Need a great pasta salad to star as a main course for your next lunch or dinner get-together or as a side dish for a party? Well then, I have the perfect recipe for you!
I recently made one of my favorite pasta salads for a get together with some friends and it was loved by all. Plates. Licked. Clean. Cheesy Pesto Pasta Salad is full of colorful veggies and cheesy goodness was the perfect light lunch before a rich and chocolatey dessert. The full recipe for this salad makes a huge amount. I usually make a full batch if we are including this salad on the menu when we are hosting a large party. If you are making it for a smaller crowd, or maybe dinner one night, you most definitely want to halve it which is super easy to do.
Cheesy Pesto Pasta Salad
Recipe Type: Side Dish
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 8-10
Ingredients
- 1 (20 ounce) package of cheese tortellini, cooked and drained
- 8 oz of rotini pasta, cooked and drained
- 1 container of grape or cherry tomatoes, halved
- 1 green bell pepper, diced
- 1 (14 oz) can artichoke hearts, drained and quartered
- 1 (6 oz) can black olives, drained and sliced
- 12 oz of mozzarella cheese, cubed
- 1/3 cup parmesan cheese
- 1/3 cup olive oil
- 1 (8oz) jar basil pesto
- 2 tsp minced garlic
- salt to taste
Instructions
- Cook pastas, drain and set aside to cool.
- In a large bowl add together the rest of the ingredients, mixing everything well.
- Gently add in the pastas.
- Add salt to taste.
- **If you make this ahead of time you may need to add more olive oil, salt and parmesan to lighten it up again.
Grab a can of artichoke hearts, a jar of basil pesto and a couple of cans of sliced black olives.
I like to use the parmesan cheese from the can, I think it mixes better than the freshly shaved variety. I also like to buy those leetle cherry-sized balls of mozzarella so i just need to cut them in half. I believe they are called Ciliegine…oh, now I sound so Italiano!
Olive olive oil, garlic and some salt round out the ingredients list.
Dice, halve and chop up all those ingredients and place them in a large bowl…
I like to mix the olive oil, pesto, minced garlic and parmesan cheese together in a smaller bowl separately. Just to make sure the sauce is mixed thoroughly.
Cook and drain your tortellini pasta and rotini pasta, let cool and then add it to your large bowl with the rest of the pasta salad ingredients.
Mix everything together well and you have yourself the most amazing Cheesy Pesto Pasta Salad!
Oh so good!
Perfect for an easy weekend lunch or dinner!
Enjoy!
XOXO,
YUMMY! This looks absolutely AMAZING!!! I can’t wait to try it! Thanks for sharing this terrific recipe.
Have a great weekend.
Kate
This looks yummy!! I am always looking for new recipes to try.
Looks super yummy!
Looks wonderful! The recipes I have tried of yours have all turned out super yummy, so of course I will have to try this one too! Thanks!
This sounds yum!
This looks SO good! My mouth is watering!!
Great minds think alike! I make this ALL Summer since it’s a wonderful, cold, and quick dinner. Except I do Feta cheese instead of mozzarella.
oooh that looks delicious! Now I totally want some pasta salad and not just any pasta salad but cheesy pesto pasta salad. : ) Thanx for sharing!
Natalie
http://www.projectdowhatyoulove.wordpress.com
That looks amazing! Definitely will put it on our menu next week! =)
This looks delish! I can’t wait to try it, thanks for sharing 🙂
http://mamascraftyplace.blogspot.com
YUMMY!! I must try this out!! Thanks for sharing this recipe, Maggie! I just featured you today! XOXO
This looks like a pasta salad I make only I add hard salami to it. Just get about 1/2 a pound at the deli counter and cut it into chunks at home and add to the salad. My hubby wants the meat in his salad 🙂
I love pesto…this recipe looks delicious. Thanks for sharing!