This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our disclosure policy.
Southern Pear Salad is an old-fashioned concoction of canned pear halves topped with mayonnaise, grated Cheddar cheese, and a maraschino cherry, and if you grew up in the South, you already know it. It works because of the balance of sweet, salty, and tangy.
My secret is grating the Cheddar fresh off the block and using a good mayonnaise because with these few ingredients, the quality of each one shows. Canned pears sound icky, I know, but their soft texture is exactly what makes this work.
I still love it because it reminds me of life with my parents and grandmother.
anonymous
This is an old-fashioned recipe that graced the tables at church potlucks, family dinners, and every single picnic you ever went to. And let me just go ahead and say that if you aren’t from the South, you’ve probably never tasted this particular Southern delicacy before. Canned pears? Yuck. In any other circumstance, I wouldn’t eat them. But for this recipe, canned pears have the perfect soft consistency that you need.
I suppose you could poach fresh pears, but that just sounds like way too much work to me!
When I was growing up, my mother made this recipe all the time. The ingredients were always on hand and relatively inexpensive. She would serve pear salad in the summertime if we had hamburgers on the grill, or at Easter with our Baked Ham, or any day in between when she needed a quick side.
I don’t serve Pear Salad very often because all three of my children turn up their noses at mayonnaise, unless it’s hidden in my Pimento Cheese. But I still love making it every now and then because it’s one of those recipes that takes me right back to my Mama’s kitchen table.
Testing results for pear salad
- I’d like to tell you I’ve tested this pear salad with a mayonnaise other than Duke’s, but that would be a lie. Only Duke’s will do. That is all. I will tell you that *some* people like Miracle Whip with their pear salad. I’m not those people, but you do you.
- I have tested with pre-shredded cheese from the package, and it’s just not as good as when you grate the cheese yourself. Freshly grated cheese is softer and doesn’t have the anti-caking agents that give pre-shredded cheese a funny mouth-feel.
- I’ve tried making pear salad in advance, and it just doesn’t turn out well. Everything gets too moist, and the pears slide around, while the cherry turns the mayonnaise red. If you want to prep ahead, keep all the components separate and assemble just before serving.
I hope you make this recipe. I think you’ll love it!
Ingredients
Here are a few things to note about the ingredients for this recipe.
➡️➡️➡️ The full ingredient amounts and instructions are listed below on the printable recipe card. Scroll below the recipe card for frequently asked questions and tips for success.
Canned pears: I know, it sounds kind of yuck. But trust me. You need the softness of the canned pears for this recipe. You have to be able to cut into it with a fork. I’ve always grabbed the pears in light syrup, but a reader commented that her mother always bought the ones in heavy syrup for extra sweetness to balance the salty cheese. I’m going to give that a try!
Mayonnaise: I hope it goes without saying, but for a recipe like this where mayonnaise is a star ingredient, quality matters. Grab a jar of Duke’s mayo for the optimum flavor with these pears. And then make some Southern Deviled Eggs too, because…why not?!!
Related 📖 ➡️ Duke’s Mayo vs. Other Mayo: What’s the Difference?
Cheese: You’ll want to grate your own Cheddar cheese for this recipe. The pre-grated cheese in the package is coated and will be too crunchy and harsh here. Freshly grated cheese is best and sticks to the mayonnaise better. I like to use the small side of the grater so the cheese comes out finely grated.
Maraschino cherries and lettuce leaves: Both are traditional and optional. The cherry is mostly for color, and a little sweetness on top, and a lettuce leaf underneath is the old way of dressing up the plate. Use them or skip them.
Where pear salad comes from
Pear salad is a genuinely old dish, the kind that traveled by handwritten recipe card and church cookbook long before it ever showed up online. Nobody seems to have pinned down exactly who first put mayonnaise and cheese on a canned pear, but it was a familiar sight on Southern tables by the middle of the last century, back when canned fruit was a small luxury and a quick way to dress up a plate.
