We always love the chance to highlight our favorite veggies, and the star of the show today is the (crunchy & sweet) snap pea! Our obsession with snap peas started earlier this year when we discovered the magic that is sautéed snap peas, and now we’re bringing you a simple and fresh snap pea salad!
This salad is the perfect balance of bright, tangy, and savory. It’s delicious served with pasta or fish, and it requires just 10 ingredients, 15 minutes, and 1 bowl. Let’s snap to it!
How to Make Snap Pea Salad
This recipe starts with a simple, lemony, mustard-infused dressing that contrasts beautifully with the crunchy, subtly sweet snap peas. It has waves of flavor from fresh garlic, salt, pepper, and shallot with maple syrup to provide a little sweet balance and olive oil for richness.
To minimize dirty dishes, we mix the dressing in a large serving bowl and then add the remaining ingredients straight into that bowl. But feel free to shake up the dressing in a jar if you’re making it ahead or if that’s more your style.
The remaining salad ingredients include fresh basil (or other soft herbs like mint or tarragon) for herby goodness, chopped pistachios for richness and crunch, and optional red pepper flakes for a little heat and color contrast.
Give it a toss, and prepare your tastebuds for deliciousness!
We hope you LOVE this snap pea salad! It’s:
Bright
Tangy
Crunchy
Fresh
Simple
& Addictively delicious!
We love it as a side in spring or early summer (snap pea season!), especially paired with our Easy Beet Falafel, Vegan Pasta Al Limone, Easy Pizza Burgers, or Lemon Baked Salmon.
More Fresh & Simple Sides
- Crunchy Jicama Slaw (1 Bowl!)
- Creamy Vegan Cucumber Salad (German-Inspired!)
- Perfect Roasted Asparagus
- Easy Vegan Polenta (Super Creamy!)
If you try this recipe, let us know! Leave a comment, rate it, and don’t forget to tag a photo @minimalistbaker on Instagram. Cheers, friends!
Snap Pea Salad with Zesty Lemon Vinaigrette
Ingredients
DRESSING
- 2Tbsplemon juice
- 2Tbspolive oil
- 1clovegarlic, minced or grated
- 1 ½tspDijon mustard
- 1tspmaple syrup(or honey if not vegan)
- 2Tbspfinely chopped shallot(optional)
- 1/2tspsea salt(plus more to taste)
- 1/4tspblack pepper
SALAD
- 4cupsthinly sliced sugar snap peas, ends trimmed, sliced at a diagonal
- 1/4cupchopped fresh basil(plus more for garnish // or sub tarragon or mint leaves)
- 1/4cuproughly chopped roasted salted pistachios(plus more for garnish // or sub other roasted salted nut or seed of choice)
- 1/8 -1/4tspcrushed red pepper flakes(optional)
Instructions
- In a large serving bowl, combine the lemon juice, olive oil, garlic, mustard, maple syrup or honey, shallot (optional), salt, and pepper. Whisk to emulsify.
- SALAD: To the same bowl, add the snap peas, basil, and pistachios and toss to combine and coat with the dressing. Taste and adjust as needed, adding more lemon juice for brightness, maple syrup for sweetness, or salt to taste.
- Garnish with additional basil and pistachios and the red pepper flakes (optional). Serve right away.
- Best when fresh. The dressing can be made up to 3 days in advance by adding the ingredients to a jar with a lid and shaking to combine. Let it come to room temperature before tossing with the snap peas, basil, and pistachios. Not freezer friendly.
Video
Notes
*Nutrition information is a rough estimate calculated without optional ingredients.
Claudiasays
Made it exactly as the recipe – it was delicious!
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Woohoo! Thanks, Claudia!
VICKYsays
Loved this salad! So fresh! Flavors I’d never imagine combining! So good!
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Yay! Thank you for the lovely review, Vicky! xo
Katysays
So yummy and refreshing. Perfect for lunches or as a side for social/family gatherings
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We’re so glad you enjoyed it, Katy! Thank you for the lovely review! xo
Jennifer Richardsonsays
Such a wonderful summer salad with a fresh crisp. I just love your recipes.
