Pea Salad

Creamy Pea Salad – A delicious spring recipe made with petite peas, crisp bacon, toasted slivered almonds, buttery cheddar an herby ranch-like dressing. It’s a classic recipe with upgraded flavor!

Chilled and Refreshing Cold Pea Salad

Who doesn’t love that bacon, cheddar, ranch combo? Even here in this pea salad it works wonders and really builds a basic salad into a memorable side dish.

It’s an excellent option for an Easter dinner to serve with a honey baked ham, mashed potatoes, and the best homemade dinner rolls. Then for dessert carrot cake of course!

This pea salad is a much tastier option than serving those frozen peas plain, it’s worth the bit of extra effort especially for a holiday celebration or weekend dinner.

It has a tempting blend of textures and well rounded flavor with it’s sweet pea freshness, salty bacon, toasty almonds, the depth from the cheese, and a rich creamy dressing to polish it off. It’s a salad fit for a feast!

Pea Salad Recipe Ingredients

• Sour cream and mayonnaise: Full fat options will offer the creamiest dressing but low fat can be used if preferred.
• Lemon juice: For best results use fresh lemon juice.
• Fresh parsley, chives, and dill: Dried herbs will work too if that’s what you have. Use 1 Tbsp dried parsley, 1/2 Tbsp dried chives and 1 tsp dried dill.
• Garlic powder, salt and black pepper: These seasonings really help build of the flavor of the salad. I actually don’t recommend fresh garlic here or it may overpower the mild peas.
• Frozen peas: Fresh shelled peas that are blanched and drained well would be an excellent option too.
• Bacon: Regular cut bacon not thick cut is recommend.
• Cheddar cheese: I use medium cheddar, but mild or sharp will work as well.
• Slivered almonds: Sliced almonds will work fine too.

How to Make Green Pea Salad

• Cook the bacon: To cook bacon you can use the method you prefer, oven or stovetop works well. I chop and cook in a 12-inch non-stick skillet over the stove on medium heat, tossing occasionally, until browned.
• Make the dressing: In a small mixing bowl whisk together sour cream, mayonnaise, lemon juice parsley, chives, dill, garlic powder, while seasoning with salt and pepper to taste.

• Toss together salad ingredients with dressing: To a large mixing bowl add peas, bacon, cheese, almonds and dressing mixture. Gently toss everything together.

Possible Variations

• Red onion: In place of chives you can use 1/3 cup chopped red onion added to the salad.
• Cheese: Try it with a different type of cheese such as Colby, Gouda or Monterey Jack.
• Ham: You could also make pea salad with tiny chopped cooked ham pieces in place of bacon.
• Lighter pea salad: To make it a bit lighter you could opt to use Greek yogurt in place of mayonnaise.
• Sweeten: If you’d prefer a lightly sweet salad include 1 Tbsp honey with the dressing.

Helpful Tips

• Petite peas are best: Stick with “petite” peas for the best flavor. The others can be overgrown, aren’t as naturally sweet and lack flavor.
• Fresh herbs: Use fresh herbs if possible, they’ll really build up the freshness of the salad. Even if you only have one fresh and two other dried, such as fresh parsley.
• Toasting nuts: Don’t forget to toast the almonds for one more layer of deliciousness. It really builds up their flavor. Buy pre-toasted or to toast spread on a baking sheet and toast in a preheated 350 °F oven for 5 to 8 minutes.
• Cut ingredients small: Cut cheese and bacon small for uniformity to the salad, so their aren’t big chunks of ingredients for better mouthfeel and so flavors are more even spread throughout.

Storage

• Pea salad can be stored in the fridge in an airtight container up to 3 days.
• Just note that it is best the day it is prepared.

More Recipes with Green Peas to Try

• Chicken Pot Pie with Biscuits
• One Pan Creamy Chicken and Rice
• Shepard’s Pie
• Slow Cooker Beef Soup
• Split Pea Soup

More Salad Recipes to Try

• Asparagus Tomato Salad
• Broccoli Salad
• Coleslaw
• Potato Salad

5 from 1 vote

Print Recipe

Pea Salad

A delicious spring recipe made with petite peas, crisp bacon, toasted slivered almonds, buttery cheddar an herby ranch-like dressing. It's a classic recipe with upgraded flavor!

Servings: 7

Prep25 minutes minutes

Ready in: 25 minutes minutes

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup sour cream
• 3 Tbsp mayonnaise
• 1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
• 2 Tbsp finely chopped fresh parsley
• 1 Tbsp minced fresh chives
• 1 Tbsp chopped fresh dill
• 1/4 tsp garlic powder
• Salt and black pepper
• 4 cups frozen petite peas, thawed
• 8 oz. bacon, cooked until crisp and chopped
• 4 oz. medium cheddar cheese, cut into tiny cubes or shredded
• 1/2 cup slivered almonds, toasted

Instructions

• In a small mixing bowl whisk together sour cream, mayonnaise, lemon juice parsley, chives, dill, garlic powder, while seasoning with salt and pepper to taste.
• To a large mixing bowl add peas, bacon, cheese, almonds and dressing mixture. Gently toss everything together.
• Store up to 1 day in the fridge.

Nutrition Facts

Pea Salad

Amount Per Serving

Calories 374 Calories from Fat 261

% Daily Value*

Fat 29g45%

Saturated Fat 9g56%

Trans Fat 0.1g

Polyunsaturated Fat 6g

Monounsaturated Fat 11g

Cholesterol 45mg15%

Sodium 369mg16%

Potassium 396mg11%

Carbohydrates 16g5%

Fiber 6g25%

Sugar 6g7%

Protein 15g30%

Vitamin A 1474IU29%

Vitamin C 43mg52%

Calcium 179mg18%

Iron 2mg11%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

Nutrition values are estimates only. See full disclaimer here.

Course: Salad

Cuisine: American

Keyword: pea salad

Author: Jaclyn