Chicken and Green Bean Stir Fry

Chicken and Green Bean Stir Fry made with a garlic and ginger sesame sauce

We love Chinese takeout classics made healthier like Chinese Shrimp and Broccoli Stir Fry, Skinny Kung Pao Chicken and Beef and Broccoli.

 Chicken and Green Bean Stir Fry

Stir Fries are a weekly occurrence in our household. I used just about any vegetable that I have in the fridge or that looks amazing in the store. In this case the green beans looked amazing at the store. Super fresh, not dinged up. And they were on sale! I love making stir fries, they’re fresh and easy and can be made in just minutes.

In the case of this stir fry we really have a pantry recipe. Aside from the beef and green beans you can go to the cupboard for most of the rest of the recipe. In fact if you find yourself out of garlic or ginger you can use powdered in a pinch (try to use fresh if possible, the flavors are much bolder and fresher).

What is a good substitute for Mirin?

If you don’t have or can’t find mirin use white wine and increase the sugar by an additional teaspoon.

One of the most important notes I can give you about stir fries is to make absolutely sure all your ingredients are ready to go before you heat up the pan. Stir fries can go from delicious and done perfectly to sad and overcooked in a hurry.

In addition to that when making beef stir fries (especially with a lean cut of beef as we are using) I highly recommend slicing the beef very thinly and against the grain.

What to serve with Chicken and Green Bean Stir Fry:

• Serve it over your favorite steamed vegetables or even cauliflower rice.
• Serve over zucchini noodles that get tossed in the sauce from the dish.
• Use lettuce cups. We LOVE spooning anything saucy into lettuce cups – just chop the green beans up smaller before making.
• Serve over brown rice or (we did this once and loved it) or quinoa. Quinoa will soak up the sauce to make a delicious chicken quinoa bowl (I’d chop the green beans up smaller to make it more bowl-like.

Can you meal prep this Chicken and Green Bean Stir Fry?

You can certainly cook the meal ahead of time and re-heat throughout the week. I suggest cooking the vegetables one minute shy of the instructions so it can maintain some crunch in reheating. To reheat use a microwave at half power for 1-2 minutes to prevent overcooking the chicken or the green beans.

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How to cut chicken thinly:

This dish is customarily made with chicken thighs but for our purposes we are using chicken breast meat. The trick to making it look like it came from the restaurant is to freeze  the chicken for about one hour. When it is partially frozen you can easily slice the chicken very thinly against the grain. Don’t worry about the chicken being frozen, since the slices are so thin they will thaw back out in just a couple of minutes.

Looking for more Chinese Takeout Favorites?

• Skinny Sesame Chicken
• Skinny Teriyaki Chicken
• Skinny Char Siu (Chinese BBQ Pork)
• Skinny Chinese Orange Shrimp
• Chinese Black Bean Chicken

Tools used in this Beef and Green Bean Stir Fry Recipe:
Lite Soy Sauce: This is the only variety I use, I NEVER use regular sodium.
Mirin: This is a sweeter version of a white wine used in a lot of Chinese and Japanese recipes.

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Chicken and Green Bean Stir Fry

Chicken and Green Bean Stir Fry made with a garlic and ginger sesame sauce.

Yield 4 servings

Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 15 minutes

Total Time 30 minutes

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Ingredients

 

• ▢ 1/4 cup low sodium soy sauce or use gluten free soy sauce
• ▢ 1/2 cup chicken broth*
• ▢ 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• ▢ 2 tablespoons mirin
• ▢ 1 tablespoon sugar
• ▢ 2 teaspoons sesame oil
• ▢ 1/4 teaspoon white pepper
• ▢ 1 tablespoon canola oil divided
• ▢ 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• ▢ 1 tablespoon minced ginger
• ▢ 1 pound chicken breast sliced very thinly
• ▢ 2 cups green beans
• ▢ sesame seeds as garnish if desired

Instructions

• In a large measuring cup or bowl add the soy sauce, chicken broth, cornstarch, mirin, sugar, sesame oil and white pepper and whisk until everything is completely dissolved.
• In a large skillet add one teaspoon canola oil on medium high heat and cook half the chicken until just cooked through, about 2-3 minutes on each side.
• Repeat with the second half of the chicken and an additional teaspoon of oil.
• Remove the chicken to a plate.
• Add in the remaining oil, garlic and ginger and cook for 30-45 seconds until very fragrant but not browned.
• Stir the garlic and ginger well and add in the sauce, whisking well.
• Add in the green beans and let the sauce cook for 2-3 minutes until thickened.
• Add in the chicken and stir well to coat.
• Garnish with sesame seeds if desired.

Nutrition

Serving: 1cup | Calories: 238kcal | Carbohydrates: 14.8g | Protein: 26.9g | Fat: 9.1g | Saturated Fat: 0.8g | Cholesterol: 75mg | Sodium: 768mg | Fiber: 1.5g | Sugar: 6.3g

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