Green Pea Salad Recipe
Jill-Ann Ouellette
May – June 2025 • Vol 4, No 16
Here is a quick, crowd-pleasing, pea-salad recipe to try or to bring to your next potluck. This is a small recipe (serves 4), but it can easily be doubled or tripled:
Ingredients:
- 2 cups frozen green peas thawed but cold
- 2 hard boiled eggs, chopped as you like
- 1/4 cup chopped celery
- 1/4 cup chopped red onion
- 1/4 cup shredded or cubed cheddar cheese
- 1/2 cup mayonnaise
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
- Dill, salt and pepper to taste
Instructions:
- I generally blanch the peas in a bowl of warm water to soften them first. Toss together the peas, eggs, red onion and celery in a medium-sized bowl.
- In a separate small bowl, mix together the mayonnaise, sour cream, vinegar and mustard.
- Drizzle the mayonnaise mixture over the peas, and gently stir to combine. Add in shredded or cubed cheddar. Season with a dash of dill. Add salt and pepper to taste. Sometimes if I have turkey bacon on hand, I will crumble it on top.
- Chill in the fridge for 30 minutes to let the flavors come together.
This recipe is on the smaller side, as I prefer a fresh pea salad. When I take it to a potluck, I will multiply by 2 or 3 for a bigger crowd. I enjoy changing things up and will add chopped radishes, shredded carrots or dill pickles. You can also switch the cheese to your liking. Oftentimes, I will garnish with fresh herbs or fill the bowl with lettuce.
Green peas are a widely grown, cool-season vegetable crop with an early-season harvest. They don’t thrive in the summer heat but grow well in cooler, high elevations, also in tropical areas. They have both low-growing and vining varieties. Vining peas grow thin tendrils from leaves that coil around any available support and can climb from 3 to 7 feet tall. There are dwarf varieties that are suitable for container growing, reaching only about 8 inches. Many varieties reach maturity about 60 days after planting. Green peas can be a popular and an unpopular vegetable, depending… I remember coming home from elementary school with my middle brother and when we crested the front door and the savory aroma of pea soup would reach us, he practically cried—he wasn’t a pea fan. Me, I was thrilled when my Mom made delicious pea soup!
Peas have been part of the human diet for hundreds of years and are consumed worldwide. The history of the (wild) pea brings us to the Mediterranean Basin and the Near East. The earliest archaeological finds of peas date from the late Neolithic era of current Syria, Anatolia, Israel, Iraq, Jordan and Greece. In Egypt’s Nile delta area, early finds date from c. 4800–4400 BC, and from c. 3800–3600 BC in Upper Egypt. Peas were present in Afghanistan c. 2000 BC, and in modern-day Pakistan and western- and northwestern India c. 2250–1750 BC. It was in the early 3rd century BC when they discovered that peas sown in late winter create a more tender pea.
The Greeks and Romans were cultivating this legume from around 500 BC to 400 BC, with vendors in the streets of Athens selling hot pea soup. In the 18th century, amateur plant breeder Thomas Knight of Downton, near Salisbury, England developed the first sweet-tasting pea that we enjoy today.
Strictly speaking, green peas are not vegetables; they are part of the legume family—plants that produce pods with seeds inside, like lentils, chickpeas, beans and peanuts. However, green peas are commonly cooked and sold as a vegetable. And since green peas are high in complex carbs called starches, they are considered a starchy vegetable along with potatoes, corn and squash. You can find them at the local grocery store in the frozen or canned-food section, and as fresh produce. There are several varieties of peas, including green, yellow, black-eyed, and purple peas, but green peas are the most frequently consumed.
High in Many Nutrients & Antioxidants
Green peas have a huge nutrition profile while their calorie content is fairly low, with only 67 calories per 1/2-cup (80-gram) serving [USDA]. About 75% of those calories come from carbohydrates and the rest are provided by protein, with a small amount of fat. Furthermore, peas contain just about every vitamin and mineral you need, in addition to a significant amount of fiber [Healthline.com].
Research shows peas may help protect against some chronic illnesses, such as heart disease and cancer. There is some discussion and claims that green peas are harmful and should be avoided or portions limited due to the antinutrients they contain that can cause bloating. (More on that later.)
