Pear Salad made with grated cheese and mayonnaise is an old-fashioned Southern favorite. Serve it as an appetizer or side dish to go with almost any meal.

Pear Salad on deviled egg platter

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 Pear Salad, 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!

Pear Salad pears on platter

When I was growing up, my mother made this Pear Salad all the time. The ingredients were always on hand and relatively inexpensive. She would serve this 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.

Pear Salad with cheese on platter

I don’t serve this 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 do still love to make it every now and then because it’s one of those recipes that transports me back in time.

How to Make Pear Salad

This recipe is not really even a recipe. All you need are a couple of cans of pears, some freshly grated Cheddar cheese, and good quality mayonnaise—Duke’s for me, every time.

Pear Salad on plate

You can serve the pears on a platter lined with large lettuce leaves or in a deviled egg plate. And if you want to get fancy, a lot of folks add a maraschino cherry on top.

This is a great dish for a potluck dinner or a church picnic—when I was growing up, Pear Salad was always on the table at Family Dinner at our church or any occasion that required people to bring a dish. Someone always brought Pear Salad!

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4.72 from 28 votes

Pear Salad

Pear Salad made with grated cheese and mayonnaise is an old-fashioned Southern favorite. Serve it as an appetizer or side dish to go with almost any meal. 
Prep: 10 minutes
Total: 10 minutes
Servings: 12 servings

Ingredients 

  • 3 cans Bartlett pears in water
  • ¼ cup mayonnaise
  • ½ cup grated Cheddar cheese
  • 12 maraschino cherries

Instructions 

  • Drain pears. 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. 

Video

Nutrition

Serving: 12servings, Calories: 50kcal, Protein: 1g, Saturated Fat: 1g, Cholesterol: 6mg, Sodium: 58mg
Course: Salad
Cuisine: American
Calories: 50
Keyword: pear salad, pear salad with mayonnaise and cheese, pears with cheddar cheese, Southern pear salad
Love this recipe?Mention @southernfoodandfun or tag #southernfoodandfun!

UPDATE NOTES: This post was originally published August 11, 2017, and on May 11, 2022, was updated with one or more of the following: step-by-step photos, video, updated recipe, new tips.

Lucy standing behind a counter with a cheese board and glass of wine.

About the author

Hi, I’m Lucy! I’m a home cook, writer, food and wine fanatic, and recipe developer. I’ve created and tested hundreds of recipes so that I can bring you the best tried and true favorites.

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Recipe Rating




26 Comments

  1. 5 stars
    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

  2. 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?

    1. @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.

  3. 5 stars
    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!!

  4. 5 stars
    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!!

  5. 4 stars
    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!

  6. 5 stars
    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.

  7. 5 stars
    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.

  8. 5 stars
    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

    1. 4 stars
      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!

    2. @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.

  9. 5 stars
    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

  10. 5 stars
    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