Crunchy Ranch Pea Salad

Crunchy Ranch Pea Salad is the perfect addition to any pitch-in, cook out or family gathering. The crunchy texture comes from celery, cauliflower and a secret ingredient – chopped cashews.

Crunchy Ranch Pea Salad Recipe

It was actually really hard to name this recipe.  Any one of these adequately describes this delicious summer side dish:

• Pea salad with celery
• Creamy Ranch Pea Salad
• Summer Pea Salad
• Hidden Valley Ranch Pea Salad
• Pea Salad with Cashews

Ultimately, it is the perfect crunchy texture and spot-on ranch flavor that won out over all those other options.

I made this for a 4th of July pitch-in with the family.  We have some many favorite pea salad recipes but when I spotted this one in my favorite vintage cookbook, I was intrigued.  Never having seen cashews in a pea salad recipe before, I decided to give it a shot.

We have some tough critics in our family.  Beth (our middle sister) is a nut and onion hater. I think every family has one of these. There’s also Mary (our oldest sister) who is a total foodie. She tends to cross over to newer food trends, and tends to find old school recipes a little boring and bland.

The verdict was out, and everyone weighed in with 2 thumbs up.  Beth never even figured out there were nuts in this recipe, and Mary described it as the perfect ranch flavor.

Notes About Summer Pea Salad:

• It’s no secret that we are pea salad crazy over here.  If you are going old school, try our Old Fashioned Pea Salad.  Or, we have an updated version with loads of bacon and shredded cheese (Easy Bacon Pea Salad).  We’ve also have a classic funeral pea salad that is a lighter dressing packed with dill flavor (Creamy Dill Pea Salad).
• Use a bag of frozen peas that have been thawed in the refrigerator.
• The crunch in this crunchy pea salad comes from a variety of ingredients including celery and cauliflower, but the secret “crunchy” ingredient comes from chopped cashews. No one will be the wiser that they are even in the salad. We totally tricked our nut-hating sister into eating this and loving it nonetheless.
• We used salted cashews for this recipe. If you use the unsalted kind, then you may need to taste and add salt.
• The dressing for this creamy ranch pea salad is a combination of sour cream and Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing. Be sure to use the prepared liquid ranch dressing, not the dressing mix.
• The flavor of this Hidden Valley Ranch Pea Salad gets better as it chills in the refrigerator. Feel free to make a day or two ahead of time to let the flavors marinate; however, garnish with bacon right before serving to prevent it from getting soggy.

How to Make Crunchy Pea Salad with Cashews

For the full Hidden Valley Ranch Pea Salad recipe, scroll to the bottom of this post.

Instructions

1. Combine peas, celery, cauliflower, green onions, cashews, sour cream and ranch.
2. Chill for a minimum of 2 hours.
3. Garnish with crispy bacon.

Are you looking for some more classic pitch-in recipes for the summer? Some of our favorites include Classic Macaroni Salad, Sweet and Sour Coleslaw, Easy Taco Salad, Red Bean Salad, Grandma’s Cherry Fluff, and Darn If I Know Cake. We would also be Farmwife Feeds’ Blueberry Pretzel Salad in this category!

Linking up to Weekend Potluck.