This low carb pea salad is an easy and delicious cold side dish perfect for all of your summer picnics and barbecues.
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Most people who know me, know that I try to eat a healthy diet, so they are usually surprised when I tell them that I don’t really care for salads. In fact, I don’t like eating leaves at all. Cooked Cabbage, kale, spinach – you can keep it. I make exceptions for super crisp, raw lettuce. We are talking iceberg folks 😂🤷♀️ and of course my favorite … coleslaw!
So trying to find simple, low carb, cold sides during the summer months can be a bit of a challenge. One of my favorites from my Pre-keto days was pea salad. I am legitimately OBSESSED with peas. They have always been one of my favorite foods and I have missed them terribly since I began eating a keto diet over 2 years ago.
I was pleasantly surprised to find that peas don’t actually have nearly as many carbs as I had thought, and in moderation, they fit perfectly in a keto diet. In fact, a 2/3 cup serving of peas has just 6 grams of net carbs!
Low carb pea salad ingredient substitutions
To maintain the flavor of the dish, while cutting down on the peas (thus carbs) I opted to use a mix of peas and raw cauliflower. If cauliflower isn’t your thing you can replace it with additional peas or broccoli florets.
The bacon is optional but highly recommend. To save time, you could also use precooked bacon crumbles that you will find in the salad dressing aisle in most grocery stores.
I use apple cider vinegar, but white vinegar will also work well.
You can replace the red onion with sliced green onions, or even add them in addition to the red onion.
Tips for making this low carb pea salad:
Be sure to cut the cauliflower florets into very small pieces so they are easy to eat and blend well with the other ingredients.
This can be eaten immediately after making it, but I prefer the let it sit in the fridge for at least an hour before eating.
Leftovers will keep in the fridge for 5-7 days, making it great for meal prep!
The red onion adds a TON of flavor but also has quite a few carbs which is why I limited the quantity in this recipe. To make up for the small amount, I like to cut the red onion really thinly so that each bite gets a good bit of onion flavor. This also helps slip it right on by picky eaters 😉
Other great Low Carb Salad Recipes:
- Creamy Low Carb Coleslaw
- Red, White, and Blue Summer Salad | Keto
- Keto Mexican Street Corn Salad
- Greek Zoodle Salad | Keto
- Easy Low Carb Mason Jar Salads
- Sesame Peanut Cucumber Noodle Salad | Keto, Dairy Free
- Low Carb Dill Pickle Slaw – from Seeking Good Eats
- Red, White, and Blue Cheesecake Salad Dessert – from Low Carb Yum
- Keto Seven Layer Salad – from Fit to Serve Group
- Low Carb Potato Salad – from Skinnytaste
- Wedge Salad Platter for a Crowd – from Laughing Spatula
Low Carb Pea Salad
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup Sour Cream
- 2 tbsp Mayonnaise
- 2 tbsp Apple Cider Vinegar or white vinegar
- 2 cups Frozen Peas thawed
- 1/4 Red Onion Finely Sliced
- 2 cups Cauliflower chopped into small florets
- 1 1/2 cups Cheddar Cheese shredded
- 8 slices Bacon Cooked and chopped
- Salt and Pepper to taste
Instructions
- In a small bowl combine the sour cream, mayonnaise, and apple cider vinegar. Set aside.
- In a large bowl combine the remaining ingredients and gently stir to combine.
- Pour the sour cream mixture over the pea mixture and stir to combine. Top with additional cheese and bacon crumbles if desired.
- Serve immediately or store in the fridge for up to 5 days,
How much is a serving size? 1/2 cup?
Peas are not keto
This was really good. While I know peas are probably a keto no-no, I consider myself low carb or dirty keto. I used a 12 oz package of cauliflower rice and only 1/2 cup peas. I pretty much cut the dressing and bacon in half as well. Depending on serving size I would say the dish makes 4-6 servings depending on your serving size. If you use the frozen cauliflower rice I micro for 2 minutes in the package and then I sauté in 1 Tbsp butter to cook all the water out. I let it cool completely and then put my salad together. We really enjoyed this. Something different. Thank you for sharing!