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

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

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.

cold green pea salad

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!

old fashioned pea salad

Enjoy!

~Nichole

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5 from 60 votes

The Best Classic Pea Salad

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!
Prep 10 minutes
Chill Time 1 hour
Total 10 minutes
Servings 12

Ingredients 

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.

Notes

**NOTE:  Real bacon can be used in place of the bacon bits.  Simply cook and crumble 8 slices of bacon and add to the salad instead.
NOTE:  This salad can be made using canned peas instead.
NOTE:  This pea salad can be made 2 days before serving.  Store in the refrigerator in an airtight container.

Additional Info

Course: Salad, Side Dish
Cuisine: American
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Hey! Nice to meet you! I'm Nichole!

Welcome to The Salty Marshmallow! I'm a mom, animal lover, photographer, & kitchen mess-maker. Here you will find the result of my decades-long passion for chasing the best flavors in the kitchen, all meant to be cooked by regular people with busy lives just like you and me.

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71 Comments

  1. 5 stars
    Love pea salad, and trying out the multitudes of recipe variations I come across …
    My personal tweak is adding a can of sliced water chestnuts.. drained, and rinsed, I lay them out on a paper towel, place another on top to dry them, then, stack them in 3’s and dice them pea sized.
    The added crunch never gets soggy..

  2. I made the recipe tonight. I only had a 12oz. bag of peas & had to zap some bacon, made some adjustments, it was still delish! It’s one of my husbands fav’s. He was happily surprised. I think I may add small ham chunks next time.