Our New Favorite Summer Recipe Is ‘the Perfect Mix Between Potato Salad and Baked Beans’
You probably already have all the ingredients.
When summer barbecue season starts to heat up, I often pull out recipes for classic potluck contributions like baked beans or potato salad. But recently, I’ve seen sweet pea salad making the rounds on social media and was intrigued. Made with peas, mayonnaise, and hard-boiled eggs, there are lots of variations on sweet pea salad. Some add cubed cheddar cheese, while others rely on the bite of diced red onion to give the summer salad a bit of extra flavor.
What Is Sweet Pea Salad?
There are lots of sweet pea salad videos on TikTok, the most popular of which comes from “Next Level Chef” alum Brittany Khamille, whose video about her mom’s sweet pea salad recipe has received more than 1.5 million views. The home chef’s version of sweet pea salad is simple: canned peas, hard-boiled eggs, mayo, and spices, mixed together and left to hang out in the fridge for about 30 minutes for the flavors to combine before serving.
While the ingredients for sweet pea salad vary a bit, Khamille and many other TikTokers swear by a certain brand of canned peas: Le Sueur. “I went out and bought the fancy [peas],” she says in her viral TikTok, opening cans of Le Sueur as she gathers her ingredients.
The Best Peas for Sweet Pea Salad
What makes Le Sueur peas the best option for sweet pea salad? Jessica Hasapis is senior brand manager at Le Sueur and says it’s less about the canning process and more about the type of pea used. “Le Sueur peas are an ‘early June variety’ of pea, which itself is a younger pea that lends itself to a sweeter taste and crisper texture,” she tells Allrecipes. “The ‘younger’ the pea, the less starch has formed, and this is why the pea is more firm.”
Hasapis says the term “sweet pea” refers to the size and maturity of a pea, as well as its flavor. “The term is a descriptor, versus actual pea variety, to refer to peas that are smaller and sweeter as opposed to more mature, larger peas,” she explains.
How To Make Sweet Pea Salad
Terri Peters
To make sweet pea salad at home, I followed TikTok’s advice, starting with two cans of Le Sueur sweet peas. I stayed pretty true to Khamille’s tried-and-true recipe, using mayo and hard-boiled eggs, and seasoning with black pepper, salt, and Cajun seasoning. For some extra protein, I added pre-cooked, crumbled bacon to the mix.
Ingredients
2 15-ounce cans of sweet peas, drained (I used Le Sueur brand)
6 hard-boiled eggs, roughly chopped
1/4 cup mayonnaise
Black pepper
Salt
Cajun Seasoning
1/4 cup pre-cooked, crumbled bacon
Directions
Combine all of the ingredients in a large bowl.
Allow the mixture cool in the refrigerator for 30 minutes or more.
After combining my ingredients and allowing the mixture to sit in my refrigerator for about an hour, I served the side dish along with grilled hot dogs, potato chips, and baked beans at a backyard cookout. Sweet pea salad was a new addition to our typical barbecue fare, but it felt like the perfect side dish and is something I’d make again both for my family and to take along to a summer potluck.
How Does Sweet Pea Salad Taste?
The mayonnaise-based salad reminded us of potato salad, but the peas had just the right texture to replace baked beans in our normal menu. In fact, sweet pea salad just may be the perfect mix between a creamy, cool potato salad and bacon-laden baked beans, eliminating the need for those dishes and simplifying our back-yard dinners. After all, there’s nothing better than an easy, chilled summer recipe that checks lots of boxes and pleases everyone on your dinner invite list.
I’d definitely make sweet pea salad again, and can see myself switching up both seasonings and add-ins to try different flavors in the dish. Next time, I’d probably season the mixture with garlic powder, salt, and pepper, and toss in cubed cheese, bacon, and red onion to give it that perfect summer bite.
Read the original article on All Recipes.
