Ranch Pea Salad is a perfectly balanced side dish with absolutely amazing flavor. Sweet peas, crispy bacon, cheese chunks, and red onions are blended in perfect harmony with a zesty Ranch cream base. Whenever I need a beautiful colorful dish for my table, I choose this salad. Even the kids will love this vegetable dish that is both easy and delicious.
Want to get creative with this recipe? Choose a spicy cheese like pepper jack or horseradish to kick it up a notch. Or, add in shredded cooked ham instead of using bacon. Regardless of how you transform this salad it’s hard to go wrong.
Favorite Side Dishes
Fontina Asparagus Tart 
Spicy Baked Beans with Bacon 
Southern Squash Casserole
How to make Ranch Pea Salad
Ranch Pea Salad is incredibly simple to make and it’s the perfect dish to make in advance. Chill the salad in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour prior to serving to allow the flavors to blend properly.
Equipment Used
- Baking Sheet – used to cook the bacon
- Cutting Board – used to chop the onions and chives, and cube the cheese
- Mixing Bowls – used to blend ingredients together
Ingredients Used
- Veggies – frozen sweet peas (thawed), red onion
- Cheese – mild cheddar (or cheese of your choice)
- Meat – bacon
- Herbs – chives
- Mayo Blend – sour cream, mayonnaise, Ranch seasoning packet
Helpful Tip: Cooking bacon can be a bit of a task. If you want an easy alternative, you can use precooked packaged bacon bits. Easy breezy and just as delicious!
Recipe Preparation
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large foil-lined baking sheet place 8 strips of bacon. Bake for 30 minutes, or until crispy. Feel free to pan fry the bacon if you prefer, but you’ll never look back once you try this less of a mess oven baked method.
- Drain cooked bacon on paper towels then crumble; set aside. Carefully, pour bacon grease (liquid gold) into a bacon fat container to use in future recipes like Jalapeño Cheddar Cornbread, or to use when frying eggs in the morning. What a way to wake up!
- Finely dice the red onion into small pieces. The onion should enhance the salad, not overwhelm it. Next, cube the cheese into small bite-sized pieces and chop the fresh chives.
- In a small bowl, combine the sour cream, mayonnaise and Ranch seasoning mix until well blended.
- In a large bowl, add the peas, bacon, minced red onion, cubes of cheese, and chopped chives. Add mayonnaise mixture and stir ingredients until well blended.
- Garnish with reserved crumbled bacon. Other garnish options are shredded cheese, sliced green onions, and a dollop of sour cream.
Ranch Pea Salad
Ingredients
- 2 lbs frozen peas thawed
- 8 pcs bacon cooked and crumbled
- 1/3 cup red onion minced
- 2 Tbsp chives chopped
- 8 oz mild cheddar cheese cubed
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 1/2 cup mayonnaise
- 2 Tbsp Ranch seasoning mix
Instructions
- In a small bowl, combine sour cream, mayonnaise, and Ranch seasoning until well blended.
- In a large bowl, add peas, bacon, red onion, cubes of cheese, and chopped chives, reserving some bacon for garnish. Add Ranch cream mixture and stir until well combined. Garnish with reserved crumbled bacon.
- Chill salad in refrigerator for at least an hour prior to serving.
