The Best Pasta Salad Ever? No, really … it’s that good. Take a look at this wonderful pot luck, crowd pleasing Summer pasta salad. Salty bacon and sweet onions…always a winner, chewy cheese tortellini with a fresh crunch of broccoli, colored with red tomatoes, with a creamy sweet unique dressing. I’ll let you decide if it’s best.
Grilled burgers, pasta salads, hanging out on the back deck…get your flip-flops on, grab a cold glass of iced tea and Let The Summer Games Begin.
I honestly don’t have a really good pasta salad recipe. I used to. I don’t know what happened to it. I can’t remember what I thought was so darn good about it…I mean really, is there any magic to throwing together a good macaroni salad?
Do you really need a recipe? Well it seems I do, as nothing I “throw together” is impressing me.
So I decided to Google “best pasta salad recipe EVER”. After looking through a few of the results, this one caught my eye, so gave it a try.
I think it showed up in the results because the first few reviewers exclaimed it to be simply the best – EVER.
The dressing for this salad
Surprisingly, the dressing for this tortellini salad is simply bottled Coleslaw Dressing.
Could it get any easier than that. The only bottled coleslaw dressing I can find is Hidden Valley. It’s flavor works great for this recipe. I’ve seen that Light House Dressings that you find in the refrigerator section makes a Coleslaw Dressing, but I can’t find it in my area.
And if you really want this finished salad to WOW, use your favorite homemade coleslaw dressing.
If you don’t have a family favorite, take a look at my dressing from my Creamy Classic Cole Slaw post.
This is quite a tasty salad, and, as always, much better after sitting in the fridge overnight, gotta give those ingredients a chance to get to know each other better.
I have taken this cheese tortellini salad to countless pot lucks, BBQ’s and parties. It never fails, someone always asks for the recipe.
Let’s take a look.
Tortellini Pasta Salad Recipe
I hope you give this Cheese Tortellini Salad Recipe a try. And if you do, please come back and let me know how you liked it and give the recipe a star rating.
Your feedback is valuable to me for developing future recipes. And if you have a favorite pasta salad recipe, let me know, I’d love to give it a try.
Looking for more crowd pleasing pasta side dish recipes? You won’t want to miss:
- Smoked Mozzarella Pasta Salad with Creamy Parmesan Sauce
- Rocky Mountain Steak Salad with Penne
- Pasta Chicken Salad Recipe
- Creamy BBQ Ranch Black Bean Pasta Salad
- Trumpet Pasta Salad
- Pioneer Woman’s Best Macaroni Salad
- Lancaster County Macaroni Salad
- 19 ounce package Frozen cheese tortellini
- 1 pound bacon fried and chopped
- 4 cups chopped broccoli cut small
- 1 pint grape tomatoes halved
- 3 green onions finely chopped
- 1 cup bottled coleslaw dressing I could only find one brand – Hidden Valley
- Cook the tortellini according to the package directions, drain, rinse with cold water, and refrigerate until cool, about 30 minutes.
- Place the bacon in a large, deep skillet, and cook over medium-high heat, turning occasionally, until evenly browned, about 10 minutes. Drain the bacon slices on a paper towel-lined plate. Chop the bacon into 1/2-inch pieces while still a little warm.
Place the tortellini, bacon, broccoli, grape tomatoes, and green onions into a salad bowl. Pour the dressing over the ingredients, and toss gently to coat. The tortellini are fragile. Chill in refrigerator before serving.
Safeway has a frozen three cheese tortellini that works great for this. I have also used single cheese tortellini from King Soopers. It’s all good.
Vino Luci Style says
May 29, 2010 at 3:00 amWhile this looks very good and I trust your taste…I have to say I do this I have a recipe for the best pasta salad ever.
Take the trifecta of basil, tomato and mozzarella, add avocado and pine nuts and then drizzle with balsamic dressing…I mean I know your mouth is watering, isn’t it?
