Pioneer Woman Pea Salad

This easy Pioneer Woman Pea Salad recipe is perfect for summer barbecues, family get-togethers, and weeknight dinners. With bacon, cheddar cheese, red onions, and lots of peas! You can’t go wrong with this dish!

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Why you will Love This Salad:

Easy: You don’t have to cook. Just dump everything in a bowl, stir, and you’re good to go.
Bacon: Crispy smoky bacon adds great flavor to this dish.
Common Ingredients: This dish only requires four pantry ingredients and is quick to prepare.

What is Pioneer Woman Pea Salad?

Pioneer Woman Pea Salad features sweet peas, bacon, cheddar cheese, red onion, and a simple, zesty dressing that is whisked together in seconds in the summer months, this simple side dish is the perfect addition to potlucks, cookouts, barbeques, and baby showers.

Since peas have been a favorite vegetable of mine for as long as I can remember, I love this easy pioneer woman pea salad if peas aren’t your favorite, you’ll be surprised at how much you enjoy this old-fashioned creamy pea salad!

Ingredients That You’ll Need:

You probably already have most of the ingredients on hand for this Pioneer Woman pea salad recipe.

Frozen peas: You can use any kind you like, but I like the taste and size of the petite peas better.
Sharp cheddar cheese: I prefer to use cubed cheese in this recipe, but some prefer to use shredded cheese, Both work.
Red onion: For this pioneer woman pea salad, you want a nice, fine dice; it adds color and flavor.
Bacon: baking the bacon to crisp and chopping it for the pea salad adds a lovely savory, salty, and crunch element to this pea salad. I like to reserve a couple of tablespoons or so to sprinkle on top of the salad right before serving

Pea Salad Dressing:

It reminds me a lot of this broccoli salad dressing. It’s very easy to make. All the ingredients are combined and whisked together.

Sour cream: this creamy dressing is tangy and delicious
Mayonnaise: gives the dressing a wonderful creaminess
Granulated sugar: balances the vinegar and sugar
Apple cider vinegar: as previously mentioned
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

How To Defrost the Peas?

At Room Temperature: The frozen peas should be placed in a colander and allowed to defrost at room temperature while preparing and assembling the rest of the pioneer woman salad.
In Cold Water: After briefly running the frozen peas under cold water, place them in a colander to drain the water

Recipe Variations

If you want to use a different type of cheese such as Monterey jack, shred the cheddar cheese instead of cubing it
English Pea Salad is another variation with eggs, sometimes referred to as pea salad with eggs. Dice up a few hard-boiled eggs and fold them in with the rest of the ingredients
To make a healthier pea salad, substitute turkey bacon for the bacon or omit the bacon altogether. Also, substitute Greek yogurt for the mayonnaise
Make this salad even easier to prepare by substituting bacon bits for the bacon.
If you don’t want to use mayonnaise, use ranch dressing instead.

How To Make Pioneer Woman Pea Salad?

Remove peas from the freezer, place in a colander, and let them slightly thaw while preparing to dress.
Whisk together mayonnaise, sour cream, sugar, apple cider vinegar, salt, and black pepper in a large bowl.
Fold/stir the peas, bacon, cheddar cheese, and red onion together.
Let the salad chill for at least one hour before serving. This pioneer woman pea salad can be prepared up to 3 days in advance.

What To Serve With Pioneer Woman Pea Salad?

This Pioneer Woman Pea Salad recipe makes the perfect summer side dish. These are some of my favorite main dishes to go with this Creamy Pioneer Woman Pea Salad Recipe:

Crock Pot Ham
Juicy Turkey Burgers
Sheet Pan Chicken Thighs
Meatloaf
Honey Dijon Grilled Chicken Breasts
Zucchini Cakes
Marinated Grilled Shrimp
Chicken Enchilada Soup
Smoked Pork Chops
Slow Cooker Pork Loin

How To Store Pioneer Woman Pea Salad?

In The Room Temperature: It is best to leave your pioneer woman pea salad out for no more than 1-2 hours (less if it is very hot).
In The Fridge: Pioneer woman pea salad leftovers should be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days after preparation.
In The Freezer: It’s not a great idea. The dressing will likely separate and the peas will become soggy. Prepare this pioneer woman pea salad the day before serving or up to a couple days ahead of time.

Recipe Tips

You should use frozen green peas instead of canned ones because they have a better crunch. When they were frozen, they had already been blanched. So, you save a lot of time since you can add them straight into the pioneer woman salad; no extra work is required.
In place of shredded cheese, you can cut the cheese into small squares. That makes it more interesting.
Please be aware that nutritional information is a rough estimate and can vary greatly based on the ingredients used in the recipe.

FAQ Section

Can You Use Canned Peas?

You can use canned peas, but the salad won’t taste as good and won’t look as impressive, since canned peas have a darker, muted color as opposed to the bright green of frozen peas.

Can you eat raw peas?

The answer is yes, you can eat raw peas. Eaten in large amounts, they may cause digestive discomfort because they contain anti-nutrients called lectins. However, don’t be alarmed because lightly steaming them removes lectins.

Do You Need to Cook the Frozen Peas?

No, you don’t and that’s what makes this pioneer woman pea salad so appealing. Peas that have already been partially cooked after being frozen and blanched.

How do you add flavor to peas?

On their own, peas are wonderful, but they can also be enhanced with other flavors. As an example, I seasoned my pioneer woman pea salad with bacon seasoning. A perfect blend of spices, such as paprika, thyme, basil, and pepper, is evident in every spoonful of this salad. Oh, and butter makes everything better, including peas.

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