Spooky Halloween Side Dish
This fun and colorful Halloween Salad is the best spooky side dish. With pepperoni bats, vibrantly colored tortellini and mozzarella cheese skulls, it's also the most delicious!
Ingredients
For the Red Wine Vinaigrette:
- 1 clove garlic minced
- ½ cup olive oil
- ¼ cup red wine vinegar
- 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
For the Halloween Salad:
- 4 ounces pearl size fresh mozzarella balls
- 8 ounces fresh or frozen tortellini
- Gel food coloring for dying tortellini (I like orange, green and purple)
- 8 ounces spring mix or arugula
- 4 ounces thick-cut pepperoni cut into shapes with a bat cookie cutter or cubed
- 1 pint cherry or grape tomatoes halved
- 6 mini sweet peppers thinly sliced crosswise
- ¼ cup pitted kalamata olives sliced crosswise
Instructions
Make the Red Wine Vinaigrette:
- In a jar or dressing bottle with tight fitting lid, add garlic, oil, vinegar, mustard, oregano, salt and pepper. Close lid and shake until emulsified and thickened. Set aside.
Make the Halloween Salad:
- Blot mozzarella pearls dry with paper towel and place one pearl in each opening of a 1-inch skull-shaped silicone mold. Microwave on high 30 seconds, keeping an eye out for any bubbling. You do not want to brown the cheese, but just soften it. Once cheese is softened and melty, carefully use the back of a spoon to press the cheese down into the crevices of the molds. Transfer the mold to the fridge. Once the cheese has cooled and re-solidified (about 5 minutes), pop the cheese skulls out of the molds.
- Meanwhile, cook tortellini according to package directions, and drain. In three separate bowls, add a few drops of gel food coloring to 3/4 cup of cool water, stirring to dissolve one color into each bowl. Divide tortellini evenly among the 3 bowls and let sit for 5 minutes. Then, drain the tortellini and rinse with cold water. Gently pat the tortellini dry with paper towel.
- Just before serving, add spring mix, pepperoni, tomatoes, peppers, olives, cheese skulls and dyed tortellini to large bowl. Toss salad and lightly dress with vinaigrette to taste. Serve with any remaining vinaigrette.
Notes
- I recommend eating this Halloween side dish on the same day that it’s tossed together with dressing. Storing salad greens already tossed with dressing is a recipe for sogginess.
- If you suspect you will have leftovers, you can simply drizzle dressing over each individual serving. Then, you can store the leftover salad and dressing separately in airtight containers in the fridge for up to a day.
Calories: 464kcal, Carbohydrates: 24g, Protein: 15g, Fat: 35g, Saturated Fat: 8g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 3g, Monounsaturated Fat: 18g, Trans Fat: 0.3g, Cholesterol: 40mg, Sodium: 802mg, Potassium: 456mg, Fiber: 4g, Sugar: 5g, Vitamin A: 2461IU, Vitamin C: 53mg, Calcium: 207mg, Iron: 2mg
This website provides estimated nutrition information as a courtesy only. You should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe using your preferred nutrition calculator.
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