I’ve had this dish plenty of times before but it wasn’t till trying it out at Chopsticks Super Buffet did I sit down, say to myself “I want to cook this at home” and then mentally deconstruct it.
The important thing about this recipe is to have all ingredients at hand, as it is stir-fried at extremely high heat and should be dished out before it becomes soggy, overcooked or burned. The best rule of thumb is to dish it when the green beans turn bright green. At this point, is it cooked yet still crisp; the perfect balance.
If the bottom of the wok starts to burn and stick, deglaze the wok and mix well to create its sauce. This sauce is later poured over the beans.
If you haven’t noticed by now, most of my recipes generally do not include how much oil is needed for stir-frying or cooking. It is assumed that this is a given and just enough is used. This takes practice before you can eventually eyeball the amount and stir-fry like a pro.
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Green Beans Stir-Fry
- Total Time: 10 mins
- Yield: 2 1x
Ingredients
- 1/2 lb. green beans, ends trimmed off
- 1 teaspoon garlic, minced
- 1/2 teaspoon brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon oyster sauce
Instructions
- Heat oil in a wok over medium high heat and saute green beans for a few minutes
- Add in garlic and continue stir-frying
- Add in sugar and oyster sauce and stir to coat, tossing continuously
- Stir-fry until the green beans turn bright green
- Dish and pour the sauce on the beans
- Serve hot
- Prep Time: 5 mins
- Cook Time: 5 mins
Comments & Reviews
If you haven’t noticed by now, most of my recipes generally do not include how much oil is needed for stir-frying or cooking. It is assumed that this is a given and just enough is used. This takes practice before you can eventually eyeball the amount and stir-fry like a pro.
Can you give me a hint? The times I have tried have always been too heavy, in my opinion. Is the goal just to coat the pan/wok or is it to have enough for the food to fry in (like slightly immerse)?
Thanks!
For something like this, I usually use about a tablespoon of vegetable oil. The goal is not so much coating the pan or immersion as this a stir-fry. You toss it so much, it all ends up getting coated anyway! Maybe start with a tablespoon and see how that works for you. You can always add more later 😉
Stir-frying isn’t like deep-frying or pan-frying. It’s cooked super fast with a super hot temp so all you really need is just a little bit of oil to get that going. Then you toss a lot!
If you want to add a nice smoky flavor to it, remove the pan from heat after it’s cooked and drizzle in some sesame oil as a finisher. Maybe half a teaspoons worth?
So I tried these. A couple of alterations were made though.
I found a wok at Walmart for only $5!
I could not find the oyster sauce so I grabbed a bottle of
this stuff
I wound up also adding a bit of soy sauce to give them a little more flavor.
Overall, the results were great and most of the family (crazy non veggie eating son was the holdout) liked them. The flavor was really nice and we actually tossed some chicken in the wok that had some of the mixture left for the main course. Great and easy recipe. 🙂
Woks are super cheap these days, I usually like the non-stick kind because I’m too lazy to season the others. Walmart should have a small bottle of oyster sauce too, in the ethnic aisle. At least my Super Walmart does. Thanks for trying it out, Tim! Double thanks since it’s one of my old recipes with crappy pics which usually gets no love!