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Yay! Thanks so much, Jennifer!
Treesays
My husband and I love this salad! Very straightforward. We added some chopped mint and made it with baked brown sugar salmon and it was a great, light meal.
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Yum, sounds delish! Thanks for the lovely review!
Celeste Johnsonsays
We get soooo many snap peas in our weekly CSA veggie box & I don’t know what to do with them! Thank you for this recipe! Making it tonight. It looks so yummy.
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Yay! Let us know how you like it, Celeste! xo
Bethsays
Does the dijon mustard make it taste mustard-y? If so, any suggestion for an alternative to that?
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Hi Beth, it’s a noticeably mustard-y dressing. You could leave it out and sub more shallot. Hope that helps!
Nancy Bsays
This was excellent! Both my young kids enjoyed it. I made some fish that was covered in a spicy sriracha Mayo and this paired really well with it!
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Yum, that sounds like an amazing meal! Thank you for sharing, Nancy! xo
Jennifersays
Yowza ! Good stuff !! This is going to be my go-to salad of the summer. Didn’t have a shallot but I will add next time. I added to the crushed red pepper to the dressing to distribute better.
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Yay! Thanks for the lovely review, Jennifer. So glad you enjoyed this salad!
Maaike Maurizisays
SO DELICIOUS!! Make this! This beauty of a recipe landed in my inbox and I just had to try it. Especially after the fantastic celery, date and mandarin orange salad that was insanely good. This salad was simple and affordable to make and also quick. The only changes I made were I used mint instead of basil, and cashews and sunflowers seeds instead of pistachios. The crunch of the snap peas is addictive and the slightly garlicky lemony dressing has a great punch to it. Thanks for the terrific recipe! MB has become my go-to for creative and quick salad recipes (among many other types of recipes too). Thank you!
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Aw, this makes us SO happy, Maaike! Thank you so much for the lovely review! xoxo
Doritsays
This is such a delicious salad.
I added lettuce , cucumber, fresh spinach and it was amazing. You have made being vegan so easy for me!! Your recipes are fantastic. Easy to follow and so tasty.
Wow , I’m so grateful I found your blog.
Thank you so much
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Aw, we’re glad you enjoy our recipes, Dorit! Thank you so much for sharing! xoxo
Melania Barrantessays
Dear minimalist baker,
It’s me again fascinated by your delicious creations!!
This time I won’t write about how good the recipe was but, I’m wondering if you could create like a profile in your website 🤔
We’re we could put like 👍🏻 Or ❤️in the recipes we like and a ✅in the ones we’ve done and a wishlist ✨for the ones we’ll like to do but don’t have the ingredients ready or time to prepare before we forget🙈
Sending love to your hands of light and wonderful creations
Melania 💞
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Aw, thank you for your sweet words and suggestion, Melania! xoxo
Csays
Hi, I love your recipes, and this looks amazing. All of my favorite spring ingredients. I don’t do super well with eating lots of raw veggies. Do you think this would still work well if I steam the snap peas and then let them cool a bit?
Thank you!
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That should work! Let us know if you try it!
mary bethsays
Had a large bag of sugar snap peas waiting for a recipe like this. Made it tonight to go with dinner, we really enjoyed it, so crunchy and delicious. Great combo of flavors!
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Thanks so much for the lovely review, Mary Beth. We are so glad you enjoyed the recipe! Next time, would you mind leaving a star rating with your review? It’s super helpful for us and other readers. Thanks so much! xo
Anitrasays
Do you cook the sugar peas first or keep them raw? thank you
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Hi Anitra, they’re raw for this recipe. Hope you love it!
Jensays
Excellent! This salad took all of 10 minutes, and made for a delicious lunch today! I reserved some of the dressing (there was plenty) to save some fat calories and to use on salads or potatoes this week. The basil + pistachios = brilliant (just add these later, if you don’t plan on eating it all in one sitting).
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You’re fast! We’re so glad you enjoyed it, Jen. Thank you for sharing! xo