Peas are a polarizing vegetable…and it’s hard to get past that when you’ve had a bad experience with them in the past. Julia’s family grew up with only ever having canned peas with butter, so anything with the word “pea” faces an uphill battle.
But sugar snap peas are one pea that I’m working on rebranding as THE side in our house. The crunch factor, the natural sweetness, the nutritional value? I mean, sugar snap peas have less starch than regular peas and are high in vitamin C, vitamin K, and fiber. Plus, they’re delicious. What’s not to love?
The best part is that they are really quick to prepare, and feel much fancier than regular peas. This blistered sugar snap pea recipe only takes 5 minutes—just a couple of minutes to prep and less than three minutes to cook. It’s a great spring and summer side dish, but you can make it all year. Let me show you how it’s done.
How to Prepare Sugar Snap Peas
I get a couple of bags of organic sugar snap peas, which I skip washing because I don’t want them to steam. I figure organic means that they’re clean enough!
Then I’ll snap off the little tough strings at the end which can get, well, stringy when you eat them. It’s a little bit tedious, but I find people enjoy them more.
How to Cook Sugar Snap Peas
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While I’m prepping the peas, I set a high-sided stainless steel pan on medium-high to high heat. Once that’s heated, I’ll add avocado oil to the pan since it can take the high heat.
Next I’ll add the peas, shake them around quickly to coat. Then I’ll add the soy sauce, and give it a shake. This is where you may want to turn on your vent hood—it can get a little smoky with the high heat, but we really want the peas to blister and almost char so they have a bit of that smokiness.
Finally, I’ll add the white wine vinegar and the honey, and stir or shake again so everything is evenly coated. You don’t want to stir or shake continuously, as you want the peas to have good contact with the hot pan to get some color. Some freshly cracked black pepper is perfect to add here. I skip the salt since the soy sauce has some in it.
Then every 30 seconds or so, you can shake or stir the peas. I cook them just until the liquids have thickened up a bit and the peas are cooked but still have a crunch. This was a total of about 2.5 minutes for me from when the peas hit the pan to when I took them off the heat.
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Remove the sugar snap peas to a platter and serve them warm!
What to Serve with Sugar Snap Peas
This side dish is so fresh with a light sweet savoriness and a pleasing crunch. It goes great with Asian dishes like sweet and sour chicken or Massaman curry. I’ve also served it with grilled chicken or leg of lamb. It’s so fast, pretty inexpensive, and uses mostly pantry ingredients.
I hope you enjoy this recipe—let me know what you think in the comments!
