This easy Homemade Pea Salad recipe makes the perfect side dish for summer barbecues, family get-togethers, and weeknight dinners. Loaded with peas, cheddar cheese, red onion and lots of bacon! This is sure to be a crowd favorite!
Love easy salad recipes? Then you need to try my Cucumber Avocado Salad and my BLT Pasta Salad!
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Pea Salad
Pea salad is a classic American side dish that’s as colorful as it is delicious! It’s packed with bright green peas, red onion, cheddar cheese, and bacon. Then, all of those ingredients are tossed with a dressing made from sour cream, mayonnaise, red wine vinegar, salt, pepper, and a little pinch of sugar.
This Homemade Pea Salad recipe is sweet, savory, and packed with bright flavors. It’s a great side dish for summer barbecues, weekend family get-togethers, and busy weeknight dinners!
I love making this Homemade Pea Salad whenever we’re grilling out because it’s a cool element to a lot of hot, smokey food. This is also a great change of pace for holiday recipes. Trust me, this side dish is sure to be captivating and a crowd pleaser on any occasion! It’s also a great dish to make ahead of time and have ready in advance!
What’s in Pea Salad?
To make your own easy pea salad, you only need a handful of ingredients including: frozen green peas, cubed cheddar cheese, diced red onion, and crumbled cooked bacon. For the homemade dressing, you’ll need sour cream, mayonnaise, granulated sugar, red wine vinegar, salt, and freshly cracked black pepper. That’s it!
Feel free to swap some ingredients out to best fit your taste. For example, you can use white cheddar or swiss cheese instead of cheddar. You can also use apple cider vinegar or white wine vinegar instead of red wine vinegar.
How To Make Pea Salad
- Start by assembling the pea salad by adding the peas, cheese, diced onion, and cooked bacon to a medium-sized bowl.
- Then, make the dressing by adding the sour cream, mayonnaise, sugar, and vinegar to a small bowl and mix to combine. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
- Pour the dressing on top of the peas mixture, and toss to coat. Serve immediately, or chill for an hour or two before serving!
How to Store Leftovers
This Homemade Pea Salad is best enjoyed the day that it’s made, but it will keep in the fridge in an airtight container for up to 3 days. Do not freeze!
Variations
- Add more veggies! Chopped bell peppers, diced celery and shredded carrots would be delicious!
- Change up the cheese! Instead of cheddar, you could use white cheddar, swiss, colby jack or pepper jack.
- Change up the protein: Instead of bacon substitute ham, bacon bits or turkey bacon or omit to keep it vegetarian.
- Save on calories: By swapping the sour cream with greek yogurt.
- Add egg! To this Homemade Pea Salad for extra protein.
- Add pasta: Elbow macaroni would be awesome in this pea salad.
- Throw in some tuna: For added protein!
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I just add frozen peas?
Even though this salad is served cold frozen peas would add too much moisture if left frozen in the salad.
How to thaw frozen peas for salad?
The easiest way to thaw frozen peas is to run them under warm water in a sieve or colander for 1 minute.
How long can this be left out?
Because this salad does have mayonnaise, sour cream and cheese I recommend only keeping it out at room temperature for no more than two hours. If you are bringing this to a potluck or making for a party I recommend placing the bowl over ice! My neighbors have some of these and they work great for keeping food cold!
What to serve with Pea Salad
- Grilled Chicken
- Steak Kabobs
- Instant Pot Barbecue Chicken
- Deviled Eggs
- Grilled Sweet Potatoes
- Potato Salad
- Macaroni Salad
- Homemade Burgers
More Side Dish Recipes To Try
- Tomato and Black Bean Quinoa Salad
- Japanese Cucumber Salad
- Quick Pickled Red Onions
- Grilled Vegetable Panzanella Salad
- Cucumber Avocado Salad
Pea Salad
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Ingredients
- 16 ounce frozen peas, thawed
- 3/4 cup cheddar cheese, cubed
- 1/2 cup red onion, diced
- 1/2 pound bacon, cooked and crumbled, about 8 slices
- 1/3 cup sour cream
- 1/3 cup mayonnaise
- 1 tsp granulated sugar
- 1 tsp red wine vinegar
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Add the peas, cheddar cheese, onion and cooked bacon to a medium bowl.
- Add sour cream, mayonnaise, sugar and vinegar to a small bowl and mix to combine. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
- Pour dressing on top of the peas and toss to coat. Serve immediately or chill for an hour or two before serving!
Nutrition Information
Did You Make This?
I’d love to hear your feedback! Leave a review and make sure to share your pictures on social media! Don’t forget to follow @thechefsavvy.
Russell Cooper
I made pea salad, but instead of vinegar, sour cream, etc., I used Miracle whip… tasted great.
Cam
This recipe was soooo creamy and delicious. I loved the cheddar cheese addition! I made this for a bbq last weekend with my family and everyone loved it.
Kelley Simmons
Yah! So happy to hear you enjoyed this salad Cam. Thank you so much for sharing!
Aimee Mars
I love this recipe! There is just something about the cheese, bacon, and peas that have a comforting and addicting taste to them.
Tavo
The recipe was super easy and delicious! I made a big batch as meal prep for the rest of the week!
Anjali
This was so simple to make and was the perfect side dish for our picnic dinner last night! Even my kids loved it!
Carrie Robinson
This is such a classic side dish! Definitely a must-make for a summer BBQ or potluck. 🙂
Jess
This is loaded with pure goodness!
Beth
This recipe came just in time for Summer, parties and no oven recipes! So delicious and so easy!
Anjali
This looks like such a delicious side dish for an outdoor picnic or BBQ!! Can’t wait to make it now that warm weather is finally here!
Anita
This salad is super easy to prepare and tastes really good. My kids love it.