Greek Tortellini Chicken Salad

Believe me when I tell you that this is one recipe where you will WANT to have leftovers!  This tortellini chicken salad is such a great "bring to work for lunch" meal!  You won't feel heavy and weighed down afterwards... and in my opinion, the longer the flavors marinate together, the better it gets! 

This is a snap to put together, and requires no more kitchen skills than boiling pasta!  It's more of an "assembly" recipe.  HaHa.  Think of all the places you could bring this.  It would be perfect for a picnic, as there is no mayo involved.  Pot lucks, family reunions, office functions, bridal and baby showers... very versatile!

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Ingredients:   

• 1 family sized package of cheese tortellini
• or the filling of your choice
• a rotisserie chicken
• or about 3 cups of cooked chicken
• purple onion slices very thin (1/2 - 2/3 cup)
• sun dried tomatoes (about 1/2 cup)
• crumbled tomato basil feta cheese (about 1/2 cup)
• black olives (a little over 1/4 cup)
• fresh basil (a little over 1/2 cup)
• Romano Basil Vinaigrette 
• (I used Wish bone brand)
• salt and pepper to taste
• freshly grated Parmigiano reggiano cheese

 Please feel free to make the recipe "your own" by adding or deleting ingredients as you see fit.  Enjoy and have fun!

Start my removing the chicken from the carcass.  If you have leftover cooked chicken lying around, feel free to use that.  Cooked shrimp may be really nice, too!

Boil the tortellini according to package directions, just until done.  Don't over boil them as you don't want them mushy. 

Add the cooked and drained tortellini to a large bowl.  NOT the size I used... I had to switch bowls as this one was clearly not large enough in the end.

To the tortellini, add the rest of the ingredients.  It's that easy.

Cooked chicken, cut into bite sized pieces.

Use your mandoline to shave the onions super thin.  I used setting #2 on my el cheepo mandoline.

Very thin slices of red onions. 

a big handful of sun dried tomatoes

A small handful of black olives.  Careful.  Too many can be overpowering.

Lots of the Romano Basil Vinaigrette.  I probably used 2/3 of the container.

about 1/2 the container of tomato basil feta cheese crumbles

a handful of leaves of fresh basil, cut thinly

salt and pepper to taste

Give it all a nice stir to combine.  Then adjust any of the ingredients that you may like more of.  It's a touchy feely sort of recipe.  :)

* Don't let these purple onions scare you off.  After sitting there with all the dressing and stuff, they really soften and mellow!   You really need them in there.

Finish it off with a nice grating of Parmigiano reggiano.

Parmigiano reggiano

Garnish with a bit more fresh basil and feta to serve.   It's pretty good when you first make it, when it's still warm... but I find it to really be best if you refrigerate it for the next day!  That's when you can add the rest of the bottle of dressing.  

I hope you enjoyed this recipe!
It was super easy to put together.   You can find hundreds more on my Recipe Index.
I also have a new page Film strips for pinning where you can see whole recipes at a glance, and even go to them directly from there.  I think you'll like it!

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Here are some bonus recipes for you!
BLT Buffalo Chicken Wrap

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Mississippi Mud Puddles

 
Written Method     
Start by removing the chicken from the carcass.  If you have leftover cooked chicken lying around, feel free to use that.  Cooked shrimp may be really nice, too!  Boil the tortellini according to package directions, just until done.  Don't over boil them as you don't want them mushy.  Add the cooked and drained tortellini to a large bowl.  NOT the size I used... I had to switch bowls as this one was clearly not large enough in the end.

To the tortellini, add the rest of the ingredients.  It's that easy.  Give it all a nice stir to combine.  Then adjust any of the ingredients that you may like more of.  It's a touchy feely sort of recipe.  :)  * Don't let these purple onions scare you off.  After sitting there with all the dressing and stuff, they really soften and mellow!   You really need them in there.  Finish it off with a nice grating of Parmigiano reggiano.

To serve - Garnish with a bit more fresh basil and feta.   It's pretty good when you first make it, when it's still warm... but I find it to really be best if you refrigerate it for the next day!  That's when you can add the rest of the bottle of dressing.