This garlic butter sugar snap peas recipe is a super simple, 5-minute side dish that goes well with nearly every main course dinner. You'll love it!

If you like snap peas, you'll also find them in our ground beef stir fry with ginger and garlic sauce, pineapple shrimp stir fry, and our delicious peanut coleslaw.

Garlic butter sugar snap peas in a white serving bowl.

Sugar snap peas recipe

Sometimes we all need a super quick side dish to make for dinner, and that's where this sugar snap peas recipe comes to the rescue.

It cooks in just 5 minutes, so you always have time to add a healthy veggie to your dinner.

The snap peas stay a touch crisp, which is delicious. And they're coated in garlic butter, which takes them over the top.

How to make this sugar snap peas recipe

Once you've removed the string from the sugar snap peas (more on that in a moment), this recipe is SUPER easy to make.

  1. Melt some butter in a frying pan.
  2. Add the sugar snap peas, garlic, salt, and pepper.
  3. Now saute them for 5 minutes to get them a little soft with some lovely golden spots on them.

Full recipe in the recipe card below.

A knife taking the string off of a sugar snap pea.

How to remove the string from sugar snap peas

The only slightly tedious part about preparing sugar snap peas is removing the string.

Each sugar snap pea contains two pesky little strings. The one on the inside (the concave side) tends to be a little thicker.

You'll want to remove the strings before cooking the peas as the strings are tough and not fun to eat.

Hold the snap pea in your hand and use a paring knife to cut almost through one end of the snap pea. Now pull the knife towards you, and the string will pull away from the pea. Repeat this with the other side.

Sometimes on the backside (convex side), the string will snap off. Don't worry about this; it just means that it's thin and won't be tough to eat.

Garlic butter sugar snap peas in a pan.

What goes well with sauteed sugar snap peas

Deciding what to serve with this sugar snap peas recipe is easy as they go well with nearly everything. Here are a few of our favorite mains to complete the meal:

Sugar snap peas getting cooked in a pan with garlic butter.

Popular quick side dishes

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Garlic butter sugar snap peas in a white serving bowl.

Garlic Butter Sugar Snap Peas

  • Author: Kristen Stevens
  • Prep Time: 5 mins
  • Cook Time: 5 mins
  • Total Time: 10 minutes
  • Yield: 4 servings 1x
  • Category: Side Dish
  • Method: Stovetop
  • Cuisine: North American

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Description

Garlic butter sugar snap peas is a super simple, 5-minute side dish that goes well with nearly every main course dinner. You'll love it! 

Scale

Ingredients

  • 1 tablespoon butter
  • 2 garlic cloves, finely minced
  • 1 lb. sugar snap peas, trimmed
  • ¼ teaspoon EACH: salt and pepper

Instructions

  1. Melt the butter in a large frying pan over medium-high heat. 
  2. Add the snap peas, garlic, salt, and pepper. Let the snap peas cook for 5 minutes, stirring a few times. 

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Sugar snap peas getting cooked in a pan with garlic butter with the recipe title on top of the picture.