Easy Bacon Pea Salad is one of our family’s all-time favourite summer salads. It goes well with anything from the grill but it also makes a great standalone light lunch. Enjoy!
Salad and I are like *THIS*. That probably comes at no surprise at this point. What you may not know, though, is that I have an especially soft spot for marinated salads.
You know which ones I mean… The ones that fill bowl after bowl at late spring and summer parties. The ones in oil and vinegar or mayonnaise based dressings that become even tastier the day after they’re made.
Macaroni salad, potato salad, corn salad, and baby… that pea salad you see in the picture above.
Even when I was a picky kid, peas were always a friendly food at the dinner table. A bowl of peas meant I had something I could dig into with abandon.
I always loved the little POP of biting into peas. I love them so much that I’ve even been known to dig into the bag of frozen peas for a fast, cold snack in the dog days of summer.
When I saw my friend Amy’s Pea Salad pop up in my feed reader a couple of weeks ago, it was a no-brainer that I was going to make it. I did. And it was glorious.
The next day when I made my second batch (I told you I liked peas), I added a bunch of crispy bacon and upped the cheddar and onion a bit and loved it so much that we polished off the whole batch in a matter of hours.
Yes. I’ve done the math. I am completely aware of how many pounds of peas we ate in two days. I self-imposed a two-day moratorium on pea-salad in the house.
But PEOPLE! (Pea-ple?) Easy Bacon Pea salad? Well, it’s like hand and glove, Rocky and Bullwinkle, peas and, er, bacon!
It just goes together. I haven’t done anything but eat it directly from the tupperware container with a spoon, yet, but I guarantee you couldn’t find a tastier or easier side dish for just about any grilled, roasted, or broiled meat or fish.
The sweet POP of the pea, creamy mayonnaise dressing, crunchy mild red onion, and crispy bacon taste great right after being stirred together, but they taste even better after having sat in the refrigerator for a day, making this an IDEAL side dish to serve with an Easter Ham, summer picnics, Labor Day festivities and everything else the whole dad-burned year. Easy peasy, my pea-ple!
 Cook’s Notes:
- I prefer to use frozen peas that have thawed overnight in the refrigerator. I prefer the texture and flavour of them over canned peas. If you have fresh peas, blanch them as you would to freeze them and use them after they’ve chilled before using them to make your Easy Bacon Pea Salad.
- We served scoops of Easy Bacon Pea Salad on top of tossed salad the other day and loved it. Bonus: No dressing necessary.
- This can be served immediately after stirring it together, but tastes even better if allowed to sit, tightly covered, in the refrigerator for an hour or up to three days. It should be eaten within 3 days of being made, which is NOT a problem. Trust me.
Use this to make Easy Bacon Pea Salad:
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Love Bacon Pea Salad? Try these!
Here’s another great pea recipe: One Skillet Beef Meatballs with Rice and Peas, and here are excellent recipes to serve alongside Bacon Pea Salad: Creamy Buffalo Chicken for Instant Pot or Slow Cooker, Chicken Parmesan Meatloaf, Slow-cooker Apple Cider Pulled Pork, Big Batch Greek Lemon Garlic Chicken, and Oven Baked Crispy Chicken.
It doesn’t get much easier than Bacon Pea Salad! Look how simple it is to make.
Bacon Pea Salad
Rate RecipeIngredients
- 1 pound of bacon cooked according to package instructions, drained and crumbled or finely chopped
- 2 pounds frozen peas thawed in the refrigerator overnight
- 3/4 cup coarsely grated sharp Cheddar cheese
- 1/2 small red onion peeled, and finely chopped
- 1/2 cup of mayonnaise
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon paprika
Instructions
- Stir together all of the ingredients and serve immediately, or (preferably) put in a tupperware, Gladware, or other tightly covered container in the refrigerator to give the flavours a chance to meld for an hour but up to three days prior to serving. Give it a gentle stir from top to bottom before serving.
Nutrition
Nutritional information is an estimate and provided to you as a courtesy. You should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe using your preferred nutrition calculator.
did you make this recipe?
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This post was originally published April 7th, 2014 and was updated May 11th, 2017 with a video and improved notes.
Reader's Thoughts...
Michele says
Awesome! Can’t stop eating it…. yummy :- )
sassy says
My grandmother used to make something similar. We grew up on it. Instead of cheese we dice up an apple. The dressing we make is half mayo and half plain yogurt. Can also top with toasted nuts when serving.
Rebecca says
That sounds like a delicious spin on pea salad!
Grace says
How many servings does this make? 4-6?
Thank you!
