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This delicious pea salad with lettuce features green peas paired with radishes, feta cheese, and a zesty lemon oregano dressing.

Pea salad with lettuce

Here at A Couple Cooks, Alex and I are just getting into the swing of spring produce in Midwestern America. We’re excited about what we’re starting to see in farmers markets and the new life in our garden! To celebrate spring, we created this pea salad with lettuce for a lovely evening meal al fresco with friends. It’s got salty feta and a zingy lemon oregano dressing that’s out of this world good. The fresh lavender blossoms and twinkle lights were the perfect compliment (thanks to Kelley and friends for a wonderful evening). Here’s how to make fresh pea salad!

Fresh oregano

Pea salad with lettuce: perfect for spring!

This pea salad with lettuce would be a great option for a spring meal with family or friends, perhaps an Easter brunch. The flavors are bright and fresh, especially enhanced by the lemon and fresh oregano! We got the greens and radishes from our farmers market: if you can find fresh peas, they’d be fantastic here. And we already have fresh oregano in our garden – the joy of perennials! (Here’s how to grow herbs, if you want to, too!) Another option is to make it a light lunch or dinner by adding cooked white beans or chickpeas, and serving with crusty bread.

Make sure to check out your local farmers market (Indy Winter Farmer’s Market here in Indy) for other spring ingredients! What’s your favorite spring ingredient to cook with? Do you have a pea salad recipe that you love to make? Let us know in the comments below!

Pea salad with lettuce

How to make lemon salad dressing

The lemon dressing for this pea salad with lettuce is tangy and tastes like pure lemon. If you’ve never made homemade salad dressing, it’s time to start! This dressing is very easy to make, and uses fresh oregano to take the flavor over the top. Most mainstream grocery stores carry fresh oregano: or you can grow your own in pots at home.

To make the lemon salad dressing, you’ll use our zesty Lemon Vinaigrette recipe as a base. Then stir in fresh oregano to finish! Here are the basic steps:

  • Zest the lemon and mash it into a paste. Zest 1 tablespoon lemon zest. Then you’ll mash it into a paste! Chop it as small as possible and use the blade of your knife to help mash. This will spread lemon flavor through the entire dressing, and also adds a sunny yellow color!
  • Combine with other ingredients. Whisk together the lemon zest with 2 tablespoons lemon juice and ½ tablespoon Dijon mustard.
  • Whisk in olive oil. Gradually whisk in ½ cup olive oil 1 tablespoon at a time until a creamy dressing forms. Adding the olive oil gradually is what makes the dressing turn creamy and emulsified.
  • Add oregano. Add 1 tablespoon finely chopped oregano. Store any leftover dressing in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.
How to make lemon vinaigrette

Looking for salad recipes?

Outside of this pea salad with lettuce, we’ve got lots more peas recipes! And here are a few more of our favorite salad recipes:

This pea salad with lettuce recipe is…

Vegetarian and gluten-free. For vegan, plant-based, and dairy-free, omit the cheese.

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Pea Salad with Lemon Dressing

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This delicious pea salad with lettuce features green peas paired with radishes, feta cheese, and a zesty lemon oregano dressing.

  • Author: a Couple Cooks
  • Prep Time: 15 minutes
  • Cook Time: 0 minutes
  • Total Time: 15 minutes
  • Yield: 4 1x
  • Category: Salad
  • Method: Raw
  • Cuisine: American

Ingredients

Scale

For the pea salad

  • 1 head lettuce
  • 1 bunch radishes
  • 2 cups fresh or frozen peas
  • ½ cup crumbled feta cheese
  • Lemon zest, for the garnish

For the lemon oregano dressing

Instructions

  1. Wash and dry the lettuce; chop it into bite-sized pieces. Thinly slice the radishes. Zest the lemon.
  2. If the peas are frozen, thaw them in some warm water. If the peas are fresh, boil some water, add the peas and cook for about 3 to 4 minutes, until tender and bright green, then remove them and rinse with cold water.
  3. Finely chop 1 tablespoon oregano leaves. Make the Lemon Vinaigrette, then stir in the oregano.
  4. To serve, place the lettuce leaves in serving bowls or plates. Top with sliced radishes, peas, crumbled feta cheese, and lemon zest. Drizzle with vinaigrette and top with fresh ground pepper.

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Last updated: December 2019

About the authors

Alex & Sonja

Hi! We’re Alex & Sonja Overhiser, authors of the acclaimed cookbooks A Couple Cooks and Pretty Simple Cooking—and a real life couple who cooks together. We founded the A Couple Cooks website in 2010 to share seasonal recipes and the joy of home cooking. Now, we’ve got over 3,000 well-tested recipes, including Mediterranean diet, vegan, vegetarian, pescatarian, smoothies, cocktails, and more!

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14 Comments

  1. Katie says:

    Can’t believe it took me this long to find your blog. This recipe perfectly accompanied today’s Easter brunch of quiche and french toast bake. Can’t wait to look around more and see what other gems you have!

    1. Sonja says:

      Oh, wonderful! This is a favorite recipe of ours – so glad it was a hit. Let us know if you try anything else!

  2. Julie F says:

    Looked at your site today for inspiration for my first CSA pick up of the season. Radishes, Spinach, lettuce, snap peas were just a few of the items I received. Going to give this a try tonight with the snap peas…I am sure it will be yummy. Looking forward to using your search option for more ideas throughout the summer!

  3. Janet McKnight says:

    I was just telling myself that I needed to try radishes in something soon, and I love peas! Yay! Thanks a million :)

  4. Heidi @ Food Doodles says:

    What a delicious looking salad! I love radishes and peas but I can’t remember ever put them together. I can’t wait till I have them both fresh from my garden :D Love the lemony dressing on your salad too – I have to keep this in mind.

  5. Clem @ clementinecuisine says:

    I made a similar salad yesterday with the exact same colors, but with fava beans instead of peas. It was amazing. I’ll post the recipe soon!

    1. Sonja says:

      Yum! We’d love to do something with fava beans – we’re growing them this year! I’ve always wanted to :)

  6. Sara {Home is Where the Cookies Are} says:

    Mmmm. This looks delicious. My only problem is that I’m the only one in our family that actually likes peas. How do you think it would be if I made it with edamame? Everyone will eat that. . . . I know it’s not as sweet though, and we’d miss out on the whole point of a fresh spring veggie. . . .

    1. Sonja says:

      I think it would be delicious with edamame! Not as sweet, true, but I think it would still be tasty :)

  7. Courtney Jones says:

    Welcome back! :) Sounds like you had a truly fantastic trip. I am so inspired by your dedication to offer such help to those in need in such a unique way.

    This salad looks wonderful. I have been craving a bright, fresh salad with peas and radishes. I love your idea of adding chickpeas and feta cheese. I’ll have to make this for lunch this week. Yum :)

    Also, love the bowls. So colourful!

  8. Goda says:

    Very beautiful post! First off – welcome back, I’m looking forward to hearing more, and purchasing your book in support of the project!
    I too was thinking of what salad I could make for Easter – this sounds perfect! Thanks! And those dishes – simply lovely!

    1. Sonja says:

      Oh thank you! We hope you enjoy it. And the market was a great place to find dishes – we were excited to find these :)

  9. Adrienne @ How to Ice a Cake says:

    I am a total pea fanatic so this is right up my alley. I also love the lemon centric vinaigrette. I might have to make this for Easter dinner!

    1. Sonja says:

      We love peas too :) Let us know if it works out!