Creamy Bacon Pea Salad

12 servings
Prep Time 12 minutes
Total Time 12 minutes

Creamy Bacon Pea Salad with mayonnaise, bacon, cheddar and crunchy sweet peas. The perfect southern summer side dish in just five minutes!

This delicious Side Dish will be at home at any cookout or BBQ next to classics like Macaroni Salad, Pasta Salad, or Potato Salad.

Creamy Bacon Pea Salad in serving bowl

CREAMY BACON PEA SALAD

Creamy Bacon Pea Salad is a southern staple and an indulgent, easy, craveable crazy sounding salad that you will go nuts for once you’ve tried it.

Creamy mayonnaise, salty bacon, sharp cheddar, and sweet, crunchy peas all meld together to make this side salad a must try that will become the hit of any get together. Once you serve this Creamy Bacon Pea Salad to guests, they will be asking you for the recipe every time! It is a perfect recipe for pot lucks, because it can feed a crowd and is so unique it’s not likely there will be any duplicates.

Creamy Bacon Pea Salad collage of prep steps

This salad is so easy it literally comes together in less than five minutes once your ingredients are all ready. It’s the perfect side dish to prepare in advance since it needs to chill at least an hour before serving, and you can allow the flavors to develop in the fridge while you get your other dishes prepared.

Make this recipe even easier by cooking your bacon in the oven. Lay bacon pieces in a single layer on a wire rack placed on a rimmed baking sheet, and bake for 18-20 minutes in a 400 degree oven until crispy. Then all you have to do is chop it into pieces and collect your other ingredients and you’re ready to make an amazing salad!

SIDE DELI SALAD RECIPES

TIPS FOR MAKING CREAMY BACON PEA SALAD

This Creamy Bacon Pea Salad recipe is such an easy side dish to make because it really is just a mix of a handful of ingredients. It is delicious when using thick cut bacon for the salad, some people love the convenience of premade bacon bits (made of actual bacon). It doesn’t get easier than that, and with pre-made bacon bits you can have this salad chilling in the fridge in less than 10 minutes.

TOOLS USED TO MAKE CREAMY BACON PEA SALAD

Bacon Bits: If you want to skip browning and chopping your own bacon, these bacon bits are a quick and easy swap.
Kitchen Knife: While there is minimal chopping in this recipe, this knife is inexpensive and amazing (second from the top on the left).
Cheese Grater: Your knuckles will thank you.

Creamy Bacon Pea Salad in serving bowl

WHAT TO SERVE WITH CREAMY BACON PEA SALAD

Creamy Bacon Pea Salad in serving bowl

VARIATIONS ON CREAMY BACON PEA SALAD

  • Peas: Frozen, thawed peas have a nice crunch, but if you prefer the texture of the canned peas they will also work. Rinse and drain the peas before using them in the salad. In the spring, fresh peas would also be delicious. Simply blanch them in boiling water for 1 minute and rinse with cold water.
  • Egg: Hard boil 4 eggs and chop them into small ½ inch dice and combine gently with the rest of the ingredients.
  • Layered Pea Salad: You can make a beautiful presentation with this salad by layering the ingredients. First, toss the peas and cheese with the mayonnaise, salt and pepper then add half the peas, half the onions, half the bacon then repeat. Top with a bit more cheese.

HOW TO STORE CREAMY BACON PEA SALAD

  • Serve: Don’t leave this pea salad at room temperature for longer than 2 hours.
  • Store: Cover the large bowl or put the Creamy Bacon Pea Salad into another airtight container to store it in the fridge. It will keep well for up to 3 days.
  • Freeze: Unfortunately the creamy dressing in this salad recipe won’t stay good in the freezer. It’s better just to make the recipe fresh.

Creamy Bacon Pea Salad on bed of lettuce with spoon

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Creamy Bacon Pea Salad

Creamy Bacon Pea Salad with mayonnaise, bacon, cheddar and crunchy sweet peas. The perfect southern summer side dish in just five minutes!
Yield 12 servings
Prep Time 12 minutes
Total Time 12 minutes
Course Side Dish
Cuisine American
Author Sabrina Snyder

Ingredients
 

  • 2 pounds frozen peas
  • 1 cup shredded sharp Cheddar cheese
  • 1/2 cup red onion chopped
  • 1 cup mayonnaise
  • 1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
  • 1 pound bacon cooked crisp and chopped

Instructions

  • Rinse the frozen peas in a colander and let drain for a few seconds while you make the rest of the salad.
  • Into a large bowl add the cheese, red onion, mayonnaise, Kosher salt, black pepper and bacon.
  • Top with the peas and stir together until fully combined.
  • Chill in the refrigerator for at least an hour before serving.

Video

Nutrition

Calories: 386kcal | Carbohydrates: 12g | Protein: 11g | Fat: 32g | Saturated Fat: 9g | Cholesterol: 42mg | Sodium: 528mg | Potassium: 281mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 4g | Vitamin A: 700IU | Vitamin C: 30.8mg | Calcium: 92mg | Iron: 1.4mg
Keyword: barbecue, bbq, BBQ sides, pea salad, salad, salad recipe, Summer salad

Creamy Bacon Pea Salad Collage

We love this cold creamy pea salad with bacon!
Creamy Bacon Pea Salad with mayonnaise, bacon, cheddar cheese and crunch peas. The perfect southern summer side dish!

About the Author: Sabrina Snyder

Sabrina is a professionally trained Private Chef of over 10 years with ServSafe Manager certification in food safety. She creates all the recipes here on Dinner, then Dessert, fueled in no small part by her love for bacon.

