Cooking Frozen Peas

Cooking frozen peas couldn’t be easier.  Most people seem to make a meal of it, but this quick cheats way to cook them fast leaves them tasty and great looking.  Cooking peas in the microwave is definitely the way to go!

I’ve stood and watched people cook frozen peas as they take a saucepan out of the cupboard, fill it with water, put the saucepan on the hob and wait for the water to boil.  They’ve then tipped the peas into the boiling water, which immediately cools, then bring the water to the boil again.  I’ve even seen people then boil the peas for up to 10 minutes!  This destroys them.  And then there’s the saucepan to wash up, cluttering up the sink/drainer!

My whole approach to cooking food is: to make the best meal I can, with the least effort/gadgets/cookware and leaving the least mess and washing up!

I cook peas quickly, easily and without using the hob at all, here’s my foolproof microwave method:

Cook Peas:

1. Boil a kettle
2. Tip the peas you want into a mug, or a jug – any microwaveable bowl or dish will do. I use a mug as I’m only cooking 2-3 spoons of peas usually!
3. Pour boiling water onto the peas and fill up the jug/mug, stir and stand to one side for 4-5 minutes.
4. Give the peas a stir and strain off the (by now cold) water.
5. Fill the jug/mug again with boiling water, stir and stand the peas for a minute or so.
6. Strain all the water from the peas and place the mug/jug into the microwave.  Microwave them for 30-90 seconds (depending on how many you’ve got).  If you’re microwaving a whole jug I’d give them a stir after each 30 seconds; when I microwave half a mug of peas it’s just 20-30 seconds.  You can cover the jug/mug if you wish, I often don’t bother as I’m only cooking one portion of half a mug.
7. Serve!

It’s really that simple.  Peas don’t need “cooking” as such – this will leave your frozen peas brightly coloured, tasty and fresh looking.  It also means you can produce “peas on demand” as you’re serving up a meal and think “ah, forgot the peas!”.

All you’re doing in the first stage is defrosting the peas – and the microwave simply heats them up.  As they’re small, they don’t take long at all.

For one portion of peas, you just need half a mugful – but you can do it all by eye as you know how many you want! A perfect “serves one” recipe that I even use as a Christmas Day Cooking Cheat as it doesn’t use the hob or any space at all on a crowded workspace.

Frozen peas are also great for frugal living, or living below the line, as a 1Kg bag can be bought cheaply from the supermarkets and you’re not using much expensive energy to cook them.  I’ve always got a bag of frozen peas in the freezer as they can be served with most hot meals!

You can see how my peas turned out when I jazzed up a plain bowl of sausage and mash with a splash of green: Microwave Sausage, Mash & Peas I also serve peas with my Microwave Fish Fingers, by tipping the peas from the mug into the microwave dish at the last moment and just microwaving the whole lot for 20 seconds.