Creamy Green Peas with Crispy Fried Onions | 15-Minute Meal
Creamy green peas with crispy fried onions is a quick 15-minute side dish made by simmering thawed frozen peas with sauteed mashed garlic, soy cooking cream, fresh dill and thyme, then finishing with crunchy fried onions stirred in off the heat. It is creamy, sweet, and salty, and it is one of my favorite everyday sides.
This recipe is part of my series of everyday dishes that I prepare for me and my husband, so you won’t see professional pictures here with studio lights or special plating. Instead, you’ll see simple, clean images taken with my phone just before eating. This is real life, after all. I make food to eat in-between work sessions and, if it’s good enough, I share the recipe with you here on the blog.
For one of my recent lunches, I wanted something comforting and full of protein, something fit for winter days when you need a dose of energy. The weather here is very cold and windy, and I usually have things to do in the garden or yard every day, so I spend a lot of time outside in the cold. When I get back into the house for lunch, I’m almost always craving something warm, delicious, and very comforting. Peas are one of my favorite ingredients because they’re versatile, delicious, and protein-rich, so I reached for them and made this creamy side. Every bite felt like heaven to me.
This Recipe Works If You Need
- A fast lunch or dinner that comes together in about 15 minutes when you don’t have a lot of time or energy.
- A warm, comforting side dish for cold winter days when you want a dose of energy.
- A protein-rich vegan side: 100g of green peas contain approximately 5 grams of protein.
- An easy side to pair with veggie balls, cutlets, or a simple grain to round out a plate.
- A pantry-friendly recipe built mostly from frozen peas and a few seasonings you likely already have.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- It is fast. From frozen peas to the table in about 15 minutes, with most of that time being hands-off simmering under a lid.
- The texture is the whole point. Soft, creamy peas against crunchy fried onions gives you creamy, crunchy, sweet, and salty in every bite.
- It is naturally protein-rich. Peas bring real plant protein, which makes this more than just a filler side.
- It is fully vegan. The creaminess comes from soy cooking cream, not dairy, so the whole dish stays plant-based.
- It is flexible. The herbs and seasonings are easy to adjust, so you can lean heavier on dill, thyme, or garlic to suit your taste.
Ingredient Notes
Frozen green peas are the base of this dish, and I use 1 kg of them, thawed beforehand. I like a brand that is pre-blanched, very young, and made of fine peas, because young peas are sweeter and cook faster. When you buy frozen peas, look for petit pois or “fine” peas if you can find them, and check that they pour freely in the bag rather than clumping into a frozen block, which is a sign they thawed and refroze. Thawing them first really does shorten the cooking time, so it is worth the few minutes.
Garlic does the heavy lifting on flavor here. I use 4 cloves, mashed, and sautee them in the oil before the peas go in. Mashing rather than slicing releases more of the garlic’s compounds, and giving it a brief moment in warm oil mellows the raw bite while perfuming the whole pan. Buy firm heads with tight, papery skin and no green sprouts, since sprouted garlic tastes sharper and slightly bitter.
Soy vegetable cooking cream is what makes the dish creamy without any dairy. I used Alpro Cuisine Soya. Cooking creams are formulated to resist splitting when heated, unlike a drinking soy milk, so they stay smooth as the dish finishes. Add it toward the end and keep the heat gentle, and you’ll get a silky sauce that coats the peas.
Fresh dill and fresh thyme are the herbs I reach for. I tend to add a lot of fresh herbs to my meals, but that is just a personal preference, so add as much as you like. Dill brings a bright, grassy lift that pairs beautifully with sweet peas, while thyme adds a quiet, savory depth. Add them along with the cream so they warm through without losing their aroma.
Garlic powder and onion powder, 1 teaspoon each, layer in a rounded, savory background behind the fresh garlic. They dissolve evenly into the sauce in a way fresh aromatics can’t, which gives the whole dish a consistent seasoning from edge to edge.
Crispy fried onions are the finishing texture, about 100g of them. I use store-bought crispy fried onions, which here you can find in international food stores and at Ikea. They are the same topping I use on vegan hot dogs over the sauces. One thing to note: crispy fried onions are calorie-rich, so my recommendation is not to consume them in excess.
Tips
- Thaw the peas first. If you skip this, the dish takes longer to cook and the peas can steam unevenly. The brand I use is pre-blanched, young, and fine, which means a shorter cooking time, so adapt accordingly to whatever peas you have.
- Don’t add the cream too early. Let the peas cook with the garlic and a splash of water under the lid first, then add the soy cooking cream so it warms gently. Boiling it hard for a long time is the most common way to make a cream sauce look grainy.
