Add excitement to your child’s lunchbox with this Tortellini Lunchbox Salad. It’s filled with color, flavor, fun, and great nutrition. This recipe is easy to make with everyday pantry ingredients including dried or frozen tortellini, frozen edamame, dried cranberries, almonds, and Italian salad dressing.
October is National Pasta Month. In my house, every month is pasta month.
I have two teenage boys. Need I say more?
My youngest son is in high school, and right now he’s playing JV soccer. With all that exercise, he’s hungry 24/7.
Lunch is typically a rush at school, and I don’t think he’s eating enough, so I decided to create a lunchbox salad that would satisfy his hunger, please his palate, and fill his belly with high-quality calories. I think I met those goals with this vegetarian pasta salad made with pesto-filled tortellini, edamame, almonds, protein-rich chickpeas, and dried cranberries. The sweet and savory flavor combination rocks, and he LOVES it!
The great thing about cooking with pasta is that it provides the foundation for a healthy meal. It boosts energy and pairs well with just about anything: vegetables, beans, lean protein, cheese, and even dried fruit.
I usually buy cheese-filled fresh or frozen tortellini, but I found a package of dried, pesto-filled tortellini at Trader Joe’s and decided to give it a try. One cup of the dried yielded 2 cups cooked, so if you opt for frozen or fresh in this recipe, adjust accordingly.
- Serves: 4
- Serving size: 1 cup
- Calories: 330
- Fat: 13g
- Saturated fat: 2g
- Carbohydrates: 42g
- Sodium: 530mg
- Fiber: 3g
- Protein: 12g
- 1 cup pesto-filled dried tortellini *
- ¾ cup frozen shelled edamame, thawed
- ¾ cup canned chickpeas, drained and rinsed
- ½ cup dried cranberries
- ½ cup lightly toasted sliced almonds
- 3 tablespoons Italian salad dressing
- Cook the pasta according to package directions. Five minutes before it's done, stir in the edamame. Drain in a colander, place in a bowl, and cool (on the counter or in the fridge).
- When the pasta comes to room temperature or cooler, add the chickpeas, cranberries, almonds, and salad dressing. Stir to combine. Season with kosher salt and pepper to taste.
- Before packing into a lunchbox, you may want to add an additional teaspoon of the dressing.
I LOVE tortellini. The pairing you did is perfect.
A lunchbox tortellini is pure genus! We don’t do (un fermented) soy but lima beans would be wonderful in this! Thanks for another healthy lunchbox treat!
I have frozen baby lima beans in my freezer right now. I’m definitely going to use those next time!
This looks SO refreshing! I honestly never would have thought to make a pasta combo like this, so creative love it!
Glad you like it, Selena. It may seem like an odd combo of ingredients, but it’s so good! My son ate it all week in his lunchbox. I think he was pretty wowed by the sweet cranberries 🙂
I love that you included soybeans in this, one of my favorite treats! Lovely recipe!
Love this pairing! Unique yet so simple. Big fan of any recipe that calls for only a handful of ingredients. Pinned!
Guess what’s going in my kids’ lunchboxes this week? #notkidding (:
You’re a doll! Let me know how it goes over 🙂
This looks AMAZING! I love tortellini. Very cool that your son is a teenager… me too 🙂 I’m surprised he would eat this!
Leigha: My teenage son is a great eater. Early exposure to a variety of interesting foods and flavors did wonders for developing his taste buds! He loved the sweetness of the cranberries, the crunch of the almonds, and the smooth texture of the edamame and chickpeas! Let me know if you try this recipe. I’d love to hear your feedback. (And be sure to share it with your teenage friends!)