The Best Classic Pea Salad is the easiest to make, cold, summer side dish! Creamy pea salad is packed full of flavor with frozen sweet green peas, a flavorful mayonnaise dressing, crunchy onions, bacon, and cheddar cheese!
Pea Salad may be an “old fashioned” side dish just like Grandma used to make, but, it truly withstands the test of time as a summertime favorite!
This classic salad is a Midwestern and Southern staple. You won’t go to a potluck and not find it on the menu! I personally have craved pea salad even as a child. There is something so tempting about the slightly sweet and savory combination that I just can’t get enough of!
How to Make Pea Salad:
Pea Salad simply starts out with a 16 ounce bag of frozen peas. You can use canned peas instead if that is what you have on hand. Keep in mind that the frozen peas are much more green! They look prettier, have a slight crunch that makes this salad so good, and they hold up a little better than canned. If you use canned peas, I would recommend chilling them for a couple of hours before making this salad so that they don’t become mushy as you stir.
If you are using frozen peas, go ahead and set them out on the counter to thaw slightly while you mix the rest of the salad ingredients together. If your peas are still a little “frosty” that is ok. They will thaw the rest of the way while the pea salad chills in the refrigerator. You will want to chill this for 1-2 hours for best flavor before serving.
The dressing for pea salad is a simple mixture of mayonnaise, salt, pepper, and a bit of sugar. I don’t add vinegar to my dressing at all, I think it’s too overwhelming. You can use light or fat free mayo for this pea salad as well if you are watching your calories. Don’t be turned off by the added sugar either! It truly just helps amp up the flavor, it does not make it sugary.
This salad is seriously easy to make, it maybe takes about 10 minutes. Go ahead and add all of your dressing ingredients to your bowl along with your bacon bits, shredded cheese, and diced red onion. Mix it all together at once, then add your peas and stir to combine everything very well.
As mentioned above, I use real bacon bits pieces for my pea salad. However, you can cook up regular bacon (about 6-8 pieces) and use instead if you prefer.
Make this classic pea salad, and let me know what you think! If you have never had pea salad, be prepared to be amazed at how comforting a simple cold salad can truly be!
Be sure to try out these other great summer side dishes too!
- Grandma’s Best Macaroni Salad
- Italian Tortellini Salad
- Popcorn Chicken Bacon Ranch Pasta Salad
- Raspberry Peach Cheesecake Salad
- Greek Cucumber Salad
Enjoy!
~Nichole
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The Best Classic Pea Salad
Ingredients
- 1 16 Ounce Bag Frozen Green Peas
- 1 1/3 Cups Mayonnaise
- 2 Teaspoons Granulated Sugar
- 1/2 Teaspoon Salt
- 1/2 Teaspoon Pepper
- 1 Small Red Onion, Chopped
- 1 Cup Shredded Cheddar Cheese
- 1 2.8 Ounce Bag Real Bacon Bit Pieces** See Note
Instructions
- Remove the frozen peas from the freezer. Open the bag and place the peas in a colander. Allow them to thaw slightly on the counter while you mix up the salad dressing.
- In a large bowl mix together the mayonnaise, sugar, salt, and pepper with the red onion, cheese, and bacon bits.
- Add the frozen peas to the salad and stir well, but gently to combine.
- Chill the salad, covered, for at least one hour before serving.
I have made this for years. I get asked all the time to bring this, broccoli salad, and pasta salad to ever get together with both family and friends. I like using real bacon and put about a teaspoon of the bacon grease in my mayo dressing to give it more of a bacon flavor. You can also add diced cashews to add a nutty component.
This is one of my husbands favorite salads and takes no time to make. I didn’t have mayonnaise on hand so I used ranch dressing with bacon and through in some bacon strips left over from breakfast. I like to use the thick cherry wood flavor and instead of salt and pepper, I used McCormick Montréal steak seasoning and a pinch on Italian seasoning. He gobbled it up and asked to make it for our friends retirement party! Every one was asking for the recipe! 😁
I made this for my family’s Christmas in July cookout. It was delicious and reminded me of 7-layer salad without the lettuce and egg. I’m so glad I made a double batch because I took home leftovers and have been eating it everyday!
I have made this twice. This time a double batch with one portion of bacon bits and the other diced ham. Awesome.
We love this frozen pea salad. I leave out the bacon and add hard boiled eggs to the mix before serving.
Can you use Miracle Whip instead of mayonnaise?
Yes, if that’s your preference it will work fine 🙂
I would just add that if you use Miracle Whip, leave out additional sugar.
Miracle Whip goes BEAUTIFULLY with EVERYTHING!!!!!
I’ve used it in a VERY similar recipe and it’s freat, just use VERY little if any sugar.
I hate Miracle Whip!!! It’s HELLMANS MAYO…all the way!!!!!!
Delicious! I used cubed cheese.
I made a double batch for a summer party and it was perfect!
Made this salad for the first time for My Dad’s 80th Birthday Party. It was a hit with my Guests. This is a keeper.
Made this for my husband’s bridge group and they loved it. The only change I made was to use the milder shallot instead of red onion. This one is a keeper. I plan to make it many more times.
Planning on making this for an Easter get together. Recipe says it makes 12 servings. How big is a serving? Wondering if I should double it for 12 people.
Hi, it’s always hard with potluck style dishes but this would be a good serving spoon size full per person. If in doubt, it wouldn’t hurt to double the recipe. Hope that helps 🙂
This brought back memories from my childhood. I wanted something different for my church picnic rather than the standard potato and macaroni salads and it was a hit. I have since taken it to office parties as well. DEFINITELY USE FROZEN PEAS …..canned turn mushy and make this be a totally different flavor. For ease in preparation, the day before needed, I make the dressing (adding just a splash of cider vinegar), thaw the peas in my refrigerator, chop the onions (definitely keep with the red ones), cut the cheese in small cubes rather than shredded (cubed holds up better and doesn’t liquidate as shredded does if you have leftovers). Saute the bacon and crumble (I’m not a fan of bagged bacon bits)….keep all ingredients separated in ziplock bags. In the morning, I mix everything together and put in a glass bowl and refrigerate (stays chilled better in glass that way). Just before serving, a few twists of freshly ground black pepper finishes it off. Best part…..This holds up for several days and I always hope I have leftovers so I can just scoop a bowlful for a quick snack.
Will try this soon…and may try substituting the mayonnaise with Italian dressing. Love these simple recipes, especially during the spring and summer months.
Well, this was just absolutely delicious! … oh man, I gotta pace myself! Thank you!!
I love Pea Sald (and mine is almost identical), but I like to add chopped hard boiled egg right before serving (last thing to mix in so they don’t break up too much).
I also put hard-boiled eggs in mine.
I was looking for something simple to make and take to my church potluck tomorrow and this is it! We have a large elderly population and I think they will especially enjoy this and so will everyone else. I haven’t seen this at a potluck in years. Thanks for sharing ?
This was so simple yet so delicious! This will definitely be a side dish I make again and again!
Thank you! It’s such a favorite of ours so I love hearing that you enjoyed it! 🙂
This was delicious. I’d never had pea salad before. I found this recipe while looking for an alternative to potato or pasta salad. It was quick and easy to make. Definitely a keeper.