- Add the fried onions off the heat. Stir them in only after you turn off the burner. They are added for crunch, and any time spent in the hot, saucy pan softens them and you lose the contrast that makes this dish work.
- Watch for the visual cue. You know the peas are ready when they’re tender to a fork and the sauce clings to them in a glossy coat rather than pooling watery at the bottom of the pan.
- Season at the end. Salt and pepper to taste after the cream goes in, since the fried onions also bring saltiness and you don’t want to over-season before they’re added.
Substitutions and Variations
- Swap the cooking cream. Any unsweetened plant-based cooking cream works in place of the soy one, such as oat or coconut cooking cream, though coconut will add a faint sweetness of its own.
- Change up the herbs. If you don’t have fresh dill or thyme, fresh parsley or chives also pair well with peas. Use what you have, and don’t be afraid to adapt and experiment.
- Make it a main. Serve it alongside veggie balls, the way I do, to turn a side into a protein-rich plate. Pea-based veggie balls echo the peas in the side dish for a doubly protein-rich meal.
- Top it differently. If you’re out of crispy fried onions, toasted seeds or chopped toasted nuts give you a similar crunchy contrast, even if the flavor is different.
Storage and Make Ahead
For the quantities here, I end up with around 5 portions of creamy green peas served as a side dish. Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days. The key thing to remember is to keep the crispy fried onions separate and add them only when you reheat and serve, otherwise they go soft in the sauce. Reheat gently in a pan or in short bursts in the microwave, adding a splash of water or a little more cooking cream if the sauce has thickened in the fridge.
This dish is a great fit for batch cooking, so if you like planning ahead, you can fold it into your weekly rotation. For more ideas like this, see my healthy dinner meal prep recipes, lean on the protein side of things with my notes on proteins in the vegan diet, and if you love garlic as much as I do, browse my vegan garlic recipes. I really hope you’ll try this recipe for your next lunch or dinner, and if you do, don’t forget to tell me how it was by leaving a comment below.
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Creamy Green Peas with Crispy Fried Onions | 15-Minute Meal
Ingredients
- 1 kg frozen green peas thawed
- 4 cloves garlic mashed
- 250 ml soy vegetable cooking cream I used Alpro Cuisine Soya
- 4 Tbsp olive oil
- fresh dill chopped, add as much as you like
- fresh thyme to taste
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 100 g crispy fried onions
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Heat the oil in a large pan. Add the mashed garlic and green peas and mix well. Add 1/4 glass of water, cover with the lid, and let it cook for 10 minutes.
- Add the herbs, seasonings, and soy vegetable cooking cream. Mix well and cook for 5 more minutes, or until soft. It may take a bit longer if you do not let the frozen peas thaw beforehand. The brand of frozen peas I use is pre-blanched, very young, and fine, which means a shorter cooking time, so adapt accordingly.
- Once cooked, turn off the heat. Add the crispy fried onions and mix.
Notes
Frequently Asked Questions
Heat olive oil in a large pan, add 4 mashed garlic cloves and 1 kg of thawed frozen green peas, mix, then add a quarter glass of water and cook with the lid on for 10 minutes. Add fresh dill and thyme, garlic and onion powder, and 250 ml soy cooking cream, and cook 5 more minutes until soft. Turn off the heat and stir in about 100g of crispy fried onions.
Yes, it is fully vegan. The creaminess comes from soy vegetable cooking cream rather than dairy. As long as you use plant-based crispy fried onions, every ingredient in the dish is plant-based.
Thawing the peas first is recommended because it shortens the cooking time and helps them cook evenly. If you use them straight from frozen, the dish will simply take a bit longer. Pre-blanched, young, fine peas cook fastest, so adjust your timing to whatever peas you have.
Any unsweetened plant-based cooking cream works in place of soy, such as oat or coconut cooking cream. Coconut cream will add a faint sweetness of its own, so keep that in mind. Choose a cooking cream rather than a drinking plant milk, since cooking creams resist splitting when heated.
The fried onions are added for crunch, so they go in only after you turn off the heat. If you add them earlier, the hot, saucy pan softens them and you lose the contrast between the creamy peas and the crispy topping that makes the dish work.
Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days. Keep the crispy fried onions separate and add them only when you reheat and serve, otherwise they go soft. Reheat gently and add a splash of water or a little cooking cream if the sauce has thickened.
Thank you, this is exactly what I was looking for. It’s very tasty and easy to make.
Yummy! Awesome side dish, thx for the inspiration!