The USDA touts a 1/2-cup serving of cooked peas provides the following nutrients:
- Calories: 67
- Carbs: 12.5 grams
- Fiber: 4.4 grams
- Protein: 4.3 grams
- Vitamin A: 3.6% of DV
- Vitamin K: 17% of DV
- Vitamin C: 12.6% of DV
- Thiamine: 17% of DV
- Folate: 12.6% of DV
- Manganese: 18% of DV
- Iron: 6.8% of DV
- Phosphorus: 7.5% of DV
One thing that makes peas unique from other vegetables is their high-protein content. For example, a 1/2-cup of cooked carrots has only 0.6 grams of protein, while 1/2-cup of peas contains seven times that amount [USDA]. They are also rich in polyphenol antioxidants, which are likely responsible for many of their health benefits [NIH].
While green peas are one of the best plant-based sources of protein, which is why they are so filling, they have a high amount of fiber. Eating protein increases the levels of certain hormones in your body that reduce appetite. Protein works together with fiber to slow digestion and promote a feeling of fullness. Eating adequate amounts of protein and fiber may automatically reduce the number of calories you eat throughout the day by keeping your appetite under control.
Peas support healthy blood sugar control. They have a relatively low glycemic index (GI), which is a measure of how quickly your blood sugar rises after eating a food. Diets that contain a lot of low-GI foods have been shown to be helpful for regulating blood sugar levels according to the NIH. This is because fiber slows the rate at which carbs are absorbed, which promotes a slower, more stable rise in blood sugar levels, rather than a spike. Additionally, some studies have found that eating protein-rich foods may be helpful for stabilizing blood sugar levels in individuals with type 2 diabetes.
Therefore, the effects that green peas may have on blood sugar are known to reduce the risk of several conditions, including diabetes and heart disease.
The fiber in peas benefits digestion. Their impressive amount of fiber feeds the good bacteria in your intestines, which keeps them healthy and prevents unhealthy bacteria from overpopulating your digestive system. This may reduce your risk of developing a few common gastrointestinal conditions, such as inflammatory bowel disease, irritable bowel syndrome, and even colon cancer [NIH].
What’s more, most of the fiber in green peas is insoluble, meaning it does not blend with water, but rather functions as a “bulking agent” in your digestive tract. It has been shown to lower total cholesterol and “bad” LDL cholesterol, both of which increase the risk of heart disease when elevated. Their soluble fiber is also beneficial as it absorbs water to create bulk, which helps with diarrhea management. This means that it adds weight to stool and may help food and waste pass more quickly through your digestive system.
Green peas also provide flavonols, carotenoids and vitamin C, antioxidants that have been shown to reduce the likelihood of heart disease and stroke due to their ability to prevent damage to cells. Green peas also contain saponins, plant compounds known for having anti-cancer effects and may inhibit tumor growth. Furthermore, they are rich in vitamin K, which may be especially helpful for reducing the risk of some cancers [NIH].
Okay, let’s talk about the antinutrients. Despite the abundant nutrients in green peas, there is a downside to their nutritional quality [Healthline.com]. As with most legumes and grains, peas can interfere with digestion and mineral absorption. Generally, they aren’t a concern for healthy folks but can impact those who rely on legumes as a staple food. The nutrients are (per NIH):
Phytic acid may interfere with the absorption of minerals such as iron, calcium, zinc and magnesium.
Lectins are associated with symptoms such as gas and bloating and may interfere with nutrient absorption. That happens as some of the carbs escape digestion and are then fermented by the bacteria in your gut, which produces gas and flatulence. If you have IBS or another gastrointestinal disease that makes you very sensitive to FODMAPs and have completed an elimination diet that identified green peas as a trigger food, then it’s best to completely avoid them, as even a small serving may cause discomfort.
Here are a few methods you can use to help prevent adverse effects from those antinutrients:
- Keep portion sizes reasonable: About 1/3 cup to 1/2 cup of green peas at a time is enough for most people.
- Experiment with preparation methods: Fermenting, sprouting and soaking may be helpful for reducing the amounts of antinutrients in green peas.
- Eat them fully cooked: Antinutrient levels are higher in raw peas, which make them more likely to cause digestive discomfort.
Overall, green peas are an exceptionally healthy food to incorporate into your diet. There are so many ways to do so, such as a main dish of pea soup with ham, or adding them to your green salad, in scrambled eggs or an omelet, in a stir fry, in tuna-noodle casserole, making your macaroni salad prettier, in a side dish with carrots or corn and dill, or maybe a few of you might remember creamed tuna and peas on toast!