Snow Peas with Chinese Sausage (known as lop cheung in Cantonese, or sometimes spelled lap cheong) is a flavorful way to use spring and summer snow peas.
It’s the kind of Chinese home cooking that isn’t fussy. It’s just fast, easy, and tasty.
The Versatility of Chinese Sausage
You’ve probably seen Chinese sausage most often in our sticky rice and zongzi recipes or in steamed recipes like our Hong Kong Style Claypot Rice and Cantonese Steamed Chicken with Chinese Sausage. Perhaps you’ve enjoyed a lop cheung bao as well.
But in the grand scheme of things, we haven’t done many recipes that use Chinese sausage!
Honestly, we have been sleeping on it, as lop cheung is kind of like ground meat. You barely need to get your hands dirty to make a delicious meal!
It works great with sweet, mild vegetables like these snow peas.
A Fast, Mid-week Dinner
If you’ve been working on expanding your Chinese pantries over the years, Snow Peas with Chinese sausage is one recipe that is so easy to pull together for a mid-week dinner.
And if you’ve never tried lop cheung, it’s a wonderful ingredient to keep on hand!
If you’re here, it means you want to eat fast, so let’s get to it!
Show Peas with Chinese Sausage: Recipe Instructions
Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a wok over medium low heat. Cook the ginger slices for 20 seconds.
Add the garlic and Chinese sausage. Increase the heat to medium, and cook for a minute or two until the fat in the sausage turns translucent.
Add the onions…
And the snow peas.
Mix everything well. Add the Shaoxing wine, white pepper, sesame oil, and salt. Stir-fry everything for 1-2 more minutes. If the stir fry is too dry, add 1 tablespoon of water.
The dish is done once the snow peas are bright green and the onions are cooked, but still have a little bit of crunch.
Tips!
- When preparing snow peas, be sure to trim the ends off, and peel off the tough, fibrous “string” to ensure they are tender.
- If you like your sausage to be a bit more tender in texture, steam for 10 minutes before slicing and stir-frying.
Snow Peas with Chinese Sausage
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons oil (any neutral oil, such as vegetable or canola)
- 3 thin slices ginger
- 3 cloves garlic (thinly sliced)
- 2 links Chinese sausage (thinly sliced on an angle)
- 1/2 medium onion sliced
- 8 ounces snow peas
- 1 tablespoon Shaoxing wine
- 1/4 teaspoon white pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a wok over medium low heat. Cook the ginger slices for 20 seconds. Add the garlic and Chinese sausage. Increase the heat to medium, and cook for a minute or two until the fat in the sausage turns translucent.
- Add the onions and snow peas. Mix everything well. Add the Shaoxing wine, white pepper, sesame oil, and salt. Stir-fry everything for 1-2 more minutes. If the stir fry is too dry, add 1 tablespoon of water.
- The dish is done once the snow peas are bright green and the onions are cooked, but still have a little bit of crunch.
This dish is delicious, I cooked it as written and only had to add a little salt to taste. I do have an issue with this being labeled as ‘quick’. It takes 30 mins alone to string and tip snap this amount of snow peas, which you have obviously done in the photo. This part is extremely labor intensive and makes it impractical as a weeknight meal.
Hi Emily, it takes practice, you can do it :-)
Quick, easy and delicious! Score another one for lap cheung recipes on Woks of Life! This is another top notch winner for a fast and healthy dinner anytime. Don’t let the simple ingredient list make you think that this is just ordinary!
So happy that you enjoyed it, Mark. Like you said, this dish is quick, easy and delicious.
thank you for this recipe. I love these sausages and have been unsure how to go about using them in main dishes. Thanks to the commenter, as well, who mentions that she freezes her sausage. That is a good to know. I see the steamed chicken recipe , too. so I am sure my adventure dishes over the next few weeks are in line.
Nice! Happy eating :-)
I just placed a grocery order and didn’t add lap cheong to it. Or snow peas, for that matter. So I guess I’ll have to make this next month.
If you are like me, I have to write everything down, what to buy, what to do, who to call :-)
Looks like a recipe to put on my “must try” list – when I’m able to pick up some sausage. In the UK, snow peas are usually sold-as/known-as “mangetout” from the french meaning “eat-all”.
Yes, it should be a must try, especially if you like Chinese sausage :-)
In South Africa even Chinese stores do not regularly stock lap chiang.
I use the dry Italian sausage Kabanossi instead of lap chiang and it’s not
too bad.
Good improvising! :-)
Great recipe…..however for all the “novices” out there, you must de-string (ie clean) each and every snow pea before cooking ….that is unless you enjoy that stringy texture as you consume the dish.
Good point, Gary, we should add it in.
Thank you for this recipe Judy it is most timely. I went to the Chinese store last week to stock up on the lap cheong as I like to keep a few in my freezer. I use them in everything as they give a wonderful umami flavor, plus chew to recipes. My Chinese chef dad always sliced them thinly on the bias to use in recipes. The only time he ever steamed them above the rice was when he was serving them as a side dish. My snow peas are also coming in at the moment and of course I always keep the other ingredients on hand. Thanks again. This will be a weekday dinner.
Yes, it’s a quick dish to put together and so yummy too ;-)
One note on the preparation. I’ve been taught to steam the sausage before cooking but it isn’t in the recipe. The logic being that it softens the sausage.
Hi Ken, I’ve also seen that done. It’s definitely a good step to include if softer texture is preferred. We will add it in as a tip. Thank you so much.
Hi,
Will the Chinese sausage be chewy? I prefer soft. If I cut the pieces thin, will they be soft? Or perhaps, could I cook them in a rice cooker? Thanks.
Hi Bob, you can soak the Chinese sausage (whole) in warm water for 30 minutes before slicing to get the softer texture.
Thank you.