20 minute vegetarian stir fry, anyone? Easy Garlic Green Beans with Soy Sauce is such an addictively fresh & flavorful side!
You can’t go wrong with stir fry for a quick weeknight dinner, and tonight’s deliciously simple side dish proves the point. The next time you’re looking to jazz up a bag of fresh green beans, cook up these fresh & flavorful Easy Garlic Green Beans with Soy Sauce alongside a heartier main dish.
You can blanch the green beans before stir frying if you prefer, but I find that they get nicely crisp-tender to my taste without that step — so, why dirty another pot? If you like yours a bit less crisp, go ahead and blanch them, reducing the stir frying time a bit if desired.
As a quick aside, people often ask if I do all of my grocery shopping at ALDI. Nope! In the Chicago area, we’re lucky enough also to have some great produce stores to choose from — so, I sometimes supplement my ALDI trips with a stock-up-shop at the Pete’s Market across the street. All of the produce above ran me just $10.61 today, and, as for these lovely green beans? Just $.50 a pound!
You could, of course, pick up your green beans and all of the other ingredients for this easy garlic green beans recipe at your local ALDI (although sesame oil is seasonal).
Easy Garlic Green Beans with Soy Sauce
Ingredients
1 lb fresh green beans, trimmed
1 Tbsp canola oil (see Note)
1 tsp sesame oil
1 Tbsp minced garlic (about 6 cloves)
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper
1/4 tsp powdered ginger
2 Tbsp soy sauce
Directions
Wash and trim green beans, patting them dry with a paper towel (or kitchen towel).
Heat canola oil in a large skillet or wok over medium-high heat until shimmering, then swirl to coat. Stir in the sesame oil and garlic, then immediately stir in the green beans, crushed red pepper, and ginger.
Stir fry the green beans over medium-high heat for 7 minutes, stirring often, until crisp-tender.
Stir in the soy sauce and cook for another two minutes, stirring often and scraping the tasty browned bits up from the bottom of the pan with a wooden utensil. Serve hot.
I topped my green beans with sesame seeds for contrast in the photos, but this is completely optional — they are darn tasty without.
Note: Full disclosure: I actually used olive oil as an experiment today, because some of you were asking whether it was OK to substitute it for canola or vegetable oil in fried rice and stir fries. It has a lower smoke point, so the garlic got a little more well done than with canola, and the pan was much more difficult to clean — so, do this at your own risk. Be sure to de-glaze the pan with water immediately, before it cools. Avocado oil or another high smoke point oil would also work well. 🙂
Looking for a flavorful veggie side dish?
Done: You’ve found your next easy side! Lots of garlic pairs beautifully here with salty umami soy, coating the crisp-tender green beans with flavor. We enjoyed ours tonight over rice, along with a chicken asparagus stir fry main dish.
Miracle of miracles, Middle School Guy ate everything and proclaimed it “really good.” With that hard won seal of teenage approval, you know that this one’s a winner.
Easy Garlic Green Beans with Soy Sauce, printable recipe
Easy Garlic Green Beans with Soy Sauce
Ingredients
- 1 lb fresh green beans trimmed
- 1 Tbsp canola oil
- 1 tsp sesame oil
- 1 Tbsp minced garlic about six cloves
- 1/4 tsp crushed red pepper
- 1/4 tsp powdered ginger
- 2 Tbsp soy sauce
Instructions
- Wash and trim green beans, patting them dry with a paper towel (or kitchen towel).
- Heat canola oil in a large skillet or wok over medium-high heat until shimmering, then swirl to coat. Stir in the sesame oil and garlic, then immediately stir in the green beans, crushed red pepper, and ginger.
- Stir fry the green beans over medium-high heat for 7 minutes, stirring often, until crisp-tender.
- Stir in the soy sauce and cook for another two minutes, stirring often and scraping the tasty browned bits up from the bottom of the pan with a wooden utensil. Serve hot.
Notes
Recipes in the real world
Be sure not to miss the free ALDI meal plans, which show you how to use these easy family recipes to meal plan affordably and realistically for your family. Or, find more recipe ideas with the Recipe Search!
Be sure not to miss the free ALDI meal plans, which show you how to use these easy family recipes to meal plan affordably and realistically for your family. Or, find more recipe ideas with the Recipe Search!