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This Bacon Pea salad is a simple side dish filled with sweet peas, smoky bacon, cheddar cheese, and red onion in a quick creamy dressing.
Ingredient Tips For Pea Salad
This easy pea salad is a great side dish for potlucks or holiday meals since it’s quick to prep and should be made ahead of time. We often serve it alongside our Easter ham or Thanksgiving dinner.
- Peas: You can use either fresh or frozen peas for this recipe. My preference is frozen as they’re sweet, tender, and don’t require cooking. To make pea salad with fresh garden peas, shell them and boil them for 5-8 minutes or until tender. Drain well and cool completely.
- Bacon: Either cook and crumble bacon or use pre-cooked bacon or bacon bits. If using pre-cooked or bacon bits, I microwave them for a minutes or so to crisp them before adding.
- Cheese: I love sharp cheddar in this recipe, but any variety of cheese can be used.
- Onion: Green onion or sweet white onion can be used in place of red onion.
Dressing: Pea salad dressing is a simple mixture of mayonnaise, sour cream, vinegar, sugar, and seasoning.
Holly’s Tips
- No need to cook frozen peas for this pea salad – run them under cold water to thaw.
- Any frozen peas work, but tiny peas, sometimes called baby peas or baby sweet peas, contain more sugar and are preferred.
- The dressing in the recipe is quick and adds the best flavor; you can replace it with Ranch dressing or premade coleslaw dressing in a pinch.
- Chopped boiled eggs are a great addition.
- Store leftovers in an airtight container for up to 4 days. This pea salad does not freeze well.
More Veggie Salads
This classic pea salad is perfect on any potluck table. Here are more favorite quick salads.
Did you enjoy this Pea Salad? Leave a rating and a comment below!
The Best Bacon Pea Salad
Ingredients
- 4 cups frozen peas thawed
- 8 slices bacon cooked and crumbled
- ½ cup shredded cheddar cheese or cubed, 2 oz
- ¼ cup finely diced red onion or sweet white onion, more to taste
Dressing
- ⅓ cup mayonnaise
- ½ cup sour cream
- 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons white vinegar or apple cider vinegar
- ¼ teaspoon salt more to taste
- ⅛ teaspoon black pepper
Instructions
- In a large bowl, whisk together mayonnaise, sour cream, sugar, and white vinegar. Season with salt and black pepper.
- Add peas, bacon, onion, and cheese to the bowl and gently stir to coat.
- Refrigerate at least 2 hours before serving. Season with additional salt & pepper to taste.
Notes
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Course Lunch, Salad
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I surprised my family with this awesome recipe! I will be making this weekly. I love pasta salad but carbs! Thank you again
I’m so happy to hear you loved this recipe Eve!
Forgot to say that i add a boiled chopped egg or two! Thanks
Your version sounds delicious Sherry! Thank you for sharing.
Old fashioned delish! So simple and good and a great blast from the past of my moms cooking. Without the bacon as she was a vegetarian!
Can you add peanuts to the pea salad?
I haven’t tried it with peanuts, let us know how it goes if you try it!
First time I made this I didn’t use sour cream and it was delicious! Just made it with sour cream and it’s a runny mess. Won’t be taking it to the get together I made it for.
I just made this tonight for a side with our ribs! Super tasty , used red wine vinegar. Thanks !
Thanks, Jen! Glad you enjoyed it.
Jen, I used Balsamic Vinegar so I’ll try red wine next!
This is the best cold pea salad I’ve ever had. I’ve always added mustard, but this is way better. The sour cream, bacon and cheese are a delicious addition.
Delicious!
Can this be made a day ahead? I have larger function and need to prepare ahead.
Thanks
This can be made a day ahead. I would suggest setting the bacon aside and adding before serving to keep it crisp.
Great recipe!
Absolutely delicious and a wonderful side with tilapia and au gratin potatoes.
To.add to my original post I used red wine vinegar and left out the onion (for the kiddos)…adjust to your family. Loves it!
Does it matter if you use red or white vinegar?
We use white vinegar for this recipe but you could use red vinegar if you prefer. :)
Delicious & Simple!
Even non-pea lovers will love this dish
Do I need to blanch and shock the peas if they are fresh out of my garden?
As mentioned in the post Carriw, to make creamy pea salad with fresh peas from the garden, shell the peas and place them in a pot of boiling water for 5 minutes or until tender. Drain well and cool completely.
4.5 out of 5. Excellent recipe which closely matches my favorite restaurant. Thank you
This is a winner for sure. Taste great and is a nice side dish or salad. The peas were surprisingly sweet and crisp. The bacon added a nice smokey flavor with just the right amount of saltiness. I love red onions but they can be a bit inconsistent, some running hot or sweet, others strong and sharp. Just alter the amount based off your liking. I’m not a fan of ranch so the original dressing was wonderful. So glad I have added this in my winners rotation!
I love your recipes but this one missed the mark. I made this recipe exactly as stated in the instructions. It was so soggy and just looked like mush. It was not a hit. I’ll definitely be back for more of your great recipes but this one was not one of them :(
Sorry, this didn’t work out for you Jen, thank you for trying the recipe.
I was just about to start making this pea salad when I realized that I don’t have enough sour cream. Can I omit the sour cream and just use plain Mayo? I have all other ingredients on hand. Thanks!
That should be ok, this will make it a bit richer and thicker. You can thin out with a touch of milk if needed. Greek yogurt or plain yogurt can be used.
Love ❤️
I make this salad all the time, for years!
I use real bacon bits to simplify and if I cooked my own bacon —-It probably would never end up in the salad!
I put salted peanuts in it for crunch factor as the restaurant in Mi did 40 yrs ago. They used the old fashion type peanuts not dry roasted.
Bacon hack—I saw this on a TV cooking show. For easier diced or crumbled bacon, freeze the bacon strips, chop them while still mostly frozen, then toss into the pan to fry. Easier to chop, easier to fry (more stirring than flipping strips). Be sure the drain well on paper towels.
Great tip, thanks for sharing!
I usually Bake a whole package of bacon at 400° for 20 minutes, flip halfway through. Drain on paper towels, wrap in a paper towel and freeze in Ziplock bag. Whenever I need bacon for a recipe it’s in the freezer ready to chop up or throw in an omelette. It really simplifies recipes when this is pre-cooked.
That’s a great tip Melissa!