Pea Salad is the perfect easy picnic recipe. Throw together a few easy ingredients for a classic side dish that everyone will love.
One of my favorite things is to take classic old recipes and put my own spin on them. I like to make them a few times to make sure that they are easy to make, have the best flavor, and use ingredients that make sense to me – nothing hard to find or hard to use.
The best recipes to do this with are potluck recipes. They are old classics that are so fun to give a little updated twist on. This Pea Salad is just that type of recipe. It has such simple ingredients, but you will absolutely fall in love with this picnic recipe.
How to Make Pea Salad
This is a brief overview of how to make this simple and delicious salad. For the full recipe with all of the measurements, see the recipe at the bottom of the post.
- Thaw the peas. Make sure your frozen peas are well thawed and drained before making this salad.
- Make hard boiled eggs. I love making hard boiled eggs in my instant pot. If you don’t have an instant pot, you can read how to make hard boiled eggs here.
- Make the bacon. Dice the bacon and then cook it in heavy bottomed pan until it is just crisp. Turn off the heat and use a slotted spoon to remove the bacon from the grease. Remember to reserve a bit of the fat for the dressing.
- Make the dressing. Whisk together mayonnaise, honey, white sugar, salt, pepper, and the reserved bacon fat. If you want to make a creamier version of this salad, whisk in 1 cup of sour cream.
- Mix it together. In a large bowl mix together the peas, celery, and onion. Toss it with the salad dressing.
- Chill and then serve. Refrigerate the salad for at least 1 hour. Just before serving, mix in the hard boiled eggs, bacon, and cheese.
Pea Salad Dressing
The dressing for this salad is extremely simple and made from four easy ingredients, plus salt and pepper.
- Mayonnaise: Low fat mayonnaise works great in this recipe and keeps the fat content down a little.
- Honey: This provides sweetness, but it also brings another layer of flavor to the salad.
- Sugar: This balances out some of the other ingredients in this recipe without making the salad overly sweet.
- Bacon fat: Reserving some bacon fat when you cook the bacon for this salad is a great way to add another dimension of flavor to the dressing.
Making this Salad Creamier
Some versions of this salad are substantially creamier. We tested that by adding 1 cup of sour cream. While it held the dressing to the salad a little better, we felt that the resulting taste wasn’t as good as when we left it out.
I will leave it up to you. Make this pea salad recipe creamier by adding a little sour cream when you mix up the dressing.
Using Frozen Peas
I always use frozen peas with this recipe. They are so convenient and easy to keep on hand. Be sure to thaw them and then drain them very well so that they don’t add extra moisture to the recipe. I like to even give them a little pat down with a paper towel. There is no need to cook them first.
I wouldn’t recommend using canned peas in this recipe as they aren’t as fresh and bright as frozen peas. They won’t have the same texture and color and they will not hold up as well.
You could definitely use fresh peas in this recipe, but you will need to cook them before using them in the salad.
How to Thaw Peas
There are a few ways to thaw peas. The first is what I would recommend most. Just leave the bag of frozen peas in your refrigerator overnight. Frozen peas come fully cooked. So you really can just let them thaw on their own and then drain them as described above. This is a fool proof way to get them to the right temperature without over-cooking them.
The other option is to bring a pot of water to a boil and toss the peas in. Leave them in for less than a minute and then immediately drain them and transfer them to an ice bath to cool and stop them from cooking. This method can be tricky because if you leave them in the hot water too long they will be over-cooked. No one wants that. You will know you did it perfectly if the peas are still that bright green you see in the photos.
Making Ahead
This recipe can be made ahead if you don’t combine everything until serving. Make the dressing, and then prepare the other ingredients. The peas, carrots, and celery can be combined and tossed with the dressing. Then prepare the cheese, bacon, and eggs and add them to the salad right before serving.
Storing Leftovers
This recipe is best when eaten right away. That being said, leftovers can be stored in the refrigerator in an airtight container for up to three days.
FAQ
Yes! This salad works great being made the night before. Just be sure to leave the egg, cheese, and bacon out until you are just ready to serve it. (Though you can prepare those the night before as well.)
Yes! But make sure to cook them before adding them to the salad.
What to Serve with Pea Salad
This is the perfect side dish recipe, and it would go amazing with so many recipes, but I do think of it more as a summer side. It would be great with some of the following main dishes:
If you make any of this great recipes or my green pea salad recipe, please leave me a comment and let me know what you think!
Pea Salad
Ingredients
- 4 slices bacon diced
- 3/4 cup mayonnaise (169.5 grams)
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 1 tablespoon white sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 20 ounces frozen peas thawed and well drained (567 grams)
- 3 celery stalks diced
- 1 small yellow onion diced fine
- 2 hard boiled eggs diced
- 1/2 cup Colby Jack cheese cubed (3 ounces or 56.5 grams)
Instructions
- Cook the bacon in a large skillet until it is just crisp. Remove from the heat and pull from the grease with a slotted spoon, transfer to a paper towel lined plate to fully drian. Reserve 1 tablespoon bacon fat.4 slices bacon
- Whisk together the mayonnaise, 1 tablespoon bacon fat, honey, sugar, salt, and black pepper until smooth.3/4 cup mayonnaise, 1 tablespoon honey, 1 tablespoon white sugar, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- Mix together the peas, celery, and onion. Toss with the dressing and chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.20 ounces frozen peas, 3 celery stalks, 1 small yellow onion
- Just before serving, stir in the bacon, cheese, and hard boiled egg.1/2 cup Colby Jack cheese, 2 hard boiled eggs
Susan says
I used everything but the bacon so, of course, no bacon grease in the dressing. It was still wonderful!
I’m glad to hear it!
Margaret says
I made. English pea salad to day for lunch. Hard to find a recipe in cook book these days. I had forgotten what all went into it. We enjoyed it. I forgotten that bacon went into it, thanks
I’m so glad you liked it!
Denise says
My husband cannot have any pork product as it causes him gout, can you use any other meat?
You could use turkey bacon, and then consider melting a tablespoon of butter to add to the dressing.