English Pea Salad

5 from 6 votes

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This simple English Pea Salad, made with fresh English peas, crisp veggies, and a creamy dressing (plus bacon and blue cheese), is the perfect springtime side dish. Serve alongside my Baked Ham for Easter, or any time you feel like a delicious fresh vegetable dish.

A bowl of pea salad, creamy and garnished with dill.

Why You’ll Love This English Pea Salad Recipe

To be honest, I had never made a pea salad before. I always thought it would be weird and taste funky. But then I got the brilliant idea to add bacon and blue cheese which made it taste like bacon and blue cheese and suddenly pea salads were worth thinking about. If you’ve never thought about turning peas into a salad, today would be a great day to give it a whirl. It’s like bacon-y springtime in a bowl. If you like pea salad, consider adding it to your Easter menu!

Assorted ingredients for a pea salad recipe arranged neatly on a light surface, including green peas, herbs, dairy products, and seasonings.

Ingredients Needed for English Pea Salad

You only need a few classic ingredients to make this creamy pea salad!

  • English Peas I used fresh English peas from Trader Joe’s. They were lovely and had a great texture to them. See my notes below about using frozen peas.
  • Red Onion – adds incredible flavor. If you’re not a fan, feel free to leave onions out.
  • Blue Cheese – I love blue cheese, but I know it’s a controversial ingredient. So feel free to substitute with sharp cheddar cheese, provolone or even feta cheese.
  • Bacon Crumbles – I always keep a bag of bacon crumbles on hand. It’s such a time saver! But if you want to do this by hand, and make your own crispy bacon. I suggest you cook bacon in the oven and then crumble it.
  • Mayonnaise, Sour Cream, Dill and Salt & Pepper- these ingredients make up the dressing. Use real mayonnaise for best results.

Variations

  • Make it Your Own – make this salad your own by adding more fresh veggies to it like green onions, snow peas, or dill pickles.
  • Hard-boiled Eggs – add more protein to it with chopped hard boiled eggs.
  • Plain Greek Yogurt – If you aren’t a fan of sour cream, substitute with greek yogurt.
  • Add a little tangy flavor – as written, my recipe doesn’t have vinegar in the dressing. If you want to add a little bit of tang to it, add a splash of apple cider vinegar, balsamic vinegar or lemon juice.

Fresh Peas vs Frozen Peas

While there is nothing like fresh peas, I understand that these are not always readily available to everyone. Feel free to substitute frozen peas if that’s all you can find. It will be FINE!! Simply defrost them quickly in a colander with warm water. Once they are defrosted, run some cold water over them to chill and then dry on a clean kitchen towel. You can also defrost in the fridge overnight. Just be sure to rinse and dry them before using. While technically you can use canned peas for this salad, I would stick to fresh or frozen peas.

Fresh green peas for a pea salad in a colander.

How to Make English Pea Salad

This cold pea salad is a great side dish for any occasion- a baby shower, a summer bbq, even a random Wednesday. For full details on how to make this English Pea Salad, including ingredient measurements, see the recipe card down below. Here are step-by-step instructions for making this recipe:

1. Blanch Peas

Start by blanching your fresh peas. Bring large pot of water to boil, salt the water and cook peas for 90 seconds or so. Drain and submerge into ice water. This step is actually optional as fresh peas can be eaten completely raw.

Drain again and pour onto clean dish towels to dry. As you dry the peas, go through them to pick out any bad peas. Transfer to a large bowl and set aside.

*If using frozen peas that have already been defrosted, you can skip this step.

2. Add Red Onion, Bacon + Blue Cheese

Dice up the red onion, then add bacon crumbles and blue cheese crumbles to the bowl of peas.

3. Make the Dressing

Stir mayonnaise and sour cream together with a little salt, pepper and dill. Once combined together, pour the creamy dressing over your ingredients. Give it a good stir and that’s it, your pea salad is finito!

Storing Leftover English Pea Salad

You can eat it right away, or refrigerate it for a couple of hours and let the fresh flavors marry. I really love to eat this salad very cold, so I prefer to eat it the next day. When serving this salad, make sure it gets back into the fridge within 2 hours. You want to avoid letting any salad with mayonnaise become room temperature.

This Pea Salad will last in the fridge, in an airtight container or covered with plastic wrap for up to 4 days. Be sure to cover well! I don’t recommend freezing this salad since the dressing contains mayo. Once mayo is frozen and thawed, the texture becomes grainy and separated.

Bowl of pea salad on a white plate with silverware and a napkin, arranged neatly on a marble surface.

What to Serve with English Pea Salad

This is delightfully fresh and light veggie salad that would be a perfect spring or summer side dish. The possibilities are endless for what to serve this salad with. It easily goes with almost anything you’re serving. Here are a few ideas that I love to eat this with.

More Salad Recipes to Try!

So there you have it! A fun and different kind of salad that is popular for even picky eaters. If you like bacon and cheese, this pea salad is especially for you! The printable recipe card is down below. Have a great day, friends!

If you make this recipe, I would really appreciate it if you would give it a star rating and leave your review in the comments! If you have a picture of your finished dish, post it on Instagram using the hashtag #laurenslatest and tagging me @laurens_latest.

