A 3-Ingredient Dinner from the Freezer

Keep a bag of frozen tortellini tucked away in your freezer and you can rest easy knowing that a quick meal is always at the ready. This series on fast tortellini dinners will show you how to transform frozen tortellini into dinner using pantry staples and a few surprising techniques. Pasta sauce is just the beginning!

Once you’ve made your way through soups, crostini, and salads filled with tender roasted vegetables, give this quick and easy weeknight pasta dish a try. All you do is toss warm roasted veggies — everything from broccoli to cauliflower to sweet potatoes is fair game — with cooked tortellini and a heaping spoonful of pesto.

Serve this meal warm for something a bit more comforting or try it chilled or at room temperature with a green salad on the side. It might just become the reason you start roasting vegetables in the first place.

Tortellini transforms roasted vegetables from a side dish into the main dish. It’s easy enough to boil a bag while your veggies of choice are roasting. Simply toss the two together with a saucy dressing (in this case, pesto), and it’s a one-bowl meal that’s as happy at the dinner table as it is packed in your lunch bag. Keep it vegetarian if you prefer with cheese tortellini.

While you boil the frozen tortellini according to package instructions, go and roast a bunch vegetables — broccoli florets, cubed eggplant and zucchini, chopped bell peppers, and halved cherry tomatoes are just a few good picks. Better yet, warm any roasted veggies you have from another meal. Toss the roasted vegetables with the cooked tortellini and a few generous spoonfuls of homemade or store-bought pesto. Enjoy warm, room-temperature, or cold.