyard BBQ Recipes, Italian Dinner Recipes, Pasta Recipes, Salad Recipes, Side Dishes,All images and text ©Lyubov Brooke for ©Will Cook For Smiles. Please do not use my images without prior permission. If using my posts in collections and features, please link back to this post for the recipe.
Disclaimer: Nutrition information shown is not guaranteed to be 100% accurate as most ingredients and brands have variations.
We just made it for Memorial Day weekend and it was so so good! This is now going to be my go-to pasta salad. We all loved it! Thank you!
Thank you so much for coming back to leave a review! Hearing that it’s earned a spot as your new go-to pasta salad absolutely makes my day! Thank you for giving the recipe a try and for taking the time to share your feedback. ❤️
I have made this pasta salad multiple times and moved it to my “favorite recipes” board. Pinterest said I violated some guideline of theirs (unrelated to this recipe, obviously) and they disabled my account. I appealed and appealed (and finally got it back after two months), but this was the first lost recipe that popped into my head and I was crushed. So happy to have access to it again…that’s how much I love it!!
Wow, thank you so much for sharing that! I’m so sorry to hear about your Pinterest account, that sounds incredibly frustrating. I’m honored that this pasta salad made it to your favorites and was the one you missed most. So glad you were finally able to get your account back and find the recipe again. That truly means a lot!
This is my favorite “go-to” pasta salad recipe! I make double the dressing because the pasta salad can tend to dry out in the fridge. Such an amazing recipe! Thank you
I’m so glad you love it! Doubling the dressing is a great tip—pasta definitely soaks it up over time. Thanks so much for sharing and for making it a go-to! 😊
This dish is out of this world delicious. I’ll be making this to take to pot luck instead of regular pasta salad. Thank you for sharing.
Wow! Thanks you so much, Carol that is such a nice thing to say!
Found this recipe on Pinterest and made it for a pool party/bbq — everyone loved it. Thank you for the fantastic recipe!
I am so glad you liked it, Ashley!
Took this to a cook out last night and it was devoured! Delicious!!
I am so glad everyone liked it, Becky!
Every time I bring this salad to gatherings, it gets raves reviews & there are some annual gatherings that say I can come ONLY if I bring this dish!
What a great compliment! Thank you so much for taking the time to stop by and tell me! 🙂
Wasn’t this salad made with herbs de provence and not Italian seasoning? If so, why did you change it?
Hi Nicki!
To be honest, I don’t remember changing it at all. If could be the recipe card software when I updated to include the conversion and nutritional facts. I’ll have to see if I can find an older version. But you can totally use herbs de Provence if you want!
I am so happy you liked it, Tanya!
I love all the deli meat in this pasta salad, so good!
The recipe says “chipped” hard salami. What doesn’t that mean?
Haha, it means that I edit my own writing too fast and look right over typos 🙂
I will fix it to say “chopped.”
Thank you, Christine!
Great Recipe! How many does this recipe serve? Wanting to make for a Baby Shower
Oh, I would say 6-8 but it always depends on how much someone can eat 🙂
I hope you enjoy it!
Thank you, Nikki!
Hi! How many does this recipe serve?
Hi Shanna!
I would estimate 6-8 servings. I hope you like it!
This looks so amazing, and I intend on making it for a work picnic Friday. I thought it might be fun to incorporate a local restaurant’s Italian dressing (I live in a heavily Italian populated area). Everyone here loves that dressing, so I thought it would be fun to incorporate it. Do you think that would work? I hope that doesn’t come across as an insult to your recipe, as I’m sure the dressing is absolutely wonderful! Thanks so much for sharing this recipe! I know everyone is going to love it.
I’m sorry for the late response, Victoria. I hope it went well! You can use whatever Italian dressing you wish (homemade, store bought, restaurant made etc.) and it will work just fine.
I made the tortellini salad for dinner tonight and it was absolutely delicious! All the different flavors combined made it one of the tastiest salads I’ve made. Thank you so much!!
I love hearing that! Thank you so much, Debbie!
How about trying to connect with a broader audience by not rubbing in the fact that you don’t work? Just a suggestion to appeal to more moms who might like this site. Maybe just connect through the food and general famiky stories…
Kay – Bitter much. #1 She works from home and #2 Being a stay at home mom is work. Stay at home mom’s are the ones who pick up the slack for those of us that are not able or willing to make that choice. I for one appreciate the extra effort that the stay at home moms in my community put in.
Ditto! I’m proud of her ,being a stay at home Mom is the best thing for the whole family as far as I’m concerned {if you are able} and trust me a lot of stay at home Moms do sacrifice ,they don’t have the social interactions that a working Mom has.
Thank you, Sharon!
I like to joke with my husband that he gets to go out to work and interact with adults every day unlike me 😀
Hi Kay,
I’m sorry you thought I was “rubbing in” the fact that I work from home. This is actually work. It takes a whole lot of marketing to have this site going, it takes a lot of time to create/photograph/write these recipe posts, as well as, writing and having a cookbook published. I started working from home while going through grad school, which I recently finished. I will also be continuing PHD work within the next couple of years, once my special needs child can have an easier time at school…where I volunteer.
I’m sorry you felt the need to assume I just sit at home all day while others work. I was a working girl (two jobs at many times) until I started grad school, so I’m very familiar with having kids and working full time.
I hope you have a nice week and still enjoy my site.
Thank you!
You don’t need to explain anything to her! Keep being amazing!
Thank you, Alicia! You can’t please everyone.
Hi,
Can you do some recipes for salads without meat in them?
Thank you
Hi Mary!
I actually have a few salads without meat:
https://www.willcookforsmiles.com/2015/03/sesame-cucumber-salad.html
https://www.willcookforsmiles.com/2014/06/parmesan-dill-potato-salad.html
https://www.willcookforsmiles.com/2014/05/strawberry-broccoli-salad.html
https://www.willcookforsmiles.com/2013/07/cool-cucumber-broccoli-salad.html
https://www.willcookforsmiles.com/greek-tortellini-salad/
I hope this helps!
Wow! This salad is so mouthwatering! I’m loving all the flavors it has in it. It’s very yummy and very Italian. I love the salami. The salad looks healthy and very delicious!
I always love your pasta salad recipes and this Italian tortellini salad combines the best flavors! Thanks for including a link to my tortellini salad too!