A bowl of pea salad garnished with dill on a table.
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5 from 6 votes

English Pea Salad Recipe

This yummy English Pea Salad, made with fresh English peas, crisp veggies, and creamy dressing plus {bacon and blue cheese}, is the perfect springtime side dish.
servings 6 servings
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 10 minutes
Total Time 20 minutes

Ingredients

  • 20 oz english peas fresh, shelled
  • 2 oz blue cheese crumbled
  • 1/2 cup bacon crumbled
  • 1/4 cup red onion diced
  • 1/4 cup mayonnaise
  • 1/4 cup sour cream
  • salt & black pepper to taste
  • 1 tsp dried dill

Instructions

  • Bring pot of water to boil. Salt water and add in peas. Cook 90 seconds to 2 minutes. Drain and submerge into ice water. Drain again and pour onto clean dish towels to dry. As you dry peas, sort through them to remove any brown peas or random debris, like stalks and leaves. Pour peas into large bowl. Add in cheese and bacon.
    A bowl of fresh green pea salad.
  • For the dressing, stir mayonnaise, sour cream, red onion, salt, pepper and dill together until smooth. Pour over peas and stir to coat. Either serve immediately or chill in refrigerator until ready to serve.
    Hands mixing a pea salad with wooden spoons in a bowl.

Video

Notes

If you can’t find the fresh peas, get some frozen ones and defrost them quickly in a colander with warm water. Once they are defrosted, run some cold water over them to chill and then dry on a clean kitchen towel. You can also defrost in the fridge overnight, just be sure to rinse and dry them before using. No need to blanch them like you would using the fresh peas.

Nutrition

Calories: 282kcal | Carbohydrates: 14g | Protein: 11g | Fat: 20g | Saturated Fat: 5g | Cholesterol: 24mg | Sodium: 417mg | Potassium: 302mg | Fiber: 5g | Sugar: 6g | Vitamin A: 817IU | Vitamin C: 38mg | Calcium: 76mg | Iron: 2mg
Course: Salad
Cuisine: American
Keyword: pea salad
5 from 6 votes

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Recipe Rating




28 Responses
  1. Val

    5 stars
    I bought fresh peas three times ( at Trader Joe’s and made it today as soon as I brought the peas home (!they go bad quickly). The flavor profile is amazing: I can’t figure out how you chose dill in the dressing but it just works! I think it’ll be even better chilled. Hope my hubby likes this: not a pea fan, but then he’s never had FRESH with bacon and blue cheese!! Pairs well with pita bite crackers 😁

  2. Sharon

    5 stars
    Love the recipe, thanks! I did laugh when I read this: “The peas act more like a vehicle to make eating straight-up bacon and cheese more socially acceptable.”

    So true, so true ……
    Haha!

  3. Nikki M

    I make a similar salad however I use cheddar cheese & add sweet pickle relish & diced hard boiled egg & red onion (diced). Perfect with Easter ham.

  4. Dani H

    I wish you wouldn’t always tell people not to use Miracle Whip.

    I feel about mayonnaise the way you do about Miracle Whip. I hate it. But I would never disparage someone for having different favorite foods.

    If you have to say something, why not just explain that you prefer mayonnaise to Miracle Whip. Everyone knows the difference and everyone is entitled to their favorite. Some people even like both.

    I love blue cheese but prefer cheddar in my pea salad as well as Miracle Whip instead of mayonnaise.

    There are other recipes of yours that I love just as written.

    Please stop putting me down for liking Miracle Whip.

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  7. Julia

    Blue cheese and bacon go so great together! I never thought to put them in a salad with peas–I love the idea. Such a great picnic dish.

  8. beejsteph

    Lauren,
    While I Love Peas…I Cannot Bring Myself To Eat Blue Cheese ANYTHING! 🙁 So I Guess I Will Try Another Creamy Dressing Instead 🙂
    As For Your Bruises….PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE Call Your Dr, Make An APPT To See Him/Her Because Someone I LOVE VERY VERY Much Had The EXACT Same Thing, And They Went To The Dr Too Late…They Had Cancer…All You Need Is A Blood Test To Check And See If You Have Any Tumor Markers/Cancer In Your Body. I Am NOT Trying To Scare You…Just Err On The Side Of Caution!! If For No Other Reason…Do It For Your Children!!!

  9. Amy @ Accidental Happy Baker

    I actually saw this post the other day and was like hmm. I would have never thought of this combination, but the more I thought it about it the more I’ve become obsessed with it. This is definitely something I want to make soon. For reals.

  10. Colleen

    Hey, not to be an alarmist, but extensive, inexplicable bruising can point to a blood or immune system issue. Might not be a bad idea to mention it to your doctor. Blessings!

  11. Chris Hansley

    I make this salad with cheddar cheese cubes. I’ll be trying the Bleu Cheese version soon. I might put less mayo and add our favorite Bleu Cheese salad dressing. We love Bleu Cheese.

  12. Tonia

    I love pea salad – my mom makes one with cauliflower & bacon. You cut the cauliflower florets up about the size of peas and just blanche them. And, of course, bacon. 🙂

  13. Allison - Celebrating Sweets

    Why can’t this be my lunch today?! I see a trip to the store in the near future for these ingredients. Pinned to try!

  14. Senika @ Foodie Blog Stalker

    I definitely was not excited about a pea salad post until I saw BACON & BLEU CHEESE! And, now, you’ve convinced me to make it. Pinned!

  15. Julia

    Ah man, I hope those sore bruises go away soon. I find mystery bruises too from time to time and wonder where they heystack they came from.

    This pea salad looks magnificent! Bring on that blue cheese and bacon!

  16. Karen @ On the Banks of Salt Creek

    I LOVE blue cheese. The kids don’t. I’m still going to make this. Maybe the bacon will win them over.

  17. Ruth Jerkins

    Have never used fresh peas but will.look for some. But think those skin bruises should be reported to your physician. they are concerning. Stay healthy.

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