Asian-Style Chinese GREEN BEANS Recipe (2024)

I am not the biggest fan when it comes to vegetables, but I can never pass down the Asian green beans at Chinese restaurants. It is the perfect side dish, with a great flavor that is hard to turn down. So I wanted to recreate the delicious side dish and was on the search for a great recipe for transforming regular green beans into Asian style Chinese garlic green beans. This green bean recipe contains simple ingredients, using the best green beans to deliver a tasty side dish. Check out this Chinese Green Beans recipe to make this delicious and simple side dish.

If you enjoyed this Chinese Green Beans recipe, check out these other articles: Instant Pot Chicken and Dumpling recipe, Skinny Buffalo Chicken Dip recipe.

Chinese Green Beans Recipe

Ingredients

1 lb fresh green beans

1 TBS minced garlic

1 TBS fresh ginger

2 TBS olive oil (can substitute with sesame oil, vegetable oil, avocado oil, chili oil, coconut oil, or peanut oil)

1 TBS butter

lite soy sauce, dark soy sauce, or regular soy sauce

sesame seeds (optional for garnish)

red pepper flakes (optional for garnish)

chili flakes (optional for garnish)

Directions

Rinse your fresh beans thoroughly and dry them using a paper towel. Trim the ends off with a sharp knife. Start a large pot of heavily salted water on medium-high heat. (The salted water helps to keep the beans flavorful and retain their beautiful color.) This will not make the beans salty; the water should be 6-7 times saltier than seawater. Prepare a large bowl of ice cold water and keep it refrigerated until it’s time to cook. Once the water reaches a full rolling boil, slowly introduce the beans to the pot. You want to gently stir them a few times during the process, but you only want to blanch the beans, so only cook for about 2 ½ minutes. Drain the beans slowly into a colander, but do not rinse. Once drained, quickly transfer the beans to a bowl of ice water. This step is important to shock the beans and quickly end the cooking process (this keeps the beans crispy as overcooking softens the beans).

Heat a large skillet with oil over medium heat. Spread the hot oil to coat the hot skillet and add butter until melted and blended. You can use less oil, depending on the amount of butter used. Add the garlic and ginger and sauté for about 1 minute on medium high heat. Drain the beans once more in the colander before adding them to the skillet. (This whole process should only take a few minutes, as you also don’t want the beans to sit in the ice water for too long and absorb too much water, which can make them soggy.) Sautee the beans in the thick sauce using the stir fry method. Gently toss and coat the beans for 2 ½ minutes before adding the soy sauce. Do this in single layer small batches to coat the beans thoroughly. After 30 seconds, drain the beans into the colander one last time to remove the excess oil. Store leftovers in an airtight container.