The picture (crappy that it is) is meaningful as it was the very last one taken with my old point and shoot. Forced me to buy a DSLR and things haven’t been the same since! Seems I need to make it myself, soon, if only to get a better picture (oh, yeah, and eat half of it before company comes too!).
http://vinolucistyle.com/2009/09/avocado-tomato-and-mozzarella-pasta-salad-with-pine-nuts/
Have a safe and fun Memorial Day Lea Ann!
leaannbrown says
May 29, 2010 at 5:50 pmBarb, I did head over to your blog to see that pasta salad and it looks and sounds WONderful. I’ll give it a try soon. Love the addition of avocado. Thanks for sending me the link.
Vickie says
May 29, 2010 at 3:05 amAnd I will be copy catting those wraps in a couple of weeks when I take the kids on a picnic! Cute idea.
Alos love the idea of using tortellini in a pasta salad. The ingredients sound like a great combo.
-haha, “lousy with birds” 🙂
leaannbrown says
May 29, 2010 at 5:49 pmI knew you’d like the “lousy with” reference! 🙂
Pam says
May 29, 2010 at 1:05 amI wish I had friends who took pictures of cutely wrapped sandwiches and sent them to me!
leaannbrown says
May 29, 2010 at 6:00 pmWell, I don’t know what that says about me.
Larry says
May 29, 2010 at 11:03 amYour salad looks good from here and like most things, it’s a matter of what you like. I think the one I posted about on May 16 was about as good as I’ve ever had, except I’d use Newmans Caesar dressing as I usually do. I’ve used the same dressing on a salad that is lots of veggies with the pasta and it works well there also, I mix in the veggies while the pasta is hot to take a little of the raw edge off the veggies. Looks like a good picnic spot.
leaannbrown says
May 29, 2010 at 5:46 pmoh that’s right, I’ll have to go back and take another look at your pasta salad. I agree with your method of mixing in vegies while pasta is hot, it also helps blend the flavors better. I also do that with potato salad. Heading over to Big Dude right now.
buffalo dick says
May 29, 2010 at 3:16 pmNot bad for a girlie girl pasta salad…HeeHeeHee..
leaannbrown says
May 29, 2010 at 5:42 pmawrightie Mr. BD……I’ll have you know that I don’t throw a softball ball like a girl!
buffalo dick says
May 29, 2010 at 7:20 pmI played center field on a winning team into my mid- thirties! Remember the song “Anything you can do, I can do better”..God, I can be an annoying man! 🙂
Joanne says
May 29, 2010 at 12:35 pmI really think tortellini makes for the best pasta salad. Those little cheesy rings are just awesome. I really love pesto pasta salad with tortellini, cherry tomatoes, and black olives. Good stuff.
leaannbrown says
May 29, 2010 at 5:44 pmI think your combination really sounds good. Saving that idea!
Chris says
May 30, 2010 at 2:42 pmI have my mother’s Spaghetti salad which is my favorite that I need to do a post on soon. It’s the ONLY dish that I will eat with regular store bought tuna in it.
Great area to take a picnic!
leaannbrown says
May 30, 2010 at 5:08 pmYou know now that you say “spaghetti”, I do believe my lost recipe was a cold spaghetti salad. Don’t think it involved Tuna. I’ll be anxious to see your recipe.
girlichef says
May 30, 2010 at 2:49 pmOh, I love the sammie wrapped like that…too cute! I don’t have a favorite pasta salad recipe…but I love tortellini in my pasta salad, that’s a definite plus! Sounds yummy. =)
leaannbrown says
May 30, 2010 at 5:07 pmThanks for stopping by GC
Roti n Rice says
May 30, 2010 at 3:16 pmTortellini in salad is new to me but it sure looks good!
In MN, the hills are called mountains and the lakes are ponds….go figure!
leaannbrown says
May 30, 2010 at 5:06 pmIt was new to me also Berin, but when I read the recipe I wondered why I hadn’t thought of it! Thanks for stopping by
tasteofbeirut says
May 30, 2010 at 10:28 pmI never make pasta salads I don’t know why! I could easily make this one and my daughter would inhale it! Thanks for sharing an easy and flavorful recipe!
Zia Liz says
May 30, 2010 at 7:41 pmThis looks wonderful! I like it that it can be made with a few things already on hand. Great post!