Tortellini Primavera Salad

5 from 5 votes

This Tortellini salad blends a bright creamy sauce with fresh and colorful vegetables. Delicious as a side, meatless main dish or add cooked chicken breast.

Prep Time15

Cook Time15

Total Time30

Course: Salad

Servings:

Calories: 326kcal

Author: Good Dinner Mom

Ingredients

Tortellini Pasta Salad ingredients

8 ounce package refrigerated tortellini
2 cups broccoli florets cut into bite sized pieces
1 cup carrots sliced into rounds
½ cup green onions chopped
½ cup red bell pepper chopped
½ cup green bell pepper chopped
½ cup baby peas fresh or thawed from frozen
¼ cup jalapeno pepper diced

Dressing ingredients

1 cup mayonnaise
2 tsps orange peel grated
2 Tbsps fresh basil chopped, or 1 teaspoon dried
2 tsps fresh thyme chopped, or 1 teaspoon dried
1 tsps salt
½ tsps black pepper
½ cup mozzarella cheese shredded

Instructions

Make the pasta salad

Cook tortellini according to package directions. Drain well.
8 ounce package refrigerated tortellini
Steam broccoli florets and carrots just until tender-crisp. Cool under running water.
2 cups broccoli florets, 1 cup carrots
Combine tortellini, broccoli, carrots, green onions, bell peppers, baby peas, and jalapeno in a medium bowl. Place in refrigerator while making the dressing.
½ cup green onions, ½ cup red bell pepper, ½ cup green bell pepper, ¼ cup jalapeno pepper, ½ cup baby peas

Make the dressing

In a small bowl, whisk together mayonnaise, orange peel, basil, thyme, salt, and black pepper. Add about half the dressing to the salad ingredients and then taste. Add more as desired. If adding chicken, or other protein, us all of the dressing.
1 cup mayonnaise, 2 tsps orange peel, 2 Tbsps fresh basil, 2 tsps fresh thyme, 1 tsps salt, ½ tsps black pepper
Sprinkle shredded mozzarella over top of the salad before serving. I recommend letting this salad sit in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours but overnight is even better. All the flavors come together and get more pronounced.
½ cup mozzarella cheese

Notes

Add any favorite protein as desired. Chicken, tofu, steak or shrimp work particularly well.

Nutrition