This delightful fresh pea recipe uses garden fresh green peas, lightly steamed and tossed with savory ingredients, to make a great hearty salad. It’s easy to make especially if you’ve frozen garden peas in the spring. You can just take them out of the freezer, steam them, make the salad, chill for at least an hour, and dinner is ready.
Fresh Pea Recipe: Pea Salad
Looking for a fresh pea recipe (or a recipe in which you can use frozen green peas instead?) This recipe for pea salad uses savory ingredients to balance out the hearty peas for a filling side dish.
Salad Side Dishes
Our family loves a simple summer meal consisting of a main courses and several side salads. I might grill up some hamburgers or hot dogs and serve side salads including potato salad, macaroni salad, beet salad, three-bean salad, or cucumber salad. I switch the salad side dishes around so that I can make several a week and we aren’t bored.
The best part of this meal is that it is a great time-saver on nights when I have to work late. Hot dogs take about 5 minutes to grill as do hamburgers on my George Foreman grill. Steak takes slightly longer but it’s also fast. I make the salads in the morning so that by the time dinnertime rolls around, they are well chilled. I just have to grill the meat and pull the salads out of the fridge. Voila! Instant supper.
Our typical side salads – macaroni, three bean, and green pea salad.
Recipe Notes
A quick note about this recipe: you can easily substitute frozen green peas for fresh green peas. I had garden peas in the freezer. I defrosted two cups, cooked them lightly, and mixed up the salad. You can do the same with store-bought frozen green peas.
Fresh Pea Recipe - Pea Salad
Ingredients
- 2 cups fresh or frozen green peas
- 3/4 cup mayonnaise
- 3 slides bacon
- 1/4 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
- dash salt and pepper
Instructions
- Cook fresh or frozen peas. Place 2 cups of peas in a microwave-safe dish. Add 1/4 cup of water, cover, and microwave on high for 4 minutes.
- Once the peas are cooked, set them aside until cool.
- Microwave bacon on paper towels for 1 minute per slice or until crisp.
- In a large bowl, mix peas, shredded sharp cheddar cheese, mayonnaise and crumbled bacon. Add salt and pepper. Stir.
- Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour until chilled. Cover and refrigerate any leftovers.
Jeanne Grunert is a certified Virginia Master Gardener and the author of several gardening books. Her garden articles, photographs, and interviews have been featured in The Herb Companion, Virginia Gardener, and Cultivate, the magazine of the National Farm Bureau. She is the founder of The Christian Herbalists group and a popular local lecturer on culinary herbs and herbs for health, raised bed gardening, and horticulture therapy.
