Snow Pea Salad

This snow pea salad is made with crunchy celery, peppery arugula, roasted Marcona almonds, salty Pecorino Romano cheese, purple cabbage, and lots of tender snow peas. It’s a tasty salad recipe with lots of textures and flavors!

We grew peas in our garden this year and I was so excited to use them in a recipe! While there are plenty of ways you can enjoy this vegetable, I wanted to try slicing them in a salad for lots of flavor and crunch! I loosely based my salad off of this recipe but I ended up making so many substitutions, I thought I’d share my version!

Types of Green Peas

There are a few different varieties of peas and it’s important to make sure you’re using the right kind of this salad. Here are the basic types:

Snow Peas

This is the best type of pea to use for this recipe. This type of pea typically has a flat, thin shell, and the peas themselves are very small. Because the shell is tender, it can be eaten raw, such as in this salad. You can also add full snow peas to stir fries.

English Peas

This is the most common type of pea and this is what you often see as canned peas or frozen peas. While they’re delicious in things like vegetable soup, it’s not the right type of pea for this salad. The shell of the peas is tough and fibrous, so you can’t eat the pea pod.

Sugar Snap Peas

This type of pea is actually a hybrid of English peas and Snow peas. They’re plump with round peas, but the pea pod is edible and not as tough and fibrous as a traditional English pea. You could substitute sugar snap peas in this recipe, but it will have a slightly stronger crunch.

Ingredients for a Snow Pea Salad

This salad uses a few simple ingredients, but I’ve included substitution suggestions if you don’t have these ingredients available.

• Snow Peas– As I mentioned above, if you can’t find snow peas, you can substitute sugar snap peas, although they’ll be a firmer crunch.
• Arugula– I liked using peppery arugula as the base but you could substitute with mixed greens, or even leave it out altogether for a crunchier salad.
• Marcona Almonds– This is my favorite type of almond but they tend to be more expensive. Feel free to substitute regular, sliced almonds.
• Purple Cabbage– I love adding purple cabbage for crunch and color, but you can use regular cabbage if that’s what you have on hand.
• Celery– There isn’t a great substitute for celery, as it has a distinct crunch and mild flavor.
• Pecorino Romano– I love this salty sheep’s milk cheese, but if you don’t have it on hand you can substitute Parmesan cheese or Manchego cheese.

Make Ahead Tips

• You can prepare all the ingredients up to 6 hours in advance. Store the ingredients in the fridge and wait until you’re ready to serve this salad before adding the dressing.
• The dressing can be made up to 2 days in advance. To prepare the dressing in advance, combine the honey, dijon and champagne vinegar. Slowly whisk in the oil to ensure it’s completely incorporated. This will help prevent separation when refrigerated.

What to Serve with Snow Pea Salad

Looking for a great recipe to pair with this salad? Try this easy Parmesan Orzo Pasta which only takes 15 minutes to prepare! Or you could pair this salad with this Greek Pasta Bake, a delicious meatless meal!

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Looking for more summer salad recipes? Here are a few of my favorites!

Mediterranean Chopped Salad

Strawberry Goat Cheese Salad