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!
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What are Stir Fried Snow Pea Leaves?
Stir Fried Snow Pea Leaves is a Chinese vegetable dish featuring tender snow pea leaves. The leaves are stir fried in 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. It serves well as a tasty vegetable side dish in Chinese cuisine. You'll often find this dish on many menus at Chinese restaurants.
My husband and I love to order this dish so we can get in our greens. We usually order it as a side with other Chinese dishes like sweet and sour chicken with steamed rice. The garlic and sauce really elevate the snow pea leaves. When they are cooked in a flaming hot wok, the smoky flavors from the wok infuse into the vegetables making it extra delicious! This simple dish is great for a weeknight meal and serves well for a large family if you double the portion. The whole recipe takes 10 minutes to cook from start to finish.
Ingredients
Please scroll down to the below Recipe card for full measurements
Note: Your Asian grocery store will carry most of the Asian specific ingredients.
- Snow pea leaves: These are not the same as pea sprouts. Make sure to choose vibrant green ones without any yellowing leaves.
- 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.
- Neutral oil: like vegetable oil, avocado oil or any scentless oil with a high smoke point.
Sauce:
- Oyster sauce: or sub with vegetarian stir-fry sauce for a vegan version.
- Shaoxing wine: or sub with Chinese rice wine or Dry Sherry.
- Regular soy sauce: or substitute with low sodium soy sauce or light soy sauce. If you’re gluten-free, substitute with tamari sauce, coconut aminos or a gluten-free soy sauce of your choice.
- 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: If you can't find it, feel free to use black pepper.
How to make Stir Fry Snow Pea Leaves
Wash Snow Pea Leaves
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.
Create Sauce
In a small bowl, mix Sauce ingredients until combined.
Fry Aromatics
In a large pan set on medium heat, add vegetable oil. Toss in ginger and garlic and stir fry until fragrant, about 10-20 seconds.
Cook Snow Pea Leaves
Next toss in snow pea leaves and mix with garlic and ginger. Cook until snow pea leaves have softened, about 1-2 minutes.
Add Sauce
Increase heat to medium high, then pour in the Sauce mixture.
Toss
Mix everything together. Once mixed, remove off heat. Do not overcook. Enjoy!
Storage & Reheating
This dish will last up to 4 days stored in an airtight container in the fridge. To reheat, microwave for 2-3 minutes or reheat on the stovetop in a pan on medium heat until hot.
Expert Tips
- Wash snow pea leaves very well. Make sure the water runs clear.
- Remove any curly tendrils or tough stems. These make the snow pea leaves less tender and you won't want to be chewing on them.
- Combine your sauce in advance. This allows for even distribution of the ingredients.
- Do not overcook the snow pea leaves. Once they soften in the sauce, it's time to remove them from the heat.
FAQ
What do snow pea leaves look like?
They are a vibrant leafy green attached to small tender stalks or thin stems. Each leaf is about 3 inches tall and 2 inches wide. The leaves are soft 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. These are also the same leaves that grow attached to snow peas and they grow in early summer.
Do you cut snow peas for stir fry?
It's not necessary as the leaves usually come in manageable pieces. However, I would recommend removing the tendrils.
Can you overcook snow peas?
Yes, that's why it's important to monitor them. As soon as you see that they've become softened and have been mixed with the sauce you can remove it from the heat.
Should snow peas be blanched before stir frying?
No, since snow pea leaves are quite tender in texture you can simply stir fry them.
Other Recipes You May Like!
- 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
📖 Recipe
Easy 10-min. Stir Fried Snow Pea Leaves with Garlic
Ingredients
- 0.77 lb snow pea leaves
- 3 garlic cloves minced
- 1 tablespoon ginger peeled and julienned
- 2 teaspoon vegetable oil or any neutral oil
Sauce:
- 1 tablespoon oyster sauce or Vegetarian stir fry sauce
- 2 teaspoon Shaoxing wine or Dry Sherry wine
- 1 teaspoon regular soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon sesame oil
- â…› 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!
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!
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.