Chinese-Style Green Beans
Liven up frozen green beans with this easy-peasy, stir-fried side dish! Ready in 3 simple steps, you can take these Chinese takeaway inspired beans from wok to plate in a matter of minutes. We’ve stirred in garlic, chilli, ginger and crunchy sesame seeds to help get you well on your way to 5-a-day with an explosion of fakeaway flavour.
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NutritionPer Serving
- Calories81
- Carbs7.1g
- Protein3.6g
- Fat3.2g
- Saturates0.6g
- Sugars5.7g
For the full list of ingredients and comprehensive instructions, please see the recipe card below. Before you scroll, there’s important stuff in the blurb!
There’s no reason eating healthier can’t be delicious! These Chinese-Style Green Beans are nutritious, satisfying and brimming with takeaway-inspired flavours. With garlic, chilli, ginger and crunchy sesame seeds stirred in, every bite tastes indulgent for far fewer calories than you’d expect.
We’ve used dark soy sauce to give our dish its rich, savoury flavours, so you shouldn’t need to season it any further with salt or black pepper (it’s already quite salty!). If you make this dish without the chilli, you might want to add extra black pepper to give things a kick instead.
The best part about these versatile beans is that they’re ready in a flash, and they never get boring! Try them with all kinds of main dishes for your next Chinese-inspired fakeaway night – they’re a match made in heaven with our Crispy Duck recipe.
What diets is this Chinese-Style Green Beans recipe suitable for?
This Chinese-Style Green Beans recipe is suitable for vegan and dairy-free diets.
It can be made gluten-free, as long as you make sure you’re using a gluten-free soy sauce alternative.
Please make sure to double or triple check all of your ingredients if you’re cooking for people with allergies.
Do you need any special ingredients to make Chinese-Style Green Beans?
You only need a short list of easy-to-find ingredients to make Chinese-Style Green Beans. If you don’t already have sesame seeds at home, they’re really easy to find at most supermarkets or on Amazon.
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Dark soy sauce is thicker and sweeter than light soy sauce.
Add punchy flavours with ginger puree – it usually comes in a tube!
How many calories are in Chinese-Style Green Beans?
There are 81 calories per portion in Chinese-Style Green Beans, which means they fall into our Everyday Light category.
To cut down the amount of calories even more, you can simply halve the portion size and serve with a healthy accompaniment!
Chinese-Style Green Beans are perfect if you’re following a calorie-controlled diet, and fits well with any one of the major diet plans such as Weight Watchers.
As a guide, an average man needs around 2,500kcal (10,500kJ) a day to maintain a healthy body weight. For an average woman, that figure is around 2,000kcal (8,400kJ) a day. Obviously, if your goal is to lose weight then you might want to adjust these slightly! You can read more about these recommendations on the NHS website.
Step 1
Place a large frying pan or wok over a medium heat. Add the sesame seeds (there’s no need to spray the frying pan with low-calorie cooking spray), and toast lightly for about 1 minute, stirring, until golden. Watch carefully as the sesame seeds can burn quickly. Transfer to a plate and set aside.
Step 2
Spray the frying pan with low-calorie cooking spray and place over a medium heat. Add the garlic puree, ginger puree and chilli. Stir-fry for about 30 seconds until combined. Increase the heat to high and add the frozen beans, stirring and constantly moving the beans around the frying pan or wok. Stir-fry for about 4 minutes, until tender but not soft. The beans should retain a little crispness.
Step 3
Add the soy sauce and toasted sesame seeds and stir in. Serve at once with a main dish of your choice.
What could I serve with Chinese-Style Green Beans?
These crispy beans are gorgeous with any takeaway-style main dish. All of these slimming-friendly recipes would work really well:
How do you know when Chinese-Style Green Beans are cooked?
Your beans will be tender and crisp after stir-frying for around 4 minutes. You’ll want to keep a close eye on them as they cook – it’s really important that they retain their crunch. Serve them as soon as they are ready!
Standard advice here in the UK is to cook food until it has reached 70°C and stayed at that temperature for 2 minutes. This is to keep your family safe.
How long can you keep Chinese-Style Green Beans in the fridge?
Once you’ve put it out, ideally you should eat it within 4 hours.
If you allow any leftovers to cool, make sure to refrigerate in a container with a lid and chill. You can keep leftovers of Chinese-Style Green Beans in the fridge to reheat the next day (we wouldn’t recommend keeping them in the fridge any longer than that).
Can I freeze Chinese-Style Green Beans?
This recipe isn’t suitable for freezing.
How do I reheat Chinese-Style Green Beans?
Reheat Chinese-Style Green Beans in a microwave-proof container for 4-7 minutes, loosely covered. They should be cooked through until piping hot.
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Chinese-Style Green Beans
Bursting with takeaway flavour, these scrummy Chinese-Style Green Beans go from freezer to wok to plate in a matter of minutes!
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Prep Time
2 MINS
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Cook Time
5 MINS
- KCals 81
- Carbs 7.1G
Instructions
- Place a large frying pan or wok over a medium heat. Add the sesame seeds (there's no need to spray the frying pan with low-calorie cooking spray), and toast lightly for about 1 minute, stirring, until golden. Watch carefully as the sesame seeds can burn quickly. Transfer to a plate and set aside.
- Spray the frying pan with low-calorie cooking spray and place over a medium heat. Add the garlic puree, ginger puree and chilli. Stir-fry for about 30 seconds until combined. Increase the heat to high and add the frozen beans, stirring and constantly moving the beans around the frying pan or wok. Stir-fry for about 4 minutes, until tender but not soft. The beans should retain a little crispness.
- Add the soy sauce and toasted sesame seeds and stir in. Serve at once with a main dish of your choice.
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Recipe notes
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2 comments
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ClaireFriday 26th April 2024
Hi, can you use fresh green beans for this recipe?
HollyFriday 10th May 2024
Hi Claire, yes you can use fresh beans instead of frozen hope that helps!
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