Spare Spoons Kitchen
English Pea Salad
A Southern church-supper standard, built on canned peas and sweet pickle relish — sweet, tangy, crunchy, and ready in ten minutes. The pantry salad you make when good vegetables are nowhere in sight.
Ingredients
Easier, if you like
- This is already the shortcut — it's built on canned peas and jarred relish on purpose. A cup of pre-shredded cheddar and a few pulses of the food processor for the celery, onion, and peppers make it a five-minute salad.
- Frozen peas, thawed, stand in for canned if you'd rather — they're firmer and less watery (a small upgrade, honestly).
Method
Cook's notes
This is a Southern church-supper standard — sweet pickle relish gives it its signature tang and sweetness, so don't swap in dill relish unless you want a sharper salad.
Add the mayo a little at a time. "As desired" means just enough to bind — start with about half a cup and stop when everything's lightly coated; too much makes it gluey.
Some cooks fold in a chopped hard-boiled egg or two. Betty's version skips them, but it's a natural addition if you want it heartier.
Drain the cans over a sieve and let them sit a minute; pressing gently gets the last of the liquid out so the dressing stays thick.
Make it vegan (it's already vegetarian and gluten-free)
Vegan: use a vegan mayonnaise and a plant-based shredded cheese — the salad is otherwise plant-based.
Gluten-free: it already is. Just confirm your pickle relish and mayonnaise are gluten-free (nearly all are).