Green Pea Casserole

Green pea casserole is an easy old-fashioned Southern side dish you’re going to want to try. It includes sweet peas, celery, onion, and pimentos in creamy mushroom soup with a buttery and crunchy bread crumb topping.

Sometimes you just have one of those days. You know, the ones where you are torn between curling up in the fetal position, sending an SOS signal, or jumping off the craziness of your own roller coaster. Dang those days are fun, though. When they’re over, you kinda get to stand back and see what you’re made of. Survived another one. We’re all intact and I managed to pull it off.

So tonight as I wind up one of those days I’m going to share with you Granny Jordan’s English Pea Casserole. In simpler terms, green pea casserole, which some folks even call a salad. She took it to just about every family gathering and countless church dinners. It’s one of those old-fashioned Southern side dish recipes you don’t hear about much these days but you sure do get rave reviews when you make it. I love it and I hope you will, too.

So, what exactly will you find in this old-fashioned Southern green pea casserole? Besides green peas, there’s onion, celery, and pimentos mixed together with creamy mushroom soup. Add a buttery bread crumb topping, bake for 30 minutes, and you’re good to go! The combination of the crunchy topping with the creamy veggies makes this the perfect side dish in my opinion (like my beloved green bean casserole).

We regularly serve it alongside baked ham at Easter, but I’ve included lots of other options below, so let’s get baking!

Recipe Ingredients

• Plain bread crumbs
• Pimentos
• Onion
• Salted or unsalted butter
• Chopped celery
• Cream of mushroom soup
• Frozen sweet peas

How to Make Green Pea Casserole

Chop up that onion.

Pour your peas into a large bowl.

Granny’s recipe says to thaw them and I kinda did ~winks~

Okay, not really but do as I say don’t do as I do. You know how that goes.

Toss in your chopped onion.

Now this recipe leaves our onion with a little bit of a crunch and I really like it that way. Mama can’t stand it though, so she likes to saute her onion a bit in a tablespoon or so of butter and then add it in. You go with whatever works best for you.

Add in your celery.

Add in your pimentos (after you drain them).

These little jars make the best bug keepers in the summertime!

Toss in your cream of mushroom soup and give that all a good stir.

Place it in a casserole dish.

I am using a round one but you can use an 8×8 if you like or pretty much any ovenproof dish.

Now, melt your butter in the microwave.

Add your bread crumbs to the melted butter…

And give that a stir.

Sprinkle over the top of the casserole.

Here it is!

Now bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown like this on the top.

This makes a great side dish to any meal, but it seems like we always eat it with ham.

Storage

Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days. To make the top crispy once more, you’ll want to reheat them in the oven or air fryer.

Recipe Notes

• As mentioned in the recipe card below, you can add a can of water chestnuts to the casserole if you like for extra crunch.
• Instead of the breadcrumb topping, you can use a stuffing mix, mix crushed Ritz crackers or cornflakes with the melted butter, use 1 cup of leftover cornbread crumbs, or add French fried onions on top (add this 5 minutes before the casserole is done baking).
• Feel free to substitute the frozen peas for canned peas or fresh peas.
• You can also substitute the mushroom soup for cream of celery soup.
• If it isn’t a casserole without cheese, stir 1/2 cup of shredded cheddar cheese into the casserole dish before baking. 
• For added heat, add a dash of cayenne pepper.

Recipe FAQs

What do you serve with green pea casserole?

We regularly serve it at holiday dinners with meat like turkey breast, baked ham, and roast chicken. But it also works well with so many other side dishes, like mashed potato, roast vegetables, and cornbread dressing. 

Check out these other Southern side dishes:

Southern Turnip Greens

Hush Puppies Recipe, Southern-Style

Southern Grits

Southern Deviled Eggs Recipe (Keto-Friendly)

Oven-Baked Mac and Cheese (Southern Plate Favorite)

How To Make Hot Water Cornbread

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~Albert Einstein

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