Stir Fried Snow Pea Leaves with Garlic. Snow pea tips stir fried with garlic, ginger, in a tasty light sauce. Ready in 10 minutes or less!
A delicious side dish in Chinese cuisine.
This is the best way to enjoy snow pea shoots! It's also a great way to eat your dark leafy greens! Chinese restaurants commonly serve this side of vegetables and it's enjoyed by many including myself.
What does it taste like?
The tender leaves are coated in minced garlic and ginger in a simple sauce made of soy sauce, oyster sauce (or vegetarian stir fry sauce for a vegan version), sesame oil, Shaoxing wine and white pepper.
Easy Recipe!
My Chinese snow pea leaves recipe is REALLY easy to make in less than 10 minutes with minimal ingredients. If you already have an Asian pantry, you won't have many additional ingredients to buy aside from a pound of pea shoots.
Great for busy weeknights!
It's one of those healthy recipes that you can easily make at home without much work. This simple dish is great for a weeknight meal and serves well for a large family if you double the portion. The cooking process takes less than 3-5 minutes!
Ingredients
You will need the below ingredients for my snow pea leaves recipe. ***Please scroll down to the below Recipe card for full measurements***
- Snow pea leaves: Asian markets or select farmer's markets will carry these Asian greens in the produce aisle. Note: they are not the same as pea sprouts. They have a vibrant green color with edible stems and small leaves attached. Sometimes, depending on your grocer, they may still have curly tendrils attached which should be removed for best taste. You'll also want to remove any tough stems if you happen to come across any. These are also the same leaves that grow attached to snow peas and they grow in early summer.
- Garlic cloves: Use large garlic cloves for that garlicky flavor.
- Ginger: We will use fresh peeled and sliced ginger to elevate the flavor of these Chinese pea shoots. You may also use ginger powder but please use ½ teaspoon only.
- Avocado oil, or any neutral oil: We want to use a flavorless oil such as avocado oil, vegetable oil, canola oil, peanut oil or grapeseed oil. I would not suggest using olive oil.
Sauce:
- Oyster sauce: or sub with vegetarian stir-fry sauce for a vegan version. Chinese grocery stores or online retailers like Amazon will carry this ingredient.
- Shaoxing wine: or sub with Chinese rice wine or Dry Sherry. Chinese grocery stores or online retailers like Amazon will carry this ingredient.
- Regular soy sauce: This is just your all-purpose soy sauce. The label will simply say "Soy Sauce" without the words "light or dark" on it. Feel free to use low-sodium soy sauce for these stir-fried pea shoots.
- Sesame oil: This oil will offer a tasty nutty flavor to these pea shoot stems. If you can't have sesame oil, please omit altogether.
- White pepper: Chinese grocery stores or online retailers like Amazon will carry this ingredient. If you can't find it, feel free to use black pepper.
How to make Stir Fry Snow Pea Leaves
Below are visuals to show you how to make snow pea recipe stir fry. ***Please scroll down to the recipe card below to find full instructions and details***
- Wash your snow pea leaves in cold water until water runs clear. Strain out excess water. If needed, remove any tough stems or curly tendrils by hand.
- In a small bowl, mix Sauce ingredients until combined.
- In a large wok or pan set on medium heat, add avocado oil. Toss in ginger and garlic and stir fry until fragrant, about 10-20 seconds.
- Next toss in snow pea leaves and mix with garlic and ginger. Cook until snow pea leaves have softened, about 1-2 minutes.
- Increase heat to medium high, then pour in the Sauce mixture. Mix everything together. Once mixed, remove off heat. Do not overcook. Enjoy!
FAQ
Where to buy snow pea leaves?
Chinese grocery stores will carry these green leafy vegetables in their produce aisle. Most times, they will come in a plastic bag.
What do snow pea leaves look like?
They are a leafy green attached to small tender stalks or thin stems. Each leaf is about 3 inches tall and 2 inches wide. The leaves are tender and are slightly more tender than the texture of kale for comparison. They will have curly ends attached to the leaves which should be removed for best taste. Depending on how old the pea shoots are, you may need to remove tough stem(s). You may also notice that they have budding flowers too.
How do I get that smoky flavor?
Using a carbon steel or steel wok is a delicious way to get that smoky taste to most Asian dishes. When you heat oil over high heat, and smoke forms that's when you create that smoky flavor or aka "wok hei". You may cook this dish over high heat but be quick when adding and cooking the ingredients or they will burn. I instruct to use medium to medium-high heat for beginner cooks.
Do snow pea leaves need a long time to cook?
No, they only take a couple of minutes and that's why they're popularly served at Cantonese restaurants! They're also a delicious way to increase your veggie intake.
Other Recipes You May Like!
If you enjoyed these stir fried snow pea leaves, you may enjoy these other Asian vegetable recipes:
- Steamed Garlic Bok Choy
- Garlic Yu Choy
- Chinese Broccoli Stir Fry
- Chinese Garlic Bok Choy
- Choy Sum with Sizzling Oil
- Asian Stir Fried Tofu & Veggies
I hope you give my Stir Fried Snow Pea Leaves with garlic a try and enjoy it!
If you enjoyed my recipe, please leave a star rating and share it with your family and friends or on social media! Take a picture of your re-creation and make sure to tag me @ChristieAtHome in your feed or stories as I would love to see it!
Christie
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Easy 10-min. Stir Fried Snow Pea Leaves with Garlic
Ingredients
- 350 grams snow pea leaves
- 3 large garlic cloves minced
- 1 tablespoon ginger peeled and julienned
- 2 teaspoon avocado oil or any neutral oil
Sauce:
- 1 tablespoon oyster sauce (or sub with Vegetarian stir fry sauce for a vegan version)
- 2 teaspoon Shaoxing wine (or sub with Chinese Cooking Wine or Dry Sherry)
- 1 teaspoon regular soy sauce (not light or dark soy sauce)
- 1 teaspoon sesame oil
- ⅛ teaspoon white pepper
Instructions
- Wash your snow pea leaves in cold water until water runs clear. Strain out excess water. If needed, remove any tough stems or curly tendrils by hand.
- In a small bowl, mix Sauce ingredients until combined.
- In a large wok or pan set on medium heat, add avocado oil. Toss in ginger and garlic and stir fry until fragrant, about 10-20 seconds.
- Next toss in snow pea leaves and mix with garlic and ginger. Cook until snow pea leaves have softened, about 1-2 minutes.
- Increase heat to medium high, then pour in the Sauce mixture. Mix everything together. Once mixed, remove off heat. Do not overcook. Enjoy!
Jessie
Yums!!! This is my favourite veggie 😋 I've never cooked it the way you do. I've always just stuck with garlic and oil and salt. I'll definitely try your sauce next time to mix up the flavouring. Looking forward to trying your recipe .
Christie
Thanks Jessie! Garlic, oil and salt make any vegetable taste good so you can't go wrong with that 🙂 Hope you enjoy my recipe.
Joy
I love your recipes! Do you have any tips on making a big batch for parties?
christieathome
Thank you so much Joy! So glad you enjoy my recipes 🙂 As for tips on making a large batch for parties, if for instance you choose to quadruple the quantity, I would suggest preparing the ingredients in advance. Then when you cook them, cook the leaves in two batches. By cooking in batches, this prevents undercooking or overcooking of ingredients since the quantity is increased and there's only so much space in the pan. I would also suggest not to cook the dish too far in advance, since the salt from the sauce will naturally pull out more water from the leaves due to osmosis. I may even suggest, cooking the leaves and sauce separately and mixing the sauce in when you're ready to serve to avoid osmosis. Hope this all helps!