Sabrina Snyder is a professionally trained personal and private chef of over 10 years who is the creator and developer of all the recipes on Dinner, then Dessert.

She is also the author of the cookbook Dinner, then Dessert – Satisfying Meals Using Only 3, 5 or 7 Ingredients, published by Harper Collins.

She started Dinner, then Dessert as a business in her office as a lunch service for her coworkers who admired her lunches before going to culinary school and becoming a full time personal chef and private chef.

As a personal chef Sabrina would cook for families one day a week and cook their entire week of dinners. All grocery shopping, cooking and cleaning was done along with instructions on reheating. As a private chef she cooked for private parties and cooked in family homes in the evenings for families on a nightly basis after working as a personal chef during the day.

Sabrina has been certified as a ServSafe Manager since 2007 and was a longstanding member of the USPCA Personal Chef Association including being on the board of the Washington DC Chapter of Chefs in the US Personal Chef Association when they won Chapter of the year.

As a member of the community of food website creators Sabrina Snyder has spoken at many conferences regarding her experiences as a food writer including the Indulge Food Conference, Everything Food Conference, Haven Food Conference and IACP Annual Food Professionals Conference.

Sabrina lives with her family in sunny California.

Dinner, then Dessert, Inc. owns the copyright on all images and text and does not allow for its original recipes and pictures to be reproduced anywhere other than at this site unless authorization is given. If you enjoyed the recipe and would like to publish it on your own site, please re-write it in your own words, and link back to my site and recipe page. Read my disclosure and copyright policy. This post may contain affiliate links.

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Comments

  1. My brother is allergic to broccoli, so I made this instead of my typical broccoli salad. So easy, and the bacon and cheese made it so tasty!

  2. This bacon pea salad is such a game changer! Never thought that it is this delicious and satisfying! My new-found comfort food!

  3. Looks like a tasty salad. I’m considering a quality ranch dressing in place of mayonnaise and serving in a salad bowl lined with a couple of head lettuce leaves and possibly topped with a cherry tomato. What’s your thoughts on this version of pre-meal salad?

  4. I’ve never really cared for peas until my husband put them on his salad. What a game changer! I made this recipe this morning and can hardly wait for him to get home and try it. I couldn’t even wait until it chilled before I dove in! Absolutely DELICIOUS!!!!

  5. Just like Mom used to make. Next time I think I will cut back the cheese/mayo/bacon just to cut calories and see how that goes. Thank you!

  6. I ate 1 cup that wouldn’t fit in my container-WOW, I’m giving this 5 Stars even before it had a chance to chill !!!
    Thank you for this recipe-It is AWESOME !!!

    1. Yumm!! I didn’t add the pepper, as I don’t like it, but other than that followed as written… delicious! Thanks for sharing

  7. I wonder if you could substitute the frozen peas with lima beans it would be different that’s for sure just wondering if it would actually work

  8. This is the second time I made this pea salad, it’s delicious. I just added some olives and used ham chunks instead of frying bacon

  9. Hi Sabrina,
    I love your recipes, they all look so yummy. I make a salad similar to this pea salad but mine has peanuts in it, it’s really good too. Would you like me to send you the recipe? Have a great day, Ann

    1. I love this for a potluck side dish because you can really pair it with just about anything. If I was adding it to a dinner, I would serve it alongside chicken or pork. I hope you enjoy it!

  10. I usually make this using either home made or bottled ranch salad dressing. It was one of the favorites at my old church senior’s group. Adding boiled eggs sounds good too.

    1. I used one pound of cooked bacon to make my bacon bits for this salad. You can adjust to whatever amount you prefer. Enjoy!

  11. haven’t tried this Pea salad yet …made it with lettuce can you add lettuce to the creamy pea salad Ranch mix with sour cream do you have that recipe can’t wait to try to pea salad

  12. Have you ever added chopped boiled eggs? I do that about half the time I make this, and ot’s so delicious both ways.

    1. We always add 1 or 2 chopped hard-boiled eggs to our pea salad (depending on how much we’re making)….SO yummy! Also, my mom sometimes adds 1 rib of celery (finely diced) for a bit of crunch. This is always a huge hit at every event!

  13. Do I need to use red onion or can I use sweet white onion as that is all I have currently? Will the taste be the same do you think?
    Thank you!

    1. I didn’t notice a difference but you could always prep it all except for the bacon and then add that in the day of.

    1. I’m so glad you enjoyed it! Sorry I don’t have the nutritional facts for recipes on the site but I know there are a lot of free resources on the internet from when I’ve cooked for clients with low calorie diets.

  14. So Awesome, to find someone brave enough to not cook the peas first. This looks to be a delicious recipe HOWEVER I want to create the mason jar salad with frozen thawed peas and frozen thawed green beans and you gave me the confidence to do it so thanks.

    1. No need to boil them, you’ll want to use them thawed out. It’ll give you a bit of a crunch to the salad. Plus the salad is served cold, so easy peasy! Enjoy!

  15. Was introduced to pea salad years ago. Didn’t like peas to much then . But love this salad so I eat peas all summer long!

  16. Peas are probably one of my favorite vegetables. This salad looks amazing. I can’t wait to try it, and with the bacon maybe my husband will finally learn to love peas too 🙂

  17. Pea salad is one of my all-time summer faves. I cannot wait to try your rendition with bacon.

  18. Such a stunning salad!  I love peas, so will definitely bring this to some cookouts this year 🙂

        1. I like the texture and flavor from frozen peas but if you want to use fresh peas, blanch them as you would to freeze them and use them after they’ve chilled. Enjoy!