Herby Pearl Couscous and Sugar Snap Pea Salad
Published May 20, 2025
Joel Goldberg for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Hadas Smirnoff.
- Total Time
- 30 minutes
- Prep Time
- 15 minutes
- Cook Time
- 15 minutes
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
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Ingredients
1 large garlic clove, grated
½ small red onion, finely diced
1 lemon, zested, plus ¼ cup lemon juice (from 1 to 2 lemons) or more as needed
Salt and black pepper
1 ½ cups pearl couscous
½ pound sugar snap peas, trimmed and roughly chopped
½ cup chopped mint
½ cup chopped parsley
1 teaspoon ground allspice
1 teaspoon dried mint
⅓ cup extra-virgin olive oil
Nutritional analysis per serving (4 servings)
61 grams carbs; 453 calories; 13 grams monosaturated fat; 2 grams polyunsaturated fat; 3 grams saturated fat; 19 grams fat; 7 grams fiber; 479 milligrams sodium; 11 grams protein; 4 grams sugar
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
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Preparation
- Step 1
In a large bowl, stir together the garlic, red onion and lemon juice. Allow to sit while you prepare the remaining ingredients; this will tame the bite of the raw alliums.
- Step 2
Bring a medium pot of salted water to the boil. Add the pearl couscous and cook according to package instructions until tender, about 8 minutes. Drain, refresh under cold water, then drain again.
- Step 3
To the garlic and red onion, add the pearl couscous, sugar snap peas, lemon zest, chopped mint, parsley, allspice, dried mint and olive oil. Season generously with salt and pepper and toss to combine.
- Step 4
Taste and season with more salt, pepper and lemon juice, as needed. Serve at room temperature.
Private Notes
Comments
So good! Used sumac instead of all spice! 10/10
This sounds delicious! I look forward to reading comments from those who have actually made the recipe. 😊 This reminds me of a Spring pea salad from Balducci's. It had some combo of snow peas, snap peas, pea shoots, and frozen peas with lemon juice, mint, and olive oil. They might still carry this. I might add thinly sliced white salad turnips and their greens, radishes, or both. And garlic scapes when they're in season.
The allspice in this recipe was a huge miss--a warming spice does not belong here and completely overpowered all of the fresh flavors, even though I used less than what was called for in the recipe.
Delicious with many of your suggestions: 1/2 farro, 1/2 pearl couscous. Blanched peas for 1 minute. Fresh and dried mint, per recipe. Sumac. Served with Bittman's butter roasted herb salmon. Perfect summer meal!
My olive oil ruined this salad but overall it didn't work for me. I guess I just don't like pearl couscous.
This was great! Very light and springy. Made without the allspice and without the parsley just because I didn’t have. Was still very yum!