From the YummyYucky team, founded by Nancy Nash

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Can Babies Eat Snow Peas? How to Cook and Serve

Also known as mangetout.

Snow peas, also called mangetout, are the flat edible pods you eat whole rather than shelling. They can start around 6 months, but only prepared properly: cook them soft, remove the string, and slice them small. Raw or barely blanched pods stay firm and fibrous, which is exactly the texture that causes choking, so this is not a crudite platter food for a baby. Snow peas are not a top allergen, though they are a legume.

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When to introduce: 6 months+
Common allergen?: Not a top allergen. Snow peas are a legume, unrelated to peanut allergy in most children.
Texture: Cooked until it squashes between your fingers, string pulled off, sliced small. Never raw.
Key nutrients: Vitamin C, vitamin K, folate, fiber, manganese, some plant iron.

Snow peas, or mangetout in British recipes, are the flat pods you eat whole, string and all. That last part is where parents get tripped up. A snow pea looks like a soft vegetable and behaves like a strip of packing tape: the pod is fibrous, there is a tough string running down the seam, and a raw one snaps into stiff shards instead of mashing. Cooked properly they are a lovely baby food, sweet and green and easy to like. Handed over raw off a party tray, they are a hazard. The difference is about 4 minutes of cooking and one pull of a string.

Prep School: how to prepare snow peas for baby-led weaning (BLW) and purées

🍴 Baby-led weaning

6 monthsSnap the stem end and pull the string off the seam, then steam or boil the pods until one squashes easily between your finger and thumb, usually 4 to 6 minutes. Slice the soft pods into small pieces. No raw pods and no whole pods at this age.

9 monthsString them, cook them soft, and slice them crosswise into small pieces the size of a pea. That is good pincer grasp practice. Toss them with a little olive oil or butter and a mild herb, and keep soy sauce and stock out of the baby's portion.

12 months+Still cooked, still stringed, still chopped small. Raw or lightly blanched pods stay firm and fibrous no matter how well your toddler chews, and a whole pod stays a bad idea, so keep cooking them and keep eating seated and supervised.

🥄 Purées

6 monthsSnap the stem end and pull the string off the seam, then cook the pods until one squashes easily between your finger and thumb. Blend them into a smooth puree. Raw or lightly blanched pods stay firm and fibrous, so give them the full cooking time first.

9 monthsCook and string them as before, then mash or chop them small for a lumpier spoonful. A little olive oil or butter and a mild herb is fine; soy sauce and stock are not.

12 months+Chop cooked, stringed pods small and stir them through rice, noodles, or a soft mash from the family pan. Keep them cooked rather than raw, and keep the salt light.

Are snow peas safe? Choking & prep

The rule for snow peas is short, and it is worth repeating in full: cook them soft, remove the string, and slice them small. Do all three, every time, before they reach your baby. Snow peas can start around 6 months, but only in that prepared form. Raw or lightly blanched pods stay firm and fibrous, and firm, fibrous, hard to break down pieces are exactly the shape that gets stuck in a small airway. Young children choke on food they cannot mash with their gums, and the standard fix for a vegetable is to cook it until it squashes easily between your finger and thumb¹. Test one pod that way before you serve any of them. If it fights back, it needs longer in the pan. The string is a separate problem. It runs the length of the seam, it does not soften much no matter how long you cook it, and it can wrap or lodge. Snap the stem end and pull the string down the seam the way you would with a runner bean, then check the other seam too on thicker pods. Snow peas are not a top allergen. They are a legume, though, so if your family already has a diagnosed legume allergy, introduce them the way you would any new legume: on their own, on a calm day, and following your allergist's plan. Finally, watch the seasoning rather than the vegetable. Snow peas usually arrive in a stir fry, and soy sauce, oyster sauce, and stock cubes are extremely salty. Babies handle very little sodium, so cook the baby's portion plain before you season the wok².

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Nutrition

Because you eat the pod, snow peas bring more fiber to the plate than shelled peas do. They are a solid source of vitamin C and vitamin K, and they carry folate, some manganese, and a modest amount of plant iron. That iron is the non heme kind, which the body absorbs less readily than iron from meat or fish, so serving snow peas alongside a vitamin C rich food, or next to chicken or fish, helps your baby get more from them. They are also mildly sweet, which makes them one of the easier green vegetables to sell to a suspicious baby, and green vegetables generally need selling more than once before they land.

Goes well with

Rice · Tofu · Chicken · Carrot · Salmon · Sesame

Storage & freezing

Keep snow peas dry and loosely bagged in the fridge crisper and use them within about 5 days, since they lose their snap quickly and go limp. Do not wash them until you are ready to cook. They freeze well after a quick blanch: 2 minutes in boiling water, straight into ice water, dry them thoroughly, then bag them for up to about 9 months. Cooked, chopped snow peas keep in a sealed container in the fridge for 3 days. Reheat until steaming, then let them cool to warm and check the softness again before serving, because reheated vegetables can firm up a little as they cool back down.

More vegetables to explore

🥬

SorrelAround 6 months, cooked

🎃

Spaghetti squashAround 6 months

🥬

SpinachAround 6 months, cooked and finely chopped or pureed

🌱

Raw sproutsOnly if cooked through, around 12 months

🌼

Squash blossomAround 6 months

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Straw mushroomAround 9 months

Common questions

Are snow peas and sugar snap peas the same thing?

No, though they get swapped constantly. Snow peas are flat, with tiny undeveloped peas inside a thin pod. Sugar snap peas are plump and rounded, with full sized peas inside a thicker, crunchier pod. Both are eaten whole and both have strings, but the sugar snap pod is firmer and rounder, which makes it the riskier shape for a baby. Either way the prep is the same: string it, cook it soft, slice it small.

Can babies eat raw snow peas?

No. Raw snow peas are firm and fibrous, and they break into stiff pieces rather than mashing, which is the combination that causes choking in babies and toddlers. Cooking until the pod squashes between your fingers is what makes them safe. Save the raw ones for adults, and keep the crudite platter out of grabbing range at parties, which is where most of these near misses actually happen.

Do I really have to remove the string?

Yes. The string runs along the seam of the pod, it stays tough no matter how long you cook it, and a tough thread is something a baby cannot break down with gums. It takes about 3 seconds per pod: snap the stem end backwards and pull, and the string peels off in one go. Some newer varieties are bred to be nearly stringless, but check each pod rather than trusting the label.

Sources

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Last updated September 2026. Next review December 2026. How we write these: built from current published guidance from the AAP, CDC, FDA/EPA, NIAID, WHO, and other pediatric and public-health authorities, with sources cited on the page. See our editorial and medical policy for how we research, source, and update these, and how we double-check the food advice.

This is general information, not medical advice, and is not individualized for your baby. Always talk to your pediatrician about your baby's diet, introducing allergens, and any reaction. In an emergency, contact emergency services.

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