Tortellini Pasta Salad with tomatoes, red onion, artichokes, goat cheese, spinach, and an easy homemade Italian dressing. All of the ingredients are layered into a mason jar for a delicious portable lunch to enjoy all week.
It has been one of my goals to start creating new mason jar salad recipes. I love them and apparently so do all of you because it is one of the recipes searched the most on Organize Yourself Skinny.
My latest mason jar creation is inspired by a tortellini pasta recipe I love. It is a tomato sauce that includes artichoke hearts, red onion, and goat cheese. Delish! I haven’t posted it yet because every time I make it I forget to write down the measurements. I promise I will post that recipe soon.
How to Make Tortellini Salad in a Jar
Until then let me show you how I took those flavors and switch them up a bit for my Tortellini and Artichoke Mason Jar Salad.
For the dressing I decided on Italian – my favorite is this homemade Italian Dressing Then I layered the salad with cherry tomatoes, red onion, artichoke hearts, cheese filled tortellini, crumbled goat cheese, and a spinach arugula blend. I love arugula. It lends such a great peppery flavor to recipes.
Be mindful when it comes to the tortellini. The calories can add up rather quickly. Originally, I was going to make the whole bag then just divide among the jars but the calorie and fat count was through the roof. So I decided to use half the bag and then divide that amount between the 5 mason jars. This brought the calories way down and was the perfect amount of tortellini per salad.
Read our Mason Jar Salad Guide to learn our top tips and tricks to perfect layered salads in a jar every time + get our top mason jar salad recipes.
Other Mason Jar Salad Recipes
- Spinach Pasta Salad in a Jar
- Steak Salad in a Jar
- Spicy Thai Salad in a Jar
- Antipasto Salad in a Jar
Artichoke and Tortellini Mason Jar Salad
Equipment
- 5 32-ounce mason jar salads
- 5 mason jar lids
Ingredients
- 10 tablespoons homemade Italian dressing
- 1 quart cherry tomatoes halved
- 1 red onion chopped
- 2 cans quartered artichoke hearts cut in half
- 4 ounces dried cheese filled tortellini; cooked according to package directions I bought the 8 ounce bag of Barilla brand cheese filled tortellini and only used half
- 5 ounces goat cheese
- 5 cups bagged spinach/arugula blend salad
Instructions
- Layer each mason jar with the ingredients starting with dressing then adding tomatoes, onion, artichokes, tortellini, goat cheese, and finishing with arugula/spinach blend.
- When ready to eat give the salad a shake and pour into a bowl.
J Clement says
37 WW points!! OMG. Was going to make this until I saw the nutritional info. Bummer. Looks SO good!!
Tammy Kresge says
37 is the carbs. WW points are 11.
Adara says
I’ve tried the tomato, mozzarella and pasta salad which I loved. Was going to try this salad and I saw that this has tomatoes as well. I’m concerned with eating so many tomatoes, do you have any suggestions on other vegetables to substitute with?
Tammy Kresge says
bell peppers or any hearty veggie will work just fine.
Meredith says
I made this salad last night. I threw in some chicken breast for additional protein. When I opened the jar at work, all the chicken had large black spots on it. Any ideas? Would the artichoke cause discoloration on the chicken?. I’m not much of a cook (yes I know salad is not really cooking) so maybe I should just say I have always avoided spending time in the kitchen and I’m trying to mend my ways. Any ideas would be helpful
Kerri says
So good warmed in microwave! (Froze in office fridge so warmed to eat-love it warmed!!)
Teresa says
I have to tell you, I was dubious. Not because I didn’t think it’d work, but because I wasn’t sure how I’d like it. I just wasn’t sure how it’d all taste together–I haven’t ever had artichokes in anything that wasn’t a dip with spinach 🙂 I made this on Saturday, and dumped the first one into a bowl today for lunch and it was AMAZING. All the flavors go together really well and I even ate the tomatoes…and I generally avoid them. This is going to make lunches for school MUCH easier!! Can’t wait to try the others.
Barbara says
I made this recipe last night. I do LOVE this. I like onions but these red ones are mighty pungent! Matter of fact, I was just to see the Dr. for pink eye. I’ve been on eyedrops for 2 days and when I went to cut the onion I had massive tears flowing out of that eye! I might switch up the onion factor a bit but it was very delicious! Love the goat cheese and tortellni & artichokes. Love it all! Can’t wait to try out your other options!
Donna says
Try rinsing the chopped onion in cold water, it cuts down on the overwhelming taste a bit. You can also put the onion in the freezer for a few minutes before you chop it.
kristi says
Shallots might be a better option. They are not as strong and they still taste great.
Tammy Kresge says
That is a great idea thanks!
Malia says
I even halved the amount of red onion I put in and I still found it a bit overpowering. Next time I make this, I’ll probably do a quarter of an onion (or maybe my onion was just really big?).
diane says
this recipe does sound delish. i think i would put the layers in differently though. maybe the onions might mellow if they were at the bottom in the dressing with the tomatoes after that — might marinate them some. don’t think they would get too soft, maybe just milder.
J-Mag says
The larger the red onion, the milder it is, It might help to get the largest one you can find.