Name: Stir-Fried Green Beans
Prep time: 20 min
Total time: 35 min
Yield: 4 serving(s)
Ingredients: 2 slices bacon, cut into 1/2" pieces (optional); 2 tbsp. reserved bacon fat or extra-virgin olive oil; 1 lb. green beans, trimmed and halved; 10 cloves garlic, quartered; 1" piece ginger, minced; 1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes (optional); 1/2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper; 1/2 tsp. freshly ground white pepper; 1 tsp. rice wine vinegar; 1 1/2 tbsp. hoisin sauce; 1 tbsp. oyster sauce; 2 green onions, sliced; 2 tsp. toasted sesame oil; Sesame seeds, for garnish

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- Stir fried green beans, one of my all time, favorite vegetables side dishes. You need just a few simple ingredients, plus a hot, blistery pan to get those beans to that perfect texture. You want them soft and tender, but still a little bit crunchy. And you want them perfectly seasoned and a little bit glazed. For my version, I'll be using a little bit of bacon. We'll be rendering that and saving the bacon fat for the actual stir fry itself. If you're a vegetarian, go ahead and just sub in some olive oil. It'll work perfectly fine as well. What you really don't want to skimp out on is the garlic. We're going with 10 cloves of garlic. That's right, folks. It's a lot of garlic. That's what makes it taste delicious. We'll also be going in with a little bit of spicy from ginger and crushed red pepper flakes, as well as white pepper and black pepper. For a little bit of acidity, we'll be adding in a little bit of rice wine vinegar, and for sweetness, hoisin sauce, and a touch of umami from oyster sauce. And of course, a little green onion never hurt anybody. We're going to round out our flavors with a drizzle of toasty sesame seed oil, as well as sesame seeds themselves. Very simply, you're going to go ahead and wash your string beans very well. Shake it off completely dry. And then we're going to trim off the ends. Those can be a little bit fibrous and not very pleasant to eat. For the string beans themselves, you can either leave it whole or chop it in half for an easier bite. For the garlic, I like to cut them into quarters. That way you have large little nubs of flavor and gummy garlicky goodness. For the ginger, a tiny little mince is best. You don't want any huge chunks in there or it might just blast out your taste buds a little bit too much. For our bacon, for maximum flavor and quickness of rendering of fat, I like to chop them into half inch to one inch pieces. You're going to go ahead and heat your large skillet over medium heat and render your bacon. You're going to go until that bacon is nice and crispy and golden and you're going to fish it out of the pan and keep that fat inside the pan. Again, if you're not using bacon, you can go ahead at this point and just pour in some olive oil. If you do end up with more bacon fat than you need in your pan, please drain it off into a jar and save it for another use. It's delicious. Don't waste it. Reserve the bacon in another bowl for now. And then we're going to go in with our string beans. At the same time, we'll also go in with our garlic, ginger and crushed red pepper flakes. We're going to go ahead and start everything until it's nice and fragrant, and the beans look vibrantly green. I want them to be tender but not too soft yet. Go ahead and add in your black pepper and your white pepper, and give it a nice, good stir. At this point, we're going to add in our vinegar, our hoisin and our oyster sauce. And we're going to give that a good, good stir until everything's nicely coated. We're then going to add back in our bacon along with our green onions. And we're going to stir it until the green onions look a little bit warmed up and a little bit softened. If at any point your pan starts to look dry or your sauces start to burn a little bit, just go ahead and slip in a tablespoon or two of water. You can also add in a little bit of broth, if you prefer. Remove the pan from heat. Stir in your sesame oil. Top with your sesame seeds and maybe a touch more scallions. And you're done. Those are your stir fried green beans. You have the slightly candied bacon. Then you have the nicely gummy and fragrant garlic nubs. You have the slightly crunchy but it's totally tender string beans, all covered in this delicious oyster-hoisin sauce. It's a little bit sweet, a little bit salty, a little bit spicy, and a whole lot of umami. The salty pieces of crispy bacon really add something to it. But even if you don't use the bacon, this is still enough to stand on its own two feet in terms of flavor. If you give this recipe a try, please do let us know down in the comments below which version you went with and how you liked it. Until next time, keep eating your veggies.

The bacon is optional in these Stir-Fried Green Beans, but the 10 cloves of garlic aren't—flavor is mandatory, non-negotiable.

Delish US

The Garlic Is Non-Negotiable In These Stir-Fried Green Beans

Stir Fry Green Beans - Delish.com

dairy-free

weeknight meals

American

Chinese

side dish

slices bacon, cut into 1/2" pieces (optional)

reserved bacon fat or extra-virgin olive oil

crushed red pepper flakes (optional)

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Stir-Fried Green Beans

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Summer Favorites