In this easy everyday recipe, sugar snap peas are quickly sautéed in butter and garlic. This simple side dish is ready in ten minutes!
This sugar snap peas recipe is one of my favorite side dishes to make on a busy weeknight. Cooking vegetables in butter and garlic is always delicious (as these sauteed mushrooms demonstrate)! To make this recipe as easy as can be, I buy a bag of stringless, ready-to-eat peas. But even if you need to prep them, this is a truly quick and easy recipe and a nice variation on eating them raw.
Ingredients
See the recipe card for exact measurements. Here are my comments on the ingredients.
- Butter: It's delicious but has a relatively low smoke point. Lower the heat to medium if it's browning too much.
- Sugar snap peas: I usually make life easy and get a bag of stringless peas.
- Seasonings: Kosher salt, freshly ground black pepper, garlic powder, and onion powder. You can use fresh minced garlic instead of garlic powder.
- Variation: I sometimes sprinkle the finished dish with bacon bits and/or grated Parmesan for extra texture and flavor.
Instructions
The detailed instructions and step-by-step photos are included in the recipe card. Here's a quick overview.
Heat the butter in a large skillet. Add the peas. Cook them, stirring, for a minute or so, then add the seasonings.
Keep cooking until the peas are tender-crisp. They should be bright green and browned in only a few spots. Don't overcook them.
Remove them from the heat as soon as they are done and serve.
Recipe Tip
It's important to avoid overcooking snap peas. While this is true for many vegetables, it's especially true here. This is the kind of vegetable that tastes best when barely cooked.
The peas need only 2-3 minutes of cooking, so remove the pan from the heat as soon as the pods are tender-crisp. Once off the heat, immediately remove the pods from the pan onto a plate to prevent them from cooking in the pan's residual heat.
Recipe FAQs
You don't have to trim the ends before cooking, but you should remove the string running down the middle of the pods, as it is difficult to chew and digest. To make life easy, you can buy bags of stringless pods. I often do that.
Yes, absolutely. I often do. The photo below shows a 12-inch skillet with 1 pound of peas.
The raw peas are crunchy and sweet, while the cooked ones are soft (but not mushy) and savory. Both are delicious, but the raw ones make a good snack, while the cooked ones can be served as a warm side dish.
Absolutely. Olive oil gives the dish a lighter, fruitier flavor. If you want a richer flavor profile without dairy, use ghee.
Serving Suggestions
This side dish is incredibly versatile and can go with almost any main dish. I often pair it with blackened chicken, pan-fried salmon, keto meatloaf, or baked scallops. In the two images below, you can see it served with pork meatballs and with pan-fried rainbow trout.
Storing and Using the Leftovers
You can keep the leftovers in a sealed container in the fridge (the container I use is shown in the image below) for 3-4 days. Reheat them gently in the microwave at 50% power or snack on them cold like antipasti. You can also freeze the cooled leftovers for up to three months.
The two photos below show two of my favorite ways to use the cold leftovers - added to a cucumber tomato salad and to an appetizer plate that also includes boiled shrimp, cocktail sauce, sriracha mayo, hard-boiled eggs, and prosciutto.
Recipe Card
Easy Sautéed Sugar Snap Peas
Video
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 8 ounces sugar snap peas - strings removed
- ½ teaspoon Diamond Crystal kosher salt - or ¼ teaspoon of any other salt, including Morton kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
Instructions
- Heat the butter in a large 12-inch skillet over medium-high heat until it starts to foam.
- Add the snap peas and stir-fry for 1 minute.
- Add the salt, pepper, garlic powder, and onion powder.
- Keep cooking, stirring constantly, until the pods are tender-crisp, about 2 more minutes.
- Remove from the heat immediately and serve.
Notes
- This is the kind of vegetable that tastes best when very minimally cooked. It truly needs no more than 2-3 minutes of cooking, so make sure to remove the pan from the heat as soon as the pods are tender-crisp and remove the pods from the pan onto a plate so that they don't keep cooking in the pan's residual heat.
- You don't have to trim the peas' ends before cooking them. But you should remove the string that runs down the middle of the pods since it is difficult to chew and digest. You can buy bags of stringless pods, as I often do.
- You can keep the leftovers in a sealed container in the fridge for 3-4 days. Reheat them gently in the microwave at 50% power, or enjoy them cold like antipasti. You can also freeze the cooled leftovers for up to three months.
Nutrition per Serving
Save this Recipe!
We'll email this recipe to you, so you can come back to it later!
We will also add you to our weekly newsletter. Unsubscribe anytime. See healthyrecipesblogs.com/privacy/ to learn how we use your email.
Disclaimers
Most recipes are low-carb and gluten-free, but some are not. Recommended and linked products are not guaranteed to be gluten-free. Nutrition info is approximate. Please verify it independently. The carb count excludes non-nutritive sweeteners. Please read these Terms of Use before using any of my recipes.
