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Our Tortellini Pasta Salad is the ultimate 30-minute dish loaded with fresh veggies, black beans, avocado, and a simple homemade dressing. I love to make it as a light main dish or a potluck side.
Tortellini Pasta Salad always disappears fast.
This Tortellini Pasta Salad is quick, easy, packed with fresh ingredients, and works as both a main dish with some grilled chicken or as a side dish.
My biggest tip for this recipe, is to use good quality tortellini – it is the star after-all! The dry packaged kind will work, but the refrigerated kind cooks in just a few minutes and taste so much better!
Try more of my pasta salads, like Chicken Caesar Pasta Salad, Orzo Salad, Italian Pasta Salad, Cold Noodle Salad, and Street Corn Pasta Salad!
How to make Tortellini Pasta Salad:
Prep Ingredients: Cook tortellini according to package instructions then drain and rinse with cold water. Combine all dressing ingredients in a resealable jar and shake to combined.
Combine: In a large bowl, dump in cooked corn, black beans, bell pepper, avocado, cherry tomatoes, onion, and cilantro. Drizzle the desired amount of dressing on top (go slow, you may not want it all) and toss everything to coat it.
If you love this recipe, try my Creamy Tomato Tortellini, Creamy Tortellini Soup, Pesto Tortellini, and Vegetable Tortellini Soup!
Cheese Tortellini Pasta Salad
Equipment
Ingredients
- 20 ounce package three cheese refrigerated tortellini
- 1 cup corn, , fresh cooked, canned or frozen
- 15 ounce can black beans, , drained and rinsed
- 1 red bell pepper, chopped
- 1 avocado, , peeled, seeded and 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
- Cook the tortellini according to package instructions. Drain and rinse with cold water.20 ounce package three cheese refrigerated tortellini
- Add tortellini to a large bowl. Add cooked corn, black beans, bell pepper, avocado, cherry tomatoes, onion, and cilantro.1 cup corn, 15 ounce can black beans, 1 red bell pepper, 1 avocado, 1 ½ cups cherry tomatoes, ¼ cup red onion, ¼ cup fresh cilantro
- 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.3 Tablespoons olive oil, juice from 2 limes, 2 Tablespoons rice vinegar, 1 clove garlic, 1 teaspoon granulated sugar, 1 teaspoon chili powder, 1 teaspoon ground cumin, salt and freshly ground black pepper
Notes
- Add protein: grilled chicken, tofu, shrimp or steak.
- Substitute what you already have! Use your favorite kind of beans, and incorporate other veggies you like or already have on hand.
- Adjust Spice: add some hot sauce to the dressing, to turn up the heat.
- Dressing: if you don't want to make it from scratch (sigh!) you can add your favorite store-bought zesty southwest or Italian.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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I originally shared this recipe February 2017. Updated April 2021 and May 2026.
This was so delicious! Wasn’t sure about that Rice vinegar but went ahead and tried it and it was delicious! Another great recipe!
Is there a premade dressing I can buy that would go good with this? i don’t really like making dressings from scratch
You can use whatever dressing you like, but this one is REALLY easy to stir together (takes less than 5 minutes) and has a tex-mex flavor. I can’t think of anything similar that’s store-bought.
Loved this recipe so much. My husband did too & we are adding this recipe to our meatless Mondays!
This was a satisfying and tasty dish.
Do you think substituting the sugar for Truvia/Stevia would work?
Sure! Hope you enjoy it 🙂
I have made this many times for potluck dinners, etc. and this recipe is always a HIT!!
Can you use lemons instead of limes?
Sure 🙂
Thank you for all your recipes, they all look amazing. I love trying new recipes, can’t wait to try some.
Not sure as to how many packages of tortellini are used. Thanks!
One 20 ounce package of tortellini
Absolutely delicious! I’m going to use that dressing with my taco salad, too. We now have another favorite pasta salad.