This is a recipe for a hearty pea salad using frozen peas and made creamy with mayo, savory with bacon and delicious with cubed cheese. This easy Summer pea salad is perfect for pot lucks and gatherings.
I compiled The Estabrook Family Cookbook over ten years ago. I nagged my Mother’s side of the family; aunts, uncles, 1st, 2nd and 3rd cousins until I had enough recipes to create a respectable sampling of the food that graced our family tables while we were growing up. It was also a mission to capture some of my mother and aunts’ dishes. You know the ones. When you ask how they made it, the answer was that recipe had never been written down.
I’m surprised at myself that I’ve only blogged about a couple of recipes from this book. Well, that’s going to change as I’ll be posting a series of recipes from our family cookbook. First up is this Hearty Pea Salad. It’s one of the recipes that my cousin Chuck submitted. Chuck was the son of my Aunt Lena and Uncle Frank. They farmed land near Abbyville, Kansas, (population 87). It’s about eight miles from our family farm. Our families spent a lot of time together when I was growing up.
Chuck now lives in Kremlin, Oklahoma where he and Kim live and farm their family ranch/farm.
I didn’t remember this dish at family gatherings, so I sent a message off to Kim to inquire about it’s origin. She said they found it in some old church cookbook and tweaked it to their liking. I published this cookbook in 2003. Being a pea fan, I sticky noted it immediately. And now ten years later, I’m just now getting around to giving it a try. My loss for the lapse in time. It’s delicious and it went straight into my permanent database.
Growing up, the term “Salad Dressing” in our family, always referred to Miracle Whip. I usually have some on hand, but used mayonnaise for this batch. Creamy with mayonnaise, crunchy with bacon bits, and chewy with small cubes of sharp Tillamook Cheddar Cheese, seasoned with celery and sweet pickles, this is a great side dish for any entree.
Tip: I love to make this recipe with my Homemade Spicy Pickles. They give this dish a bit of a welcome kick.
And you can’t go wrong serving it with a grilled burger. Thanks Chuck and Kim for this recipe.
Recipe for Pot Luck Summer Pea Salad.
I hope you give this easy pea salad recipe a try. And if you do, please come back and let me know how you liked it and give the recipe a star rating. Your feedback is valuable to me for developing future recipes. And if you have a favorite pot luck salad recipe, let me know, I’d love to give it a try.
And if you’re looking for even more side dishes for picnic style gatherings, don’t miss this line-up of Summer cook-out sides. I’m positive you’ll find something you love.
Hearty Pea Salad, Kansas Cook’n
Ingredients
- 16 ounces frozen peas cooked, drained
- 6 ounces small cubed Cheddar Cheese mild or sharp
- 3 hard cooked eggs chopped
- 1 Cup chopped celery
- 1/2 Cup chopped sweet pickles
- 2 slices bacon cooked and crumbled (my addition)
- 2 Tablespoons Cream
- 1/2 Cup Miracle Whip
- Salt and Pepper to taste
Instructions
- Combine first 6 ingredients, (peas through bacon). Mix cream and salad dressing. Stir dressing and salt into salad mixture. Chill overnight.
Nutrition
Hearty Pea Salad …It’s What’s for a Side dish.
What happens if you don’t have cream? Is it a must?
Great post! I put together a family cook book a few years ago, and it is so special to have!
I agree about those family cookbooks. I’m really glad I took the time to publish ours.
This reminds me of a pea salad my grandmother used to make. She used shredded cheese, I think. I always loved it, but I’d forgotten about it and have never made it myself. Thanks for bringing this back to mind!
I’m receiving so many comments like yours Lisa. I didn’t realize this was an old recipe. It was pretty much unknown to me until now. I really liked it. As always, thanks so much for stopping by and the comment.