Easy Bacon Pea Salad Recipe with Hard Boiled Eggs - These Old Cookbooks (2024)

Easy Bacon Pea Salad is absolute perfection. The simple mixture of peas, bacon, shredded cheddar cheese, hard boiled eggs and mayonnaise marries together into the perfect summertime salad fit for any picnic or family get-together.

Easy Bacon Pea Salad

Oh the humble pea salad. It’s something so simple yet amazingly tasty.

I’ll admit that as a kid, I walked right past the pea salad that graced all our holiday pitch-ins and potlucks. I just didn’t appreciate it. But now, it wouldn’t be a holiday without creamy pea salad with bacon and eggs.

Salads are a classic summer side dish. They pair perfectly with any grilled protein such as our Grilled Pork Shoulder Steak. We have a plethora of summer salads in our repertoire (Macaroni Salad, Red Bean Salad, Old Fashioned Fruit Salad), but this pea salad with cheddar cheese and bacon may be our new favorite. Don’t get us wrong, you should eat pea salad any time of the year!

Canned Pea Salad Ingredient List

What is it about pea salad that we love so much? The ingredients are so humble, but so delicious.

• Canned peas: How can it be any simpler than that? Be sure to drain them.
• Hard boiled eggs: This vintage ingredient is perfect for summer salads like this one.
• Cheese: This creamy bacon pea salad recipe calls for shredded cheddar cheese. Do yourself a favor and buy a block of cheddar cheese and grate it yourself. It takes this recipe to a whole new level.
• Onions: Enough said. You could leave these out but they pull all the flavors together.
• Mayonnaise: A classic binder for most old-fashioned salads use whatever type you already have in the refrigerator.
• Salt and black pepper: These are the only seasonings needed for this salad.
• BACON, BACON, BACON: Fry it up and chop it into small pieces.

This version of pea salad with loads of crispy bacon and hand-shredded cheddar cheese may actually be even more tasty than our famous Old-Fashioned Pea Salad and our lower calorie version Creamy Dill Pea Salad.

How to Make Classic Pea Salad with Bacon

Step By Step Instructions

1. Drain peas using a colander.
2. In a large bowl, combine with mayo, chopped hard boiled eggs, minced onions, chopped bacon, salt and pepper. Gently stir.
3. Mix gently, and refrigerate until ready to eat.

Storage Instructions

Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for 3 to 5 days.

Find the full recipe steps and ingredient amounts for canned pea salad at the bottom of this page.

Recipe FAQs

• We use canned peas; however, you can absolutely use thawed frozen peas if desired.
• We highly recommend using a block of cheddar cheese that you grate yourself with the large side of a box grater. However, there is nothing wrong with taking a short cut and using pre-shredded cheese, but grating the cheese yourself takes it to a whole new level.
• Use whatever cheddar cheese you prefer. We tend to use the mild type, but sharp cheddar would be delicious too.
• Bacon, bacon, bacon. If you love it as much as we do, feel free to use a little more than the recipe calls for. You could garnish with extra bacon on top for some added wow factor.
• Onions can be omitted, if desired.
• We minced our onions really fine. This gives great flavor but hides them from those onion-haters out there.
• Our go to for this recipe is regular mayonnaise, but if you prefer Miracle Whip, then have at it.
• The flavors of this salad get better over time. So feel free to make it the night before and then refrigerate until ready to serve.

Recipe Variations

• Use red onion, white onion or yellow onion.
• Swap canned peas for frozen peas that have thawed.
• Use a little sour cream with your mayo if you prefer a little tang.
• Sharp Cheddar cheese is the best but feel free to use a different type of cheese.
• Stir in a little ranch dressing with the mayonnaise.

Pea Salad Recipes

Old Fashioned Pea Salad

Creamy Dill Pea Salad

Crunchy Ranch Pea Salad

Pasta Salad with Tuna and Peas