I know that in my family, pear salad has been around for as long as I can remember. It usually gets called a Southern dish, and it is, but it is not only Southern. Readers tell me their grandmothers made it in Kansas, Nebraska, and across the Midwest, too, sometimes with a change or two, like cottage cheese in place of mayonnaise or pineapple instead of pear.
However it traveled, it ended up as a potluck dish people tend to remember fondly and make exactly the way their family did.
How to make Southern pear salad
- Drain the canned pears well and arrange the halves cut side up on a lettuce-lined platter or in a deviled egg plate.
- Add a small dollop of mayonnaise to the center of each pear half.
- Top each one with a pinch of grated Cheddar and a maraschino cherry, then chill until ready to serve.
Make-ahead and serving
Make it close to serving. Pear salad is best assembled shortly before it goes on the table. Once you put it together, moisture starts leaching out of the pears and cherries, giving you a slippery-slidery mess of pears all over the plate. I often serve pear salad on a deviled egg plate, without the lettuce, for just this reason.
Prep ahead in pieces. You can do the work in stages without losing anything. Drain and chill the pears and grate the cheese earlier in the day, then assemble at the last minute. Add the cherry right before serving so the juice doesn’t run down over the mayonnaise.
If you make this recipe, please leave a comment and ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ below!
Join Southern Food and Fun Community group
and Southern Potluck group!
And please follow us on social media:
Southern Pear Salad Recipe
Equipment
Ingredients
- 3 cans Bartlett pears in water
- 1/4-1/2 cup mayonnaise
- ½ cup grated Cheddar cheese
- 12 maraschino cherries
Instructions
- Drain 3 cans Bartlett pears in water. Line platter with lettuce leaves or use a deviled egg platter and set pears out on dish.
- Drop a dollop of mayonnaise in the center of each pear, about a teaspoon or slightly more.
- Place a large pinch of grated cheese on top of the mayonnaise. Garnish with a maraschino cherry. Serve pears chilled.
Nutrition
Questions and tips
Storage
I don’t usually keep pear salad leftovers, but if you want to, you can store it, covered, in the refrigerator for about 1 day. Any longer than that and it will get watery and won’t stay together well.
Yes, if you like cottage cheese, which I don’t. 🤮 Both are old variations that some of my readers grew up with. Cottage cheese with a little mayo gives a milder, tangier bite, and a sweetened cream cheese filling turns it into more of a dessert-style salad. Use what your family used. Grandma is never wrong.
A medium or sharp Cheddar, grated fresh off the block. Pre-shredded cheese is coated to prevent clumping, so it doesn’t cling well to the mayonnaise either.
Nope. An iceberg lettuce leaf (Southerners love some iceberg lettuce, which baffles me!)is traditional and makes a prettier plate, but it’s purely for presentation. Plenty of folks skip it and set the pears straight on the platter.
Either works. Juice or water keeps it lighter, while heavy syrup leans sweeter against the salty cheese, which is how a lot of people remember the original.
A sprinkle of chopped toasted pecans or walnuts over the top is the easiest way, and a few people add a dusting of paprika for color (I do not.) Keep any additions minimal so the pear, cheese, and mayo still take center stage.
I was raised in Louisiana and never had this Pear Salad until I moved to Nebraska. But my mother-in-law’s Dad was from Kentucky and her husband was from Texas. So, maybe that’s where her recipe came from. Haven’t had it in years.
My grandmother was from Kansas she put chopped up pears with a dollop of miracle whip on the pear pieces with grated cheddar cheese. Handed down through the ages
Oh, I’ve never seen it chopped up that way! How interesting!
My mom used to take canned pears and fill them with some sort of cream cheese filling. She was too late in her stages of dimentia to remember that she ever made them, along with her homemade tartar sauce, when I asked her. I believe there were walnuts involved and I think that she softed the cream cheese with some of the pear juice from the can.
I may have already answered my question. Although I hated it as a kid I sometimes crave it just for the memory of my mom. Have you heard of anything like this?
