How to Make an English Pea Salad

Tasty and easy to make, an English Pea salad is a great way to add something different to the dinner table. Taking no more than ten minutes to prepare, it is possible to make the salad several hours in advance, or on the spur of the moment. Best of all, the ingredients are all things that most people have in the kitchen anyway, so you don't have to make a special trip to the store in order to prepare this side dish.

Things You Need:

1 can of English peas
1 medium onion (red onions add some color)
2 tablespoons of sweet relish or sweet salad pickles
2 boiled eggs
1 cup of coarsely shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1 cup mayonnaise or white salad dressing

Step 1

Put the eggs on to boil first. This will allow you to prepare the other ingredients while the eggs are cooking.

Step 2

Open and drain the can of English peas. Empty the contents of the can into a large mixing bowl.

Step 3

Chop the onion. If you use a red onion, you may want to do a coarse chop, so the color will show up better in the salad. Add the chopped onion to the mixing bowl.

Step 4

Spoon two tablespoons of the sweet salad pickles (or sweet relish) into the mixing bowl with the drained English peas.

Step 5

Cool and peel the boiled eggs. Use a knife to dice the eggs into more or less uniform pieces, and add them to the contents of the mixing bowl.

Step 6

Shred the sharp cheddar cheese and add it to the other ingredients.

Step 7

Add the mayonnaise to the ingredients, and mix until everything it evenly coated and distributed throughout the salad. If preparing in advance, chill the salad until it is mealtime.

Tips and Warnings

While this recipe calls for using canned English peas, you can also use the frozen variety, if you want a deeper green color. Remember to thaw the peas before beginning to prepare the salad.

You can take some short cuts by purchasing sharp cheddar that is already shredded, as well as onions that are already diced. Use only freshly diced onions; the frozen diced onions will not have the right consistency.

Feel free to add something else if you want a little more color. For example, pimento works well with the other ingredients, as does red bell pepper.