Spicy Szechuan-Style Green Beans
Published Aug 13, 2021•Updated Jul 19, 2024
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Spicy and crunchy, it’s hard to beat Szechuan-Style Green Beans. These dry fried green beans will quickly become your favorite way to use this green veg. Serve it with rice and your favorite Asian-inspired main dish and dinner is served!
This is an update of a recipe that I first shared in 2013 and has long been one of my favorite ways to serve green beans. I’m updating it today with new photos and a few tips and tricks.
What’s So Special About Szechuan-Style Green Beans
Szechuan-Style Green Beans are spicy green beans that are made by dry-frying. This method of cooking fries them in a skillet or wok over high heat in a small amount of oil. The moisture evaporates from the beans, resulting in super crisp green beans that are tender and deeply browned in spots.
Traditionally this style of green beans are made using the uniquely spicy Szechuan peppercorns (“Sichuan peppercorns”) that cause a numbing sensation in your mouth, but this recipe uses easy-to-find red pepper flakes for spice. This recipe also strays from the traditional by using Hoisin sauce for added flavor.
These green beans are:
- Fresh
- Spicy
- Flavorful
- Crisp
- Gluten-Free
Simple Summer Sides
All this week we’re celebrating simple summer sides! It’s hot outside and beautiful produce is in-season, so I know we’re all looking for more ways to prepare those vegetables.
Follow along as I share my five current favorite summer sides that use one vegetable, pantry staples, and maybe a few herbs or aromatics to round things out. It will include:
- Sweet And Tangy Marinated Cucumbers
- Crisp Corn Fritters
- Pan-Seared Zucchini with Garlic and Basil
- Balsamic Marinated Tomatoes
- Spicy Szechuan-Style Green Beans (featured here)
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Pin It NowIngredients
- Green Beans – You can leave the green beans whole, but I love to chop these into small bite-sized pieces which gives them maximum surface area to turn golden brown and soak up flavor.
- Garlic and Ginger – Even though it takes a little time to prep these, don’t skip them – they add so much flavor.
- Hoisin Sauce – Hoisin sauce is sweet and savory. It’s a sauce that is common in Chinese cooking, and can be found in the international aisle of most grocery stores. (Kikkoman makes a great gluten-free version.)
- Rice Vinegar and Soy Sauce – These pantry staples are great for a variety of Asian and Asian-inspired recipes. Use Tamari if you need a gluten-free option.
- Toasted Sesame Oil – A little goes a long way to add savory flavor to the dish.
- Red Pepper Flakes – Use more or less for the amount of spice you prefer.
More Easy Side Dishes
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Spicy Szechuan-Style Green Beans
Equipment
- Mixing Bowl
- Skillet or Wok
Ingredients
- 1 clove Garlic, minced
- 2 teaspoons minced Fresh Ginger
- 2 teaspoons Hoisin sauce (be sure to use gluten-free if needed)
- 2 teaspoons Rice Vinegar
- 2 teaspoons Soy Sauce (use Tamari for gluten-free)
- 1/2 teaspoon Toasted Sesame Oil
- 1 teaspoon Red Pepper Flakes (more or less depending on your spice preference)
- 1 pound Green Beans, trimmed and cut into 1/2 inch pieces
- 3 Tablespoons Water
- 1 Tablespoon Cooking Oil (use any high-heat neutral cooking oil like grapeseed, vegetable, or avocado)
- 1/2 teaspoon Kosher Salt (see note)
Instructions
- Whisk together garlic, ginger, Hoisin Sauce, rice vinegar, soy sauce, toasted sesame oil, and red pepper flakes. Set aside.
- Heat a large skillet or wok over medium-high heat. Add green beans and water beans, stirring frequently, until the water cooks off and the beans are bright green.
- Add cooking oil and salt and continue cooking until beans are starting to brown in spots, 4 to 5 minutes.
- Pour sauce over green beans and continue cooking until sauce reduces slightly and green beans are coated and tender, about 2 minutes more.
- Serve immediately.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Perhaps because my husband doesn’t eat a lot of greens, I feel that I overcompensate when he’s not home. I will boil napa cabbage or bokchoy and eat enough to feed an army!
Your dad made them and now they are my favorite meal. Love them. I even saw Rachel and Banti gobble them up last night.
Awesome! I’m so glad you guys liked them – it’s always a big “win” if Rach will eat them!
Totally. When I’m home alone my eating regresses into crackers for most meals. It may be related to the fact that when I’m home alone I try to watch as many archived episodes of Grey’s Anatomy and Girls as I possibly can. And while I’m always picking up after Paul when he’s home, when I’m home alone the house explodes with my stuff and massive kitchen mess (recipe testing, yes).
These beans look great. At this time of year the green beans available to me come from very very far away, so it’d be a bit of a splurge. I wonder how they’d turn out with frozen beans? Probably not nearly as crunchy, but every bit as flavourful?
Oh, Katie – I totally have TV marathons when Frank’s out of town – I save up all the shows that I know he doesn’t like and then devour them when I’m alone! I think you’re right about using frozen beans. They might not have the nice crunch, but I would say it’s still worth trying even with frozen beans.
I totally count that as a meal! I can be pretty bad on my own too. Probably the best alone meal I do is throwing a chicken breast in the oven coated with soy sauce and sesame seeds. I eat it with rice and sometimes some veges. So so very easy but it’s actually really tasty.
That actually sounds delicious, Claire, and healthy too!
Oh my word Jess these green beans sound amazing. I love green beans to begin with but have never made them like this! Must try soon.
It’s so different than any other way I’ve made them Ashley – seriously addictive!
Cravings you say??
These would go great with your roasted salmon which we have all the time!
Easy there Neuf – you’re the only one around here with that particular brand of cravings. 😉 I hadn’t thought to make them with that salmon, but I’m so doing that this week – awesome idea.
Green beans for breakfast? Yeah, I’d totally do that. Then again, I often used to reheat leftover Chinese takeout for breakfast back when I was a singleton with weird eating habits. (Slice of chocolate cake and a side of green salad for lunch? Yes! Box of crackers for dinner? Sure! It’s a wonder I didn’t die of some obscure nutrient deficiency, I tell ya.)
These actually look very much like my favourite dish at a local Chinese takeout joint – I love them this way, all blistered and crunchy and spicy. Can’t wait to try out this recipe!
Chocolate cake for breakfast, Isabelle? Now that’s a practice I could definitely get behind….
Those look yummy! Hey, I have had veggie soup 3 days in a row for bfast!!!
I eat what I crave, simple as that!
xoxo from Trinidad
Smart – I think that’s the way to go. I’ve totally seen people recommend having veggie soup for breakfast – it’s sort of a savory, deconstructed smoothie!
yum…those look delicious! I hear ya on weird breakfast’s…I’ve had veggie soup 3 days in a row. I eat what I crave…simple as that!
Happy Friday!
xoxo from Trinidad
now THIS is how you eat green beans. wow. i’d eat a whole pound of them too. and i am one of those people… i pick and snack when i’m eating dinner alone!