Rebecca says
Hi Grace- Thanks for asking, but I don’t provide serving sizes because the number of servings my family gets from something is generally pretty off from what the government RDA serving sizes are… Instead of trying to parse it, I just don’t do it. I can say that one batch of this was pretty generous and went nicely with a meal of grilled meat with a couple of leftovers.
Laura says
The recipe says 12 servings
Rebecca says
Yes. It does. The recipe didn’t always have numbers of servings listed, though. That comment was posted at a time I did not provide serving counts. 🙂
Betsy says
I have been making this for 20 years but my partners hates peas. Is there any suggestions to switch out peas for something else and still taste good?
Nadine smock says
You might use kidney beans in place of peas.nadine smock
Erika says
Yum!! I like to add finely chopped celery and hard boiled eggs to mine as well.
Tery says
I substituted store bought Poppy-seed dressing and added sunflower seeds! The crowd I made it for devoured it!
Doral Allen says
Hi, can you please tell me how many servings this makes? I’d like to make it for an upcoming women’s club lunch, and I need to make a salad for eight people. Thanks.
Rebecca says
I always hesitate to suggest how many servings you can get out of something, mainly because my family is comprised of ravenous beasts. If you look at the starting point, though, it’s 2 pounds of peas, so divide that by 8 and you have roughly 1/4 pound of peas per person. Since there’s about 1 cup to 1 1/2 cups of peas in a pound, that means you’re looking at 1/4 to 1/3 cup per person before other ingredients are added. If that seems sufficient, go with it. If not, I’d say increase it! 😀
Bluegrass state blonde says
Made this salad for a Mothers Day get together. My family ate every last bite of it. I used a tad bit more mayo than what recipe called for. Also– ’round here we love Dukes Mayo.
Such a delightful recipe. Thanks for sharing this keeper!
Rebecca says
Thank you so much! I’m so glad it went over so well and I appreciate you taking the time to let me know.
Janet says
I had a pea salad that was bought at a deli today and decided I wanted to make some myself, this looks yummy, I will also add waterchesnuts, they were in the salad I ate to day and it added a nice different crunch to the lushes’ pea crunch
Amy Rundstrom says
Oh my. Oh my, oh my, oh my! This was SO GOOD! It was like an upscale version of the 7 Layer Salad (which I’m a bit embarrassed to admit I love as much as I do). I did end up using a bit more may than called for to make it all come together, he first time I made it I found out my red onion was, um, bad (to put it mildly) so I used green onions instead. Wonderful – with either kind of onion. And I pretend like it’s health food…what with the peas and onions, you see….
jaimus says
You can also add fresh dill, its fantastic! Ive even made it vegan…used veganaise, chopped carrots and red onions fresh dill and salt and pepper. And a little pinch of smoked paprika! Surprisingly amazing!
Amanda says
I made this salad a few days ago i changed a few things up just a tad not that it needed it however lol i used 3lbs of frozen peas to accommodate a larger crowd for a dinner party. I only used the 1/2 small red onion for the 3 pounds of peas along with that i cooked up 12ozs of fresh bacon and used a 2.8oz package of real bacon bit pieces i put 8ozs of fresh grated sharp cheddar and mixed 1/2 a cup of bacon ranch dressing with the mayo. EVERYONE RAVED OVER THIS DISH ALL NIGHT Thanks so much! Also with the leftovers to add a different dimension to it i sprinkled some crunchy imitation bacon bits on top which was truly superb.
Fran Warren says
Can you add boiled chopped eggs, too. I always put them in my regular pea salad, I was just wondering.
Rebecca says
I don’t see why not!
Rhonda says
Just made this and it is fantastic!!!! My hubby thought it was the best pea salad he has ever had. I do agree. Thank you for sharing this.
Darla says
What would be the servings for this recipe?
Rebecca says
That really depends on how much each person will eat! Since you’re starting with 2 pounds of frozen peas it makes a generous amount.
margaret says
I make a variation of this salad sans the bacon, and add sliced green olives. Think I might try with bacon next time. A good trick if you only have frozen peas, add the frozen peas directly to the hot pasta, will defrost the peas quickly. Than let cool, add other ingredients, and let chill in fridge. Definetely sooo much better the next day:)
Pat says
A dash of Sriracha adds a whole new depth to this salad. Love it!
Brenda @ a farmgirl's dabbles says
I love peas. Sometimes a big bowl, with a little melted butter and salt, means supper for me! Love this salad!
Gathered Again says
This would be a wonderful side for a spring family reunion. I mean, I’d eat this anytime. You kind of had me won over at the word “bacon.” LOL!
All the best,
Laura
Denise says
I saw this floating around the internet today, and kept thinking how I LOVE all these flavors. What a great side dish to serve alongside something off of the grill – lamb chops?