@Laurie Siegmund,
No, I haven’t.. but it sounds so good, I’m making it tonight!!
@Laurie Siegmund, mix 8 oz. softened cream cheese, 1/2 cup powdered sugar and 2 cups of Cool Whip. Beat altogether and fill your canned pears. You could certainly add some chopped walnuts if you wanted…or a maraschino cherry on top.
I still love it because it reminds me of life with my parents and grandmother.
I still love it because it reminds me of life with my parents and grandmother.
Love mayo, how can one not? It’s a southern thing. My mothers take on this salad was a bit different. A canned pear half, a good dollop of small curd cottage cheese and a little dollop of mayo on top of that. Then a tiny pinch of paprika for color. I love the flavor of the cottage cheese and mayo together, a nice combination. Now I am going to try it your way with the cheddar and see how it goes. Then I may add the cottage cheese, mayo, And the cheddar. Rarely see this salad posted- so glad you did!!
Your mother’s version sounds unique! Thanks for following Southern Food and Fun! xoxo
Love mayo, how can one not? It’s a southern thing. My mothers take on this salad was a bit different. A canned pear half, a good dollop of small curd cottage cheese and a little dollop of mayo on top of that. Then a tiny pinch of paprika for color. I love the flavor of the cottage cheese and mayo together, a nice combination. Now I am going to try it your way with the cheddar and see how it goes. Then I may add the cottage cheese, mayo, And the cheddar. Rarely see this salad posted- so glad you did!!
I have only a very small suggestion for the recipe. The truly original recipe used pear halves canned in heavy syrup. That’s the only way they canned them way in the 1940’s. That added sweetness really makes a difference with the mayo and cheese. (I tried making it with pears in light syrup once and I thought they were dreadful!)
I also stopped using the lettuce leaf which was traditionally used for decoration under these and every kind of chicken salad and congealed salad, I didn’t like the taste left on the pear by the lettuce. (It was just thrown away anyway. )
By adding that cherry on top you have purely tradional pear salad yumminess. Enjoy!
I like to add a maraschino cherry on top of the salad. And drizzle a little cherry juice on it.
I like to add a maraschino cherry on top of the salad. And drizzle a little cherry juice on it.
I like to add a maraschino cherry on top of the salad. And drizzle a little cherry juice on it.
I accidentally gave you the wrong address to get Receipies
Thank you.
I accidentally gave you the wrong address to get Receipies
Thank you.
What kind of mayonnaise do you use
Always Duke’s!
I accidentally gave you the wrong address to get Receipies
Thank you.
My Mom made this when I was a kid and always put a maraschino cherry on top. I hadn’t thought about this in years. I’ll have to make it for myself.
My Mom made this when I was a kid and always put a maraschino cherry on top. I hadn’t thought about this in years. I’ll have to make it for myself.
Hi Lucy,
This sounds so good, I’ve never heard of it before! (But then I’ve only lived in the South for 37 years!!!). I hope you guys are doing great!
xo
Holly
I have only a very small suggestion for the recipe. The truly original recipe used pear halves canned in heavy syrup. That’s the only way they canned them way in the 1940’s. That added sweetness really makes a difference with the mayo and cheese. (I tried making it with pears in light syrup once and I thought they were dreadful!)
I also stopped using the lettuce leaf which was traditionally used for decoration under these and every kind of chicken salad and congealed salad, I didn’t like the taste left on the pear by the lettuce. (It was just thrown away anyway. )
By adding that cherry on top you have purely tradional pear salad yumminess. Enjoy!
@Vivian, Do you know how this dish came into fashion and from which year(s) approx? I am trying to find out for my study.
Hi Lucy,
This sounds so good, I’ve never heard of it before! (But then I’ve only lived in the South for 37 years!!!). I hope you guys are doing great!
xo
Holly
Hi Lucy,
This sounds so good, I’ve never heard of it before! (But then I’ve only lived in the South for 37 years!!!). I hope you guys are doing great!
xo
Holly