An easy everyday recipe for sugar snap peas sauteed in butter and garlic. It's a very nice variation on eating them raw, and it's a simple side dish that you can make in just 20 minutes!
This is one of my favorite side dishes to make on a busy weeknight. It's so incredibly fast and easy, and cooking the peas in butter and garlic is absolutely delicious.
I'm too lazy to wash and trim the peas and remove their string, so I usually buy them stringless and ready to eat, which truly makes this a 10-minute dish. But even if you prep them yourself, this is not a difficult recipe to make.
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Ingredients
You'll only need a few simple ingredients to make this tasty side dish. The exact measurements are listed in the recipe card below. Here's an overview of what you'll need:
Butter: Yum! Need I say more? It's delicious, but it does have a relatively low smoke point. If it seems to be browning too much, you can lower the heat to medium.
Stringless sugar snap peas: I make life easy and get bags of them already trimmed and stringless.
seasonings: For this simple everyday recipe, I simply use kosher salt, freshly ground black pepper, garlic powder, and onion powder.
Instructions
How to cook sugar snap peas? It's such an easy and quick recipe. It's actually one of my easiest, especially when I use bagged peas. Scroll down to the recipe card below for the detailed instructions. Here are the basic steps:
You start by heating the butter in a skillet.
Next, you add the peas to the skillet. Cook them, stirring, for a minute or so, then add the seasonings.
Keep cooking until the peas are tender-crisp. They should still be bright green, and only browned in a few stops, from the brown butter.
That's it! Remove them from the heat as soon as they are done.
Expert tip: don't overcook them!
While this is true for many vegetables, it's especially true here. 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 then remove the pods from the pan onto a plate so that they don't keep cooking in the pan's residual heat.
Frequently asked questions
They're peas with a thick, rounded, edible pod. They are delightfully crunchy and slightly sweet when eaten raw. When cooked, they take on a more savory flavor profile. It's important to cook them just until tender-crisp, to preserve their beautiful green color and fresh taste.
You don't have to. I actually love eating them raw. They are crunchy, subtly sweet, and wonderful on their own or dipped in ranch, in tahini sauce, or in Greek yogurt dip. I also like them as a vehicle for scooping up guacamole or salsa (or both!).
Having said that, their texture and flavor change pretty dramatically when they're cooked. So this dish makes a very nice variation on eating them raw.
You don't have to. It is a good idea to remove the string that runs down the middle of the pods since they are difficult to chew and digest. You can buy bags of stringless pods, and I often do that. To me, the convenience is worth the extra cost.
Variations and substitutions
I love this recipe as is and almost always make it as written. But in case you'd like to vary the basic recipe, here are a few ideas for you:
- You can definitely use fresh minced garlic instead of garlic powder.
- You can cook the peas in olive oil instead of butter, but lower the heat to medium if it gets too hot. You don't want it to smoke.
- Enjoy spicy food? Try adding a pinch of cayenne pepper when you add the other seasonings.
- Try sprinkling the finished dish with bacon bits and/or grated parmesan.
Recommended main dishes
This side dish is very versatile and can go with almost any main dish. I often serve it with blackened chicken, with meatloaf, or with baked scallops. But you can truly serve it with any main dish you'd like!
Storing leftovers
If you have leftovers, you can keep them in the fridge in a sealed container for 3-4 days. Reheat them gently in the microwave on 50% power. They won't be as good as fresh - some of the crispiness will be lost - but they'll still be pretty good.
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Recipe card
Sauteed Sugar Snap Peas
INGREDIENTS
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 8 oz sugar snap peas strings removed
- ½ teaspoon Diamond Crystal kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
INSTRUCTIONS
- Heat the butter in a large 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.
- Immediately remove from the heat and serve.
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NOTES
- You can use fresh minced garlic instead of garlic powder.
- You can cook the peas in olive oil instead of butter, but lower the heat to medium if it gets too hot. You don't want it to smoke.
- Enjoy spicy food? Try adding a pinch of cayenne pepper when you add the other seasonings.
- Try sprinkling the finished dish with bacon bits and/or grated parmesan.
NUTRITION PER SERVING
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Vered DeLeeuw, LL.M., CNC, has been following a low-carb real-food diet and blogging about it since 2011. She's a Certified Nutrition Coach (NASM-CNC), has taken courses at the Harvard School of Public Health, and has earned a Nutrition and Healthy Living Certificate from Cornell University. Her work has appeared in several major media outlets, including Healthline, HuffPost, Today, Women's Health, Shape, and Country Living. 