These stir-fried green beans are inspired by a favorite take-out dish: Szechuan spicy green beans. My recipe requires only three ingredients including chili crisp, a pantry fave. The chili crisp brings all the flavor you need for a very fast and flavorful side dish.
What is chili crisp?
Chili crisp is a zippy, crunchy, and spicy Chinese condiment. The crisp comes from fried chili, onion, and garlic bits. My favorite brand, Lao Gan Ma, also contains fried soy beans which lend an extra crunchy texture.
What I love about chili crisp, aside from the crispy texture, is that it is really balanced in flavor. It’s a spicy condiment without blowing your hat off. Chili crisp is also very umami forward with a perfect salty punch.
This is one of my go-to pantry staples because it adds so much flavor to a dish without any fuss.
- Shop: Chili Crisp
Stir-fry Basics
The other key “ingredient” to this dish is actually the cooking method. This recipe requires cooking at a seriously high heat. I don’t add the oil or green beans until my wok is smoking. And I keep the wok over high heat until the green beans are well-charred and cooked through.
Don’t be scared; but do crack some windows if your stove doesn’t vent well to keep the smoke alarm at bay.
If you don’t have a wok, you can use a cast-iron skillet. Heat the skillet over high heat as well and let it start smoking just slightly before adding your oil and green beans. From there, keep the heat high and sauté your green beans.
Or you could roast your green beans in the oven at 400F degrees for about 10-minutes until the green beans are cooked through and caramelized.
- Shop: Woks
Give these Chinese-style green beans a shot; you can have them on the table in 15-minutes from prep to finished dish. It’s a great recipe to have up your sleeve for busy evenings–or Chinese take-out cravings.
Easy Chinese-style Stir-fried Green Beans
Ingredients
- 1 lb fresh green beans trimmed
- ½ tbsp neutral oil like canola or vegetable oil
- 1 ½ tbsp chili crisp
Instructions
- Heat your wok over high heat until the wok starts smoking slightly. Add the oil.
- Stir-fry the green beans over high heat. Stir almost constantly and cook for about 10-minutes or until the green beans are crisp tender and nicely charred.
- Remove the green beans from the heat and add the chili crisp. Toss to coat the green beans in the chili crisp. Serve.
Notes
- This will serve four as a side dish, but I think it’s a great vegetarian main course simply served with rice. In this case, two people will easily devour a pound of green beans.
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Bean Box Review
Making these again tonight since they were so good!
That’s why we needed the big jar of chili crisp!
A big thank you for introducing me to Chili Crisp. What a tasty item and one that can be used in other recipes as well. It’s still good on green beans even if you cook them in the microwave. I thought the chili crisp would be hard to find but I found it in the ethnic section of Walmart! Thank you.
Aww thank you! So happy you found it. I could probably just eat it straight from the jar. Haha.