Chinese Style Garlic Green Beans
These crispy green beans are loaded with garlic flavor. It's a popular dish at Chinese restaurants, which you can make in your own home. I'm sharing two ways to make this dish - one that is a more traditional deep-fried version and a healthier version that uses less oil.
Ingredients
- 1 lb green beans, washed, trimmed, and cut to half their length
- 6 cloves of garlic, minced
- 1/2 -1 tsp salt
- vegetable oil for frying
- ice for water bath
Instructions
Blanch the Green Beans (optional)
- To preserve the color of the beans for the final dish you will want to blanch the beans. If you aren't worried about the color you can skip this step.
- In a large bowl, fill with ice and add water to the ice. Add water to your wok, enough to cover all the beans. Bring water in wok to a boil and add green beans. Cook for 30 seconds and immediately remove and put into the ice bath to stop the cooking process.
Fry the Green Beans
- Remove water from wok if you blanched the green beans. Add a shallow amount of oil to the wok, about 1/4 inch deep. Once oil is hot, add green beans and fry for about 1 minute, or until the skin just starts to wrinkle. Careful to not over-fry or the beans will lose their crispness.
- Remove green beans and put them on a plate lined with paper towels to soak up some of the oil. Drain all but 1 tbsp of the oil out of wok and place wok back on the stove.
- When wok is hot, add in garlic and cook on high heat until the aroma of garlic comes out and it begins to brown. Add green beans back in and stir fry with garlic. Season with salt. Cook until beans are cooked to desired doneness and have incorporated the garlic flavor (about 1-2 minutes). Eat while hot.
Healthier technique
- If you choose to, start by blanching the green beans as described in step 1 otherwise you can skip this step.
- Add 1 tablespoon of oil to the wok. Once heated, add green beans. Stir fry them for a few minutes at high heat.
- Add about 1/4 cup of water to the wok, cover it with lid, and steam the beans until they are almost cooked. Remove cover. Add about 3 tbsp of oil and continue cooking until beans start to wrinkle.
- Remove beans and place on a plate lined with paper towels to soak up excess oil. Drain all but 1 tbsp of the oil out of the wok and place wok back on the stove. Move onto step 4.
The nutrition information provided are only estimates based on an online nutritional calculator. This is not a comprehensive list of all the nutrients in the recipe (i.e., does not include vitamins, cholesterol, etc). I am not a certified nutritionist. Please consult a nutritionist or doctor for accurate information and any dietary restrictions and concerns you may have.
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