Loaded with flavor, these spicy Stir-Fried Green Beans are a veggie-lover’s dream. These garlic green beans are vegan and vegetarian and ready in minutes.
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This garlicky green bean stir fry is one of my favorite go-to fast side dishes. It truly shines in summer when green beans are fresh, but it’s also delicious any time of the year.
Looking for more green bean recipes? Check out: Green Beans in Tomato Sauce, Air Fryer Green Bean Fries, learn about canning green beans, or Garlic Butter Green Beans.
Stir-Frying Equipment
For this recipe, I used my wok, but any frying pan will work; except for non-stick cookware. If you have a cast-iron skillet it will give those green beans a gorgeous sear!
I also use this silicone spatula to keep things moving around the pan, but a wooden spoon or scraper would work as well.
It’s so important to have everything prepped and ready to go before you start cooking. I love using our prep set from Bamboozle. You can get your own here and take 10% off with coupon code: Sustainablecooks
Should You Boil Green Beans Before Sauteing?
You don’t need to, but you can. Quickly cooking beans in boiling water and then dipping them in ice water is called blanching. This preserves the gorgeous green color of the beans and slightly softens them before you start to dry fry them in a wok.
You can find more details on blanching in this post on how to freeze green beans. It will walk you through the boiling/icing process step by step.
If you choose to boil/blanch the beans before cooking them in hot oil, you MUST dry the beans thoroughly to avoid the oil spitting out of the pan when it makes a connection with the water.
Stir-Fried Green Beans Variations
- I like my beans crisp. Bonus – if you don’t overcook them, they’re really great as leftovers.
- If you prefer a softer bean texture, stir fry for 2 minutes, then add 1/3 cup of water to the pan, cover, and steam for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- The green onions are delightful, but you can sub in chopped white, red (which we all know are really purple…) onions, or even shallots.
- Leave the chili sauce out if you’re serving this to a tamer crowd. You can always spice up your individual serving.
- If you need a gluten-free version of this recipe, try coconut aminos or tamari (check the ingredient label as some tamari brands do contain wheat).
Pro Tips/Recipe Notes
- Have everything prepped and ready to go before you start cooking!! Stir-frying is a fast process and you need all ingredients chopped and right by the stove.
- If you love yourself, and easy healthy meal prep, prep the beans, garlic, ginger, and green onions the night before. You can even mix up the sauce ahead of time too.
- To make life even easier, you can use chopped frozen garlic or garlic paste, and chopped frozen ginger.
- You must use a high heat oil for this recipe! Coconut or avocado are ideal.
- I recommend using your stove’s exhaust fan on the highest setting while making these stir fry green beans.
WEIGHT WATCHERS POINTS
One serving has 1 WW Freestyle SmartPoints.
Stir-Fried Green Beans
Ingredients
- 1 pound green beans {ends trimmed}
- 1 tbsp avocado oil {divided}
- 2 cloves garlic {minced}
- 1/4 cup green onions {thinly sliced}(~2 green onions}
- 1 tsp ginger {minced or grated}
Stir Fry Sauce
- 1/2 tsp toasted sesame oil
- 2 tsp soy sauce
- 2 tsp rice vinegar
- 1 tsp sambal oelek
Instructions
- Heat a wok or large frying pan on medium-high.
- While the wok is heating, mix up the sauce, and set aside.1/2 tsp toasted sesame oil, 2 tsp soy sauce, 2 tsp rice vinegar, 1 tsp sambal oelek
- Add 2 tsp of oil to the wok, and swirl around to coat the surface.
- Once the oil is smoking, add the green beans, and stir them constantly to keep them from burning. Cook for five minutes until they're blistered and bright green.1 pound green beans
- Push the green beans to the side of the wok.
- Add the other tsp of oil to the middle of the wok.
- Add the garlic and ginger, and stir constantly for about 30 seconds.2 cloves garlic, 1 tsp ginger
- Add the sauce and stir for another minute.
- Top with green onions and serve hot.1/4 cup green onions
Notes
- Have everything prepped and ready to go before you start cooking!! Stir-frying is a fast process and you need all ingredients chopped and right by the stove.
- If you prefer a softer bean texture, stir fry for 2 minutes, then add 1/3 cup of water to the pan, cover, and steam for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Leave the spice out if you’re serving this to a tamer crowd. You can always spice up each individual serving.
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Oh heck yes! I am hosting Father’s Day at my place, and I’ve recently returned to a vegan lifestyle. My dad is pretty ready/willing/able to accept eatin’ the vegan foods if they have a lot of flavor (especially the heat), so I’m going to make some rice noodles with spicy peanut sauce, some marinated tofu steaks, some roasted mushrooms (his favvvv by far), and then I was like, um, I need ONE MORE THING to round this out, and I think The Universe aligned and somehow you just KNEW I would NEED to make this. I’m not even going to test this recipe ahead of time, I trust it, but I’ll let you know how Dad feels about it after Sunday 😀
Your dad and I are similar in that regard – bring the heat!!
So glad I could help in a timely manner, and I can’t wait to hear what you all think.
I spied green beans at the farmers market this weekend. These are going on the menu for next week!
I couldn’t understand how green beans were already in season in Michigan. Oh, duh. Lol
I made this as part of our Sunday farmer’s market haul dinner, along with your cheesy crack bread (omg!) and some corn on the cob. It was a total hit! I didn’t have sambal olek so instead I used some chili flakes I had on hand, but I’m definitely going to be making it again with the chili paste. I also added some chopped nuts at the end because it seemed like the right thing to do, and I’m not mad about it.
Wow, this looks amazing! I need to get down to the farmer’s market and get some fresh green beans this weekend!
Such an amazing time of year for farmer’s market produce! I can’t wait to hear what you think about the beans.
Sounds delicious!!! I had to reread any wok will work for you a couple of times. I got tongue tied saying it, lol 🙂
Sounds great! I’m gonna try em in my cast iron though. No more room in the kitchen for a wok.
I hang mine in the pantry on a broom hook! ;-D
They look amazing.
P.S As a Brit, it’s “nicked” not “nipped” 😉
Teehee! Yes – fellow Brit here. I agree, it’s definitely “nicked”. Bless your Yankee socks! 🙂
Thank you for schooling my American speech! I’ve been listening to the book on audiobook, so I wasn’t able to actually see the word.
PS, we only say yankee for people who live in the northeast (like New York, Jersey, New Hamsphire etc.).
Can we read into the *seal salt*? Where do we find that! lol
Recipe looks yummy!
You guys don’t have seal salt where you are? It’s truly great. They gather it with their little cute flippers, and then dry it with their tails until it’s perfect. Truly a delicacy. ;-D
Those look really good! We found this meal prep place when we lived in Tucson that had a similar type of green bean. Until that point, the hubby wouldn’t touch them. apparently if you make them spicy enough, anyone will try them :0)
Looks like I need a wok!
They sound freaking amazing! Can’t wait to try them! I will make them with the black bean pasta I’ve been dying to try.