Since I was in high school I have been a big fan of cheese tortellini. Hold up, let me give you a little background. I loveeeee pasta. Pasta of any kind, penne, rigatoni, spaghetti, lasagna, fettuccini, ravioli, anything! I love it all and I could literally eat it every day if I allowed myself too. But anyways, I keep it to a minimum now just because it always makes me feel so heavy. BUT, five cheese tortellini is my favorite pasta, hands down. I mean I love anything with cheese lets be honest, but there’s just something about cheese tortellini that really gets me happy dancing!
Since we love cheese and pasta SO much, Quimi and I decided we wanted to make a summer inspired dish with tortellini. We know tortellini or pasta can be such a heavy meal with the noddles and the sauce and the meat that may be in it. But this summer tortellini recipe is light, refreshing, and so so delicious! It requires no heavy sauce such as marinara or alfredo, it has a light drizzle of olive oil and balsamic vinegar that makes it oh so good! We couldn’t wait to devour it!
Ingredients
- 1 3lb package of five cheese tortellini
- 4 boneless skinless chicken tenderloins (we had frozen ones that we thawed) you can use whatever type of chicken you have
- 6 slices of bacon
- 1 cup of cherry tomatoes
- 1 1/2 cups Brussel sprouts
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
- salt & pepper to taste
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees and prep your chicken. We simply seasoned our chicken with a little bit of salt and pepper and drizzled with olive oil. We bake it for 15-20 minutes until it was nice and tender.
- Fry or bake your bacon. We have a little toaster oven so we baked ours at 400 degrees for about 15 minutes or so until it was at the desired crispiness.
- Now you can begin to prepare the tomatoes and brussel sprouts. We cut the brussels into 4ths and our tomatoes in half. These will not take too long to saute so we did it when the chicken was just about to be done.
- Over med-high heat throw in your brussels sprouts into a large skillet that has plenty of olive oil. These will take longer to toast up and get that crispiness. We sauteed them for about 10 minutes until they reached the crispiness that we wanted.
- Once they are at the place you want them, throw in your cherry tomatoes. Just watch them as they heat up for about 5 minutes or so.
- Lastly, the cheese tortellini takes about 2 minutes to make so you’ll want to do this last. Grab a large pot and fill with about 5-6 cups of water. then place over the high heat until water begins to boil
- Once water is boiling, throw in your tortellini! Watch them carefully as they only take 2 minutes and then they are done! Drain them in a colander and just let them hang out for a bit.
- Now go back to your chicken, take it out, and cut it up into 1/4 inch pieces. Also, take out the bacon and chop up into little bite-sized pieces.
- It’s time to assemble!! In the same skillet that had the brussel sprouts and tomatoes, throw in the rest of the cooked ingredients.
- Make your balsamic/olive oil dressing. Just grab a small bowl and put in 1/4 cup olive oil and 1/8 cup of balsamic vinegar. Stir it up so it’s well combined. Now pour it over all of the pasta and chicken and bacon mixtures.
- Toss it all together really well so everything is coated and well heated.
- Then, you are done!!! Transfer it to a pretty bowl for serving, or just small bowls to eat with your guests! You’ll want to dive in immediately!
This dish is incredibly satisfying!!! We hope you enjoy our cheese tortellini recipe as much as we do and make it for a summer gathering or hang out with family and friends! It’s a crowd pleaser for sure! Let us know if you make it! -xoxo
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