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An easy and delicious cold Cheese Tortellini Pasta Salad with Honey Vinaigrette tastes like an Italian antipasto platter and is loaded with veggies for a great side dish recipe.

An easy and delicious cold Cheese Tortellini Pasta Salad with Honey Vinaigrette tastes like an Italian antipasto platter and is loaded with veggies for a great side dish recipe.It has finally reached the 90’s here in Rochester this week – finally!  No, weather this hot is not ideal, but there are things that I love about it (don’t hate on me now). When summer is here I want it in to be all here or not at all. I’m sitting here in the heat enjoying this Cheese Tortellini Salad and have zero complaints.

Might as well be all in with the 90’s and humidity through the roof, right?  It’s a short season and I know I will be wishing for this when it’s -10 out in a few short months (ha ha).  Now, onto this Cheese Tortellini Salad with Honey Vinaigrette.

An easy and delicious cold Cheese Tortellini Pasta Salad with Honey Vinaigrette tastes like an Italian antipasto platter and is loaded with veggies for a great picnic side dish recipe.

I will be making this pasta salad along with my California Spaghetti Salad exactly one bazillion times in my future. It is fool proof so you can’t really mess it up unless you really tried.  It looks pretty on the table for a dinner party or outdoor BBQ.

Is there anything better than a pretty pasta salad, sitting there all colorful just ready to be devoured? My Macaroni Coleslaw salad is one of those pretty ones. It is easy to make, cheap to make, and packed full of all the awesome things people love (except cheese haters like my father-in-law).

The fresh basil adds a nice pop of freshness for the summer.  The hardest part about this Cheese Tortellini Salad with Honey Vinaigrette is cooking the tortellini and chopping up the vegetables.  In other words, it’s not hard at all.

Cheese Tortellini Pasta Salad recipe with Honey Vinaigrette can serve as an Italian antipasto or easy side dish for a BBQ or party.

Lately, I have been seeing pumpkin this and that popping up everywhere.  No…just NO.  Fight it!  It is way too soon, people. Caprese pasta salad and all the salads are all I want right now.

Pumpkin season is more than long enough as it is, so I am staying put in full summer mode until September 20th (or whenever the first day of fall is – I’m too lazy to look it up right now).  So join me in this boycott of pumpkin and apples and come enjoy a nice summer tortellini salad with me.

Antipasto Tortellini Salad with Honey Vinaigrette
Author: 
Recipe type: side dish
Prep time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 6
 
An easy and delicious cold Cheese Tortellini Pasta Salad with Honey Vinaigrette tastes like an Italian antipasto platter and is loaded with veggies for a great side dish recipe.
Ingredients
  • 8 oz. pack Cheese Tortellini
  • ½ red pepper, sliced into strips
  • ½ green pepper, sliced into strips
  • 2 ¼ ounce can slicked black olives, drained (or get a can and slice them yourself)
  • 1 medium carrot, thinly sliced or julienned
  • 1 stalk of celery, diced
  • ½ cup Fresh flat leaf parsley, roughly chopped
  • Honey VIinaigrette
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • ½ cup extra virgin olive oil
  • 2 Tbsp. honey
  • 2 Tbsp. red wine vinegar
  • ¼ tsp. Kosher salt
  • ¼ tsp. ground black pepper
Instructions
  1. Make the dressing by placing all the ingredients in a bowl except the olive oil. Then slowly whisk in the olive oil until you have a nicely thickened dressing. Set aside. The dressing will get more body as it sits, from the honey.
  2. Place the red and green peppers, carrots, black olives and celery in a large mixing bowl.
  3. Cook tortellini according to the package (I cooked mine for 10 minutes in salted water). Drain and place hot tortellini into bowl with the peppers. Pour dressing over and toss all ingredients together gently to make sure all ingredients are coated evenly. As the ingredients sit with the dressing, the warm pasta will absorb a lot of it.
  4. Stir in the parsley.
  5. Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, stirring occasionally. Serve.

Recipe source:  adapted from Country Woman Magazine March/April 2000

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