Add this fresh tortellini salad recipe to your weekend menu, stat! It features cheesy spinach tortellini tossed in my all-time favorite green goddess dressing, layered with lemony fresh greens and seasoned spring or summer vegetables. This pasta dish manages to be light yet hearty at the same time, which is a real feat. It’s quick to make, but looks impressive. It’s versatile, too—you’ll see quite a few vegetable options below. Choose raw vegetables for the simplest preparation, as I did for these photos, or incorporate some quickly blanched vegetables, like asparagus, to expand your options.
My healthy homemade green goddess dressing comes together quickly in the blender or food processor. I suggest doubling the ingredients so you can serve the extra as a veggie dip or refrigerate it for upcoming green salads. It’s really delightful to have on hand. Choose spinach tortellini over basic cheese tortellini to incorporate even more greens. I hope you’ll give this recipe a try. This vegetarian pasta salad is a real crowd pleaser!
Tortellini Salad Vegetable Options
This tortellini salad is lovely with fresh spring and summer vegetables in any combination. The asterisks below denote vegetables that need to be briefly cooked (blanched) in the leftover pasta cooking water before using. The recipe includes instructions on how to blanch those veggies. You can use a combination of fresh and blanched vegetables if you’d like, such as fresh fennel and blanched asparagus.
Asparagus* (cut into 2-inch segments; for thick spears, cut them in half or quarter first) Bell pepper (cut into short strips) Broccoli* (florets thinly sliced) Cherry tomatoes (halved) Cucumber (quartered lengthwise and thinly sliced) Fennel (thinly sliced) Green beans* Peas* (fresh or frozen) Sugar-snap peas (thinly sliced) Yellow squash (quartered lengthwise and thinly sliced) Zucchini (quartered lengthwise and thinly sliced)
Watch How to Make This Pasta
More Fresh Pastas to Try
Below are a few more pasta recipes featuring fresh spring produce, or browse all pasta recipes here.
Broccoli Pesto Pasta with Green Olives Caprese Pasta Salad Cilantro-Pepita Pesto with Squash Ribbons and Fettuccine Lemony Green Pasta with Peas & Ricotta Pesto Pasta Salad
Please let me know how your tortellini salad turns out in the comments! I love hearing from you.
*Vegetable options: Fresh vegetable options include thinly sliced fennel, yellow squash, zucchini, cucumber, sugar-snap peas, halved cherry tomatoes, and short strips of bell pepper. Vegetables that should be blanched include asparagus (cut into 2-inch segments; for thick spears, cut them in half or quarter first), peas (fresh or frozen), green beans, or broccoli (florets thinly sliced).
