Beef and Green Beans Stir Fry is easy to make and tasty! Marinated sliced beef, stir fried with a slightly crunchy green beans in a flavorful sauce – I recommend serving with rice!

Green beans vs String beans vs French beans

Green beans is kind of a blanket term for many different types of green beans so I thought I would clarify.

Green beans and string beans are actually the same at this point as it used to be called string beans due to this ‘string’ that ran down the side of the pod that many remove before eating. However, the strings have been bred out of most modern varieties. It is also known as ‘snap beans’ (not to be confused with snap peas.)

French beans (aka Haricots Verts or Filet Beans) are actually green beans too! However, they are slightly smaller and skinnier than regular green beans because they are harvested earlier, and that’s why they’re smaller and more tender, and can be slightly more expensive too.

So basically, you can use any of these interchangeably for the most part. Just know that if you are using french beans cooking time might be shortened as it’s already more small and tender than regular green / string beans.

How to trim green beans

Trimming the green beans will remove the tough parts of the green beans. My mom literally will not eat the tough parts of it for example.

It’s not very hard to trim! There are a couple of different ways. I like to do things the easiest ways possible, so there are two ways I’ll mention here.

First is you can line up your green beans all next to each other uniformly. Make sure they’re all lined up so the ends are all one line. And then using a knife cut off all the tough ends on one end. Then, switch sides and cut off the other ends too in one line.

The second way is to use kitchen shears / scissors, and just cut off the tips of the green beans – snip snip you’re done.

For this recipe, I’m cutting the green beans anyway to about 2 inch lengths so I just used kitchen shears for it.

Do you boil green beans before stir fry

I get this question sometimes, and really it’s up to you. This process is called blanching. Blanching vegetables help jump start the cooking process (so it doesn’t take as long to cook), and it helps retain flavor, color and texture.

I personally do not blanch my green beans before stir frying because I’m just cooking for 1-2 people and it’s just easier to skip the step, however, I do use chicken broth to almost ‘steam’ the green beans during the cooking process to help speed up the cooking. I also don’t find that I’m losing any flavor, color and texture when I cook it this way.

How to make Beef and Green Beans Stir Fry

First, gather and prepare your ingredients:

1 lb beef, sliced thinly
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp sesame oil
1 tbsp cornstarch
1 lb green beans, cut in to 2 inch pieces
4 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped
1/4 cup chicken broth (or water)
1 tbsp oyster sauce
1/2 teaspoon sugar
Salt, to taste

Combine soy sauce, sesame oil, cornstarch, salt, and beef in a large bowl or zip lock bag. If you are about to cook it, let it marinade at the very least 30 minutes up to overnight. If you are making this ahead, cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes before cooking.

In a large cooking pan, add cooking oil over medium-high heat. Add the beef (with marinade), and stir fry until mostly browned. Remove from heat and set aside.

If pan is dry, add a little more oil and then add green beans and garlic and stir fry for about 3 minutes, and then add 1/4 cup of chicken broth and cover. Allow it to cook for 1 minute.

Uncover, and add the beef, oyster sauce, sugar, and salt to taste, and stir fry until beef and green beans are tender but not soggy.

Remove from heat and serve! I recommend with some white rice.

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Beef and Green Beans Stir Fry

Beef and Green Beans Stir Fry is easy to make and tasty! Marinated sliced beef, stir fried with a slightly crunchy green beans in a flavorful sauce – I recommend serving with rice!

Ingredients

1 lb beef, sliced thinly
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp sesame oil
1 tbsp cornstarch
1 lb green beans, cut in to 2 inch pieces
4 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped
1/4 cup chicken broth (or water)
1 tbsp oyster sauce
1/2 teaspoon sugar
Salt, to taste

Instructions

Combine soy sauce, sesame oil, cornstarch, salt, and beef in a large bowl or zip lock bag. If you are about to cook it, let it marinade at the very least 30 minutes up to overnight. If you are making this ahead, cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes before cooking.
In a large cooking pan, add cooking oil over medium-high heat. Add the beef (with marinade), and stir fry until mostly browned. Remove from heat and set aside
If pan is dry, add a little more oil and then add green beans and garlic and stir fry for about 3 minutes, and then add 1/4 cup of chicken broth and cover. Allow it to cook for 1 minute.
Uncover, and add the beef, oyster sauce, sugar, and salt to taste, and stir fry until beef and green beans are tender but not soggy.
Remove from heat and serve! I recommend with some white rice.

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Nutrition Information:

Yield:

Serving Size:

1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 385Total Fat: 23gSaturated Fat: 8gTrans Fat: 1gUnsaturated Fat: 12gCholesterol: 99mgSodium: 610mgCarbohydrates: 14gFiber: 4gSugar: 5gProtein: 32g

The nutrition information for this recipe is an approximate total per serving. Please double check the nutrition information for your exact ingredients and brands for more precise nutrition information. Keep in mind that if there is a marinade, often times not all the ingredients will be consumed.