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These delicious garlic scapes are sautéed with a little olive oil, soy sauce, and rice wine vinegar. It's an easy and quick side dish that highlights the flavors of the scapes.

Garlic scapes are the tender stems of the hardneck garlic plant. They're longer vegetables, but they can be cut and cooked like green beans or asparagus. They have a lovely light, garlicky flavor and taste a little like a chive.

Garlic Scape Features

Scapes are the tender stems cut off the hardneck garlic plant to encourage the larger growth of the garlic bulb. Scapes can be found at farmer's markets and some specialty grocery stores. They're typically in season from late spring to early summer.
The tenderest scapes will be cut earlier in the season and will be slightly curled. These can be used like green beans or asparagus and are delicious when sautéed, roasted, or fried.
Scapes that have curled fully are tougher but can still be used! Roast them and use them in pesto or pasta sauce.

Garlic Scape Recipe Ingredients

Garlic scapes - you'll need 8 ounces of tender garlic scapes. Look for ones that are green with no dried tips and that haven't fully curled into a circle.
Olive Oil - after the scapes have browned in the pan, you'll add 1 tablespoon of olive oil.
Soy Sauce - you'll add ½ tablespoon of soy sauce after the oil.
Rice Wine Vinegar - after removing the scapes from the heat, you'll finish the dish with 1 teaspoon of rice wine vinegar.

Garlic scapes, a bowl of rice wine vinegar, a bowl of soy sauce, and a bowl of olive oil.

More Great Vegetable Side Dishes

Grilled Zucchini with Feta & Pine Nuts - a fabulous veggie side dish with lots of flavor
Daikon Radish Cucumber Salad - a fantastic salad combo with a soy-sesame dressing
Grilled Asparagus Recipe - easy grilled asparagus livened up with sumac
Grilled Baby Bok Choy Recipe - a fantastic bok choy recipe with a soy glaze

An overhead shot of a plate of cooked scapes.

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Sautéed Garlic Scapes Recipe

These delicious sautéed garlic scapes are easy to make and ready in just a few minutes. They have a wonderful kicky sauce the complements the aromatic scapes.

4.97 from 53 votes

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Prep Time: 3

Cook Time: 6

Additional Time: 1

Total Time: 10

Servings: servings

Author: Emily Wilson

Ingredients

8 ounces garlic scapes cut into 4-inch pieces
1 tablespoon olive oil
½ tablespoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon rice wine vinegar

Instructions

Reduce the heat to medium and add olive oil. Toss to coat the scapes. Cook for an additional minute.
Add the soy sauce and toss to coat for 30 seconds. Be careful as the pan will be hot and might spit.
Turn off the heat and add the rice wine vinegar. Toss to combine and allow to rest in the pan for 30 seconds before serving.

Video

Notes

Cooking Tips - Use a heavy-bottomed skillet for this recipe, if you have one. It will distribute the heat more evenly. I don't recommend using a cast iron skillet for this, though as there's acid (vinegar) in this recipe.

Storage - Uncooked scapes will keep for up to 2 weeks in the crisper drawer of your refrigerator. You can store the cooked scapes in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.

Reheating - warm in a skillet (not a microwave) to keep them a little crunchy.