Last Updated on 10th March 2022 by
Green beans are kind of the ultimate simple side dish. They cook up in just a few minutes and can pair well with all sorts of foods. Plus, they’re really healthy, so you don’t have to feel guilty adding them to whatever you’re making.
However, a lot of people fail to do anything interesting with green beans, usually boiling them and throwing a little salt on them and then calling it a day.
I want to introduce you to stir fry green beans, as this dish is just as easy to make as boiling the beans, but it has a more interesting texture.
If you feel obligated to add a vegetable to your meal and you’re tired of having green beans the same way every time, let me show you how to stir fried green beans and do something a little different with them. You just might look forward to having green beans in your meal next time.
How Long to Stir Fry Green Beans
Like I said, stir frying green beans doesn’t take very long, but how long does it take to stir fry green beans? You’ll be cooking them up on the stovetop in a pan or skillet in a little bit of oil.
Yes, adding oil isn’t the healthiest way to have green beans, but adding a little fatty oil certainly brings out some flavor. when I boil green beans, I often add a little bit of butter for extra flavor, so this is similar to that method if you’re counting the fat content.
You need to preheat the oil first, once it’s heated, you can add your green beans carefully. You don’t want to spatter the hot oil. Once the beans are in the oil and the heat is on medium high, the beans will cook in about 3 minutes. This is the cooking time for fresh or canned green beans.
Frozen green beans should defrost before you cook them in hot oil, otherwise the melting ice will turn to water that causes the oil to spatter all over the place, and that’s not very safe.
How to Make Stir Fry Green Beans
Let me share with you a really quick and simple recipe I use to make stir fried green beans on my stovetop at home. You can try the same recipe for yourself, and I think you’ll be really pleased with how it turns out.
You could also add some extra seasonings or change up some of the ingredients to make yours taste different. Consider this recipe a baseline for how to stir fry fresh green beans.
Ingredients:
- 1 pound of fresh green beans, trimmed and cut into bite size pieces
- 1 1/2 teaspoon of chili garlic sauce
- 1 1/2 tablespoons of soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons of ginger, minced
- 2 teaspoons of canola oil, or another oil of your choice
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 teaspoon of sesame oil
Directions:
- Pour the soy sauce and chili garlic sauce in a small bowl and mix together. Set the bowl aside.
- Heat a nonstick frying pan on the stovetop on medium high heat. Once it has warmed, add your cooking oil. (Alternatively, you can put the oil in the pan before you heat it up, and then heat the oil and pan together.)
- Once the oil is hot, add the green beans and the ginger to the pan and stir them around so that they become coated with oil.
- Allow the green beans to cook for about 3 minutes, stirring them and keeping them in a single layer, preventing overlap as much as possible. You know they’re done cooking when they are tender if you poke them with a fork and they become slightly blackened.
- Add in the garlic and sesame oil and cook for an additional minute stirring frequently.
- Pour your soy sauce mixture on top and stir everything together and then serve the green beans.
As you can see, this method for how to stir fry fresh green beans has a lot of ingredients to it to make it really flavorful, and there are plenty of other ways you could take this dish and make green beans tasty and delicious while stir frying them.
This is just one option you could go with. You may want to try adding parmesan cheese or chopped, cooked bacon to them for a really simple dish.
How to Stir Fry Green Beans Chinese Style
Another method for cooking up green beans in a frying pan is to make them Chinese style. The primary ingredients you’ll use to season this particular dish would be black bean sauce and ginger. Try this simple method for a different way of cooking a lot of green beans at once.
Ingredients:
- 13 pounds of green beans, trimmed
- 1 cup of vegetable oil
- 2 tablespoons of salt
- 1 tablespoon of black pepper
- 5 tablespoons of garlic, minced
- 2 bottles of black bean sauce (about 16 ounces)
- 5 tablespoons of ginger root, minced
Directions:
- Using a large wok, heat the vegetable oil on medium high heat.
- Once the oil is hot, add in the green beans and cook for about 2 minutes, stirring frequently.
- Add in ginger and garlic and cook for an additional 3 to 4 minutes, stirring frequently.
- Add in black bean sauce and salt and pepper to season, and then cook until the beans have become tender, which should take just a few more minutes.
Even though you’re cooking a lot green beans at once, because you’re using the wok, the beans can heat all over evenly and quickly, so it won’t take that long to cook them up. Just give them a poke with a fork to see if they become tender enough to eat. They should also darken slightly by the time they’re done cooking.
Consider using a low fat or healthy oil to cook your green beans in, such as coconut oil, olive oil, or avocado oil.
I'm Pauline, a mother of four grown children, my passion for cooking stemmed from the joy i get cooking for my family. I love to try new dishes, especially when dining out but creating and sharing my own recipes is my favourite thing to do!
