Fried Green Beans
Learn to make irresistibly crisp restaurant-style green beans like a professional Chinese chef.
Cooking Summary
Ingredients: (detailed list)
- Main ingredients: green bean, red onion, white onion, chili pepper, garlic, pork butt, oil, cooking wine
- Stir Fry Sauce: light soy sauce, oyster sauce, cooking wine, dark soy sauce, sugar, salt
- Cornstarch Slurry: water, cornstarch
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Top 3 Mistakes
- Leaving ingredients too wet:
Drain and dry the ingredients as directed before they reach the pan. Extra water changes how they cook, making it harder to get the browning and texture the recipe calls for.
- Starting with a cool pan:
Heat the wok or pan as directed before adding the ingredients. Starting before it is ready changes the initial cooking stage and makes the intended browning harder to achieve.
- Rushing the next bean batch:
Let the oil return to 300°F before adding the second batch of beans. The first batch cools the oil, so adding more immediately changes the frying conditions and slows the next batch.
Overview
If you've ever wondered why green beans are so delicious at restaurants, it's all in the technique. They're usually deep-fried first to give the beans the best crunchy texture, then stir fried for flavor and aroma. Here, my dad takes you through his Fried Chinese Green Bean recipe (干煸四季豆), a less spicy version of the classic Sichuanese dish, and shares the essential steps for recreating his restaurant-quality dish at home.
Don't want to deep fry? You can also try my dad's Stir-Fried Green Beans recipe!
An expert Chinese chef's tip for making the crunchiest green beans
Deep frying helps expel the moisture from inside the green beans, giving them the snappy texture that makes this dish so irresistible. Just make sure the temperature of the frying oil doesn't get too hot, which will end up burning the beans before the moisture is extracted.
What to serve with Chinese green beans
Since it contains both a meat and veggie, this dish is delicious all on its own with a bowl of white rice (For my dad's tips on how to make perfect, fluffy rice, check out all of his tips here!).
Fried green beans are also great as part of a larger spread of your favorite Chinese dishes. Serve it alongside lighter main entrees such as Steamed Salmon or White Cut Chicken With Ginger Scallion Sauce, or with noodles like Cantonese Chow Mein.
Ingredients
Why this recipe
Most fried green beans recipes online are tested only a handful of times. My dad used to make this dish multiple times a day, every day, for 60+ years and can make this in his sleep.
I know you'll love it as much as our community does! This recipe has over 561.9K views, 8.4K likes on YouTube.
On green beans
In Chinese, green beans are known as four-season beans (四季豆) since they're available all-year round.
The key to picking the best green beans is looking for ones that aren't too mature. You can spot these by looking at the size of the interior beans; if they're bulging out, then the beans are on the older side. Length doesn't matter, so both short and long ones will work for this recipe, but the beans should be smooth. Look out for vibrant green ones and beans that feel crisp enough to snap in half.
Green beans are different from long beans, which are are also common in Chinese cuisines.
Equipment note
When deep frying, my dad uses a spider to scoop out the food and strain it at the same time. It's a useful tool that helps him work quickly so nothing burns! We highly recommend getting one:
These links are affiliate links, which means that if you use our links to purchase these ingredients, Amazon pays my family a small amount for the sale - at no extra cost to you. If you use these links, we really appreciate the support!
How to make Fried Green Beans
Prep vegetables
Cut the green beans (1 lb). Line up a handful of beans and trim off both ends, then slice the beans in half. Repeat until all the beans have been trimmed and cut. Pat dry with a paper towel.
Cut the red onion (1 oz) into thin slices. Repeat with the white onion (1 oz) and set both aside.
Trim the stem off the chili pepper. Chop it in half and scrape out the core with the seeds. Hold the pepper with the long side facing you and slice into thin strips. Set aside.
Smash and peel the garlic cloves (4 cloves). Trim off the ends and flatten with the flat side of your knife, then roughly mince the garlic.
Prep pork
Cut the pork (4 oz) into thin slices. Chop across the sliced pork perpendicularly, then switch directions to chop parrallel to you. Fold the meat over itself and chop acorss it again. Repeat until the pork has been finely minced. Set aside.
(Chef's Tip: Chopping the meat in different directions helps create a finer mince. If you chop in one direction, you'll only get long pieces.)
Make sauce
In a small bowl, combine the light soy sauce (1 tablespoon), oyster sauce (1 tablespoon), cooking wine (2 teaspoons), dark soy sauce (1 teaspoon), sugar (2 teaspoon) and salt (0.50 teaspoon) and stir until well mixed.
Stir together the water (1 teaspoon) and cornstarch (0.50 teaspoon) to make the slurry.
Deep fry green beans
Heat a wok on high heat. Once the wok begins to smoke, add the oil (10 oz). Depending on the height of your cooking vessel, you may need more or less than our recommend amount. Heat the oil to 300°F and scoop up the sides of the wok to prevent any food from sticking.
Carefully set half the beans into the wok. Lower the heat to medium and fry while stirring them gently until the exterior wrinkles up, about 2.5 to 3 minutes.
Remove the cooked green beans and set aside in spider strainer or colander to let the excess oil drain off. Repeat with the second half of the beans. Make sure the oil is back up to 300°F before adding in subsequent batches.
Pour out the frying oil. You can save this to cook with later. Wipe off any oil on the edge or outside wok.
Stir fry ingredients
Heat the cleaned wok on high and add the oil (1 tablespoon). You can use some of the reserved leftover oil from frying or a new batch.
Decrease the heat to medium and add minced pork. Let the bottom of the meat brown and stir fry to break up into small pieces, about 1 minute. Add garlic and stir fry for 1 minute. Next, add half the onions and chili peppers and stir fry until aromatic for 30 to 40 seconds.
Turn the heat to high and add the green beans. Stir fry for 1 minute, using your wok spatula to scoop all the way to the bottom to toss the ingredients.
Splash cooking wine (1 tablespoon) on edge of wok and stir fry for another 20 to 30 seconds.
Pour in the sauce. Start with a little bit and add if you feel the dish needs more flavor. Daddy Lau used about 2/3 of the sauce in this video. Stir fry 20 to 30 seconds.
Add the cornstarch slurry (give it a quick stir to recombine if needed) and stir fry for 15 to 20 seconds. My dad only adds a slurry if there's liquid in the wok after stir frying the ingredients. If it's fairly dry, then you can skip this step.
Add in rest of onions a nd chili peppers and stir and fry for final 20 to 30 seconds. Turn the heat off and plate.
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Made with love ❤️
We started Made With Lau to celebrate Cantonese culture and honor the legacy of our wonderful parents, Jenny and Chung Sun Lau.
Our hope is that these recipes and stories help you spread the joy, love, and nostalgia that I felt growing up.
