Your new favorite summer salad! This easy tortellini pasta salad is piled high with Greek-style goodness and tossed in an amazing pesto dressing.
Oh man, guys. Salad season is SO.ON!
You know what told me so? The 75+ degree weather. The consecutive gorgeous spring days. The fact that my multiple recent grilled dinners HAVE to have a salad sidekick.
Take all this into account and what do you get? Salad season. A months long period known for starting in May and not losing steam until September-ish. Or until the world runs out of ranch dressing or you turn green from overdose of lettuce.
Speaking of green…lookee, LOOKEE what I brought to unofficially kick off the salad spree! It’s green, guys. My obvious first choice of color for all my food.
It’s also pesto. Are you even surprised any more? I don’t try to hide my obsession.
And Greek-style. Plus tortellini which is my first pasta love.
Really, could we be winning the salad game any more today? No. This entire bowl is some form of green GOLD and that is that.
The only work on your part?
- Cook off your tortellini and throw it in your biggest salad bowl.
- Chippity-chop a bunch of Greek veggie + CHEESE goodness and pile it on top.
- Give your pesto dressing a whirl in the food processor.
- On goes the green. Plop goes your face into the whole bowl.
Ba-bang.
Just a guess, but I THINK my family loved this tortellini salad a whole lot? They more or less attacked the bowl with serious ferociousness and left no evidence behind.
Except the cucumbers and tomatoes. Sigh, they’re still learning.
Seriously though, this salad is going to want to make an appearance at ALL your upcoming summer events. Memorial Day…Fathers Day…any other ol’ Tuesday when ‘dangit, you just want a good tortellini salad.
I nominate THIS Tuesday to be a salad day. And every day thereafter. ♥
Greek-Style Pesto Tortellini Pasta Salad
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Ingredients
- DRESSING:
- 1 cup tightly-packed baby spinach
- 1/2 cup fresh basil leaves
- 1/2 cup pine nuts
- 1 clove garlic
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Juice from 1 lime 1/4 cup
- SALAD:
- 16 oz cheese tortellini cooked according to package instructions and 1/2 cup pasta water reserved
- 1 small cucumber diced
- 1 sweet pepper diced
- 1 cup halved cherry tomatoes
- 1/2 cup sliced black olives
- 1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese
Instructions
- Make the dressing: Place spinach, basil, pine nuts, and garlic in a food processor. With food processor running, drizzle olive oil through top, pulsing until smooth. Transfer dressing to a small bowl, and season with salt and pepper to taste. Whisk in lime juice.
- In a large bowl, combine tortellini, cucumber, pepper, tomatoes, olives, and feta cheese. Drizzle dressing and reserved cooking water on top. Stir until salad is evenly coated and season with salt and pepper to taste. Chill salad until ready to serve. Enjoy!
Nutrition
Make sure you try this Mediterranean Tortellini Pasta Salad next time!!
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