Southwest Tortellini Pasta Salad

A fresh and easy southwest tortellini pasta salad that can be made in less than 30 minutes! It’s loaded with veggies and protein and coated in a deliciously simple and healthy southwest dressing.

If I had it my way, I’m pretty sure I could live off of pasta salad. I think I’ve mentioned that before.

I have a ton of various pasta salad recipes on my site because they make a great main dish OR side dish! You can usually customize them with ingredients you already have in your pantry too.

One thing I especially love about this Southwest pasta salad is that it’s made with TORTELLINI! Tortellini pasta are pretty much a staple in my freezer.

They’re perfect for nights when I need something really quick to throw together, and my family loves them!

A few of our other favorite tortellini recipes include One Pan Lemon Chicken Tortellini and Creamy Tomato and Spinach Tortellini.

Things I love about this Southwest Tortellini Pasta Salad:

It can be made ahead of time.

Cook the tortellini, chop the veggies and make the dressing on the side. Then combine everything right before you’re about to eat! It’s already a really quick dish to prepare, but doing those things ahead of time make it the perfect side dish to dinner, BBQ’s or any type of event where you have to bring a side dish to share.

Refrigerated cheese tortellini are the best kind!

Although the dry packaged kind will work for this recipe, I just don’t think they taste as good. The refrigerated kind only take a few minutes to cook once your water is boiling and they’re cute little bite-size bites of cheesy bliss 🙂

It’s a great healthy meal your family will love!

This is one of the healthier meals I like to feed my kids. They LOVE it, and I love that it’s loaded with veggies and good protein from the beans. The dressing is pretty mild–definitely not too spicy for my family. If you do want to add a little “heat” to the dressing you could add some Valentina hot sauce.

Consider trying these pasta salad recipes:

• Healthy Chicken Pasta Salad
• Creamy Pesto Tortellini Pasta Salad
• Italian Pasta Salad
• BBQ Chicken Pasta Salad
• Pasta Primavera

4.91 from 10 votes

Southwest Tortellini Pasta Salad

Print RecipeSave to Meal Plan

Prep Time

20 mins

Cook Time

8 mins

Total Time

28 mins

 

This easy southwest tortellini pasta salad is ready in 30 minutes, loaded with veggies and protein and coated in a delicious and healthy southwest dressing.

Course: Main Course, Salad, Side Dish

Cuisine: American

Unit: clove, cup, ounce can, Tablespoon, teaspoon

Servings: 5

Calories: 607 kcal

Author: Lauren Allen

Ingredients

• 20 ounce package three cheese refrigerated tortellini
• 1 cup corn fresh from 1 ear of cooked corn, canned or frozen corn
• 15 ounce can black beans , drained and rinsed
• 1 red bell pepper chopped
• 1 avocado , chopped
• 1 1/2 cups cherry tomatoes , halved
• 1/4 cup red onion , chopped
• 1/4 cup fresh cilantro , chopped

Dressing:

• 3 Tablespoons olive oil
• juice from 2 limes
• 2 Tablespoons rice vinegar
• 1 clove garlic , minced
• 1 teaspoon granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Instructions

1. Cook the tortellini according to package instructions. Drain and rinse with cold water.
2. Add tortellini to a large bowl. Add cooked corn, black beans, bell pepper, avocado, cherry tomatoes, onion, and cilantro.
3. Combine all of the dressing ingredients in a resealable jar. Shake until combined. Pour desired amount of dressing (you may not want to use it all) over the pasta and toss to coat.

4. You might also enjoy Creamy Pesto Tortellini Pasta Salad.

Recipe Video

Recipe Notes

Tips for making this ahead of time are listed in the post above.

 

Nutrition Facts

Southwest Tortellini Pasta Salad

Amount Per Serving

Calories 607 Calories from Fat 216

% Daily Value*

Total Fat 24g 37%

Saturated Fat 5g 25%

Cholesterol 43mg 14%

Sodium 502mg 21%

Potassium 587mg 17%

Total Carbohydrates 75g 25%

Dietary Fiber 12g 48%

Sugars 7g

Protein 24g 48%

Vitamin A 23.1%

Vitamin C 56.6%

Calcium 18.4%

Iron 26.4%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

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