Chinese Chicken and Green Beans

This is one of my favorite chicken stir fry recipes. Chinese chicken and green beans sounds so plain and ordinary but this dish is none of that. This recipe is full of bold and delicious flavors and it rivals the best Chinese restaurants!

This chicken and green beans stir fry recipe will 100 percent impress everyone who tries it. This recipe originally came from the Chinese Grandma who was gracious enough to let me share it here and it has never failed us once!

We have put a few tweaks on it over time but it is still true to the original recipe.

The techniques used when cooking this chicken and green beans recipe are fairly straightforward. Once you begin working with this recipe, these steps will help you master a lot of Asian cooking techniques.

Most of this recipe is the preparation and the cooking portion goes very fast.

If you do not do lots of Asian-style cooking, I like to emphasize that the bulk of the work is on the front end, or the preparation. This includes all the dicing, chopping, and preparation of the ingredients.

Knowing this, this Chinese chicken makes a great meal to prep ahead of time and have all ready to cook when it is dinnertime.

Ingredients

• Boneless skinless chicken breast. This is cut into small pieces for fast cooking. You could also use chicken thigh meat if you prefer.
• Green beans. Any variety will do here.
• Soy sauce.
• Brown sugar
• Sherry or balsamic vinegar.
• Vegetable oil.
• Garlic
• Ginger
• Corn starch. The corn starch is the thickening agent for the sauce. It is a common ingredient in Asian sauces and should not be skipped. If you do not have corn starch, you can make a beurre manie which will work in a similar way.

It may seem like lots of ingredients but you probably have most of them in your pantry. Most of the ingredients are for the delicious sauce that coats the chicken and green beans.

I promise this dish is worth gathering up the few extra ingredients. It is so good!

How To Make Chinese Chicken and Green Beans

The full recipe is in the recipe card below. Here is what it looks like:

1. Prep the chicken and green beans: This part of the recipe is the prep portion I was telling you about.
2. Make the delicious sauce: You also want to make the sauce before cooking so everything is ready to go once you are ready to toss everything into the hot pan.
3. Cook green beans then set aside: The first cooking step is cooking the green beans in a really hot skillet. This is a stir fry so you want to make sure your skillet or wok is very hot before starting.
4. Cook chicken and set aside: After cooking the green beans, cook up the chicken.
5. Cook sauce and reduce: Once the chicken and green beans are cooked and you have set them aside, you want to add that sauce that you made earlier into the hot pan. It will reduce a bit and start to caramelize too thanks to the brown sugar in the sauce.
6. Now mix the chicken and green beans with the sauce: Now you add the chicken and green beans back into the pan with the sauce and reheat it while allowing them to get coated in that delicious sticky Chinese sauce.

I told you this chicken and green bean stir fry is simple!

We love making this dish from Chinese Grandma on Fridays or on the weekend because it really tastes like a special meal. You can make it anytime though, depending on your mood.

Variations

This stir fry is very simple and delicious the way it is. You can also throw in more veggies or use a different meat if you prefer.

Here are some ideas:

• Add mushrooms, onions, asparagus or bell peppers to the stir fry. Just make sure they are cut up into small strips or pieces to ensure they cook quickly.
• Swap out the chicken for steak and make a steak stir fry. Again, just make sure you cut the steak into thin strips.
• Make this an all-vegetable stir fry by omitting the chicken and adding in some more vegetables.

The sauce for this chicken and green beans recipe is so good that it will make anything you add to it taste amazing.

Storing

If you have any leftovers, store them in a container with a tight-fitting lid in the fridge for up to 3 days. I like to microwave the leftovers on medium heat for about 2 minutes to warm them back up.

More Green Bean Recipes

More Recipes Like This

• Easy Weeknight Korean Beef
• Pepper steak
• Seared Steak with Mushroom Cognac Sauce
• Juicy Boneless Pork Chops (as good as what you find at a steakhouse.
• Chicken and Basil Stir Fry

I hope you try this one out. Once you try this amazing dish I am sure you will be hooked!