Stir-Fried Szechuan Green Beans and Shiitake Mushrooms
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You’ll be amazed at how authentic these Szechuan-style green beans taste—plus, they’re so easy to make.
In the midst of weeknight dinner chaos, vegetables often play second fiddle to meaty mains—at least at my house. I often find myself making a last-minute dash to microwave some frozen veggies. But sometimes it’s nice to let them shine. These Szechuan-style green beans with shiitake mushrooms are special enough to take center stage and rival any restaurant version. It’s an easy dish to whip up; just remember the golden rule for stir-fries—have all your ingredients prepped and ready before you start cooking. You don’t want to be stuck mincing garlic while your ginger burns in the pan! Though the recipe technically serves four, my husband and I often prove otherwise. Serve it as a side dish to any simply broiled fish or meat, or with jasmine rice or chicken chow mein.
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Stir-Fried Szechuan Green Beans & Shiitake Mushrooms
You’ll be amazed at how authentic these Szechuan-style green beans taste—plus, they’re so easy to make.
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons soy sauce
- 3 tablespoons water
- 1½ tablespoons dry sherry
- ½ teaspoon Asian/toasted sesame oil
- 1¼ teaspoons sugar
- ½ teaspoon cornstarch
- ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
- ¼ teaspoon dry mustard
- Vegetable oil
- 1 pound green beans, ends trimmed
- 7 ounces shiitake mushrooms, stems removed and sliced
- 3 cloves garlic
- 1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger (see note)
Instructions
- In a small bowl, whisk the soy sauce, water, dry sherry, sesame oil, sugar, cornstarch, red pepper flakes and mustard together. Set aside.
- Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a 12-inch nonstick skillet over high heat until very hot and shimmering. Add the beans and cook, stirring frequently, until tender, puckered and browned, about 7-10 minutes (cooking time will depend on the size of the beans). Transfer beans to large plate.
- Add 1 teaspoon oil to pan. Add shiitake mushrooms and cook, stirring occasionally, for 3-4 minutes until slightly browned. Reduce heat to medium, then add the garlic and ginger and cook, stirring constantly, until fragrant, about 20 seconds. Return the beans to the pan and add the sauce. Toss and cook until the sauce is slightly thickened and the vegetables are evenly coated, about 10 seconds. Transfer to serving dish and serve immediately.
- Note: This recipe works best with thinner green beans (but not the super thin French haricots verts). If your beans seem really long, thick or a bit tough, cut them in half so they cook evenly (there may be just a few in the bunch that you need to cut). Also, be sure beans are dry, otherwise oil will splatter.
- Note: Check out easy guidance on how to peel, grate, and chop fresh ginger here.
Nutrition Information
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- Per serving (4 servings)
- Calories: 156
- Fat: 9 g
- Saturated fat: 1 g
- Carbohydrates: 15 g
- Sugar: 6 g
- Fiber: 5 g
- Protein: 4 g
- Sodium: 672 mg
- Cholesterol: 0 mg
This website is written and produced for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and the nutritional data on this site has not been evaluated or approved by a nutritionist or the Food and Drug Administration. Nutritional information is offered as a courtesy and should not be construed as a guarantee. The data is calculated through an online nutritional calculator, Edamam.com. Although I do my best to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures should be considered estimates only. Varying factors such as product types or brands purchased, natural fluctuations in fresh produce, and the way ingredients are processed change the effective nutritional information in any given recipe. Furthermore, different online calculators provide different results depending on their own nutrition fact sources and algorithms. To obtain the most accurate nutritional information in a given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe, using your preferred nutrition calculator.
Gluten-Free Adaptable Note
To the best of my knowledge, all of the ingredients used in this recipe are gluten-free or widely available in gluten-free versions. There is hidden gluten in many foods; if you're following a gluten-free diet or cooking for someone with gluten allergies, always read the labels of your ingredients to verify that they are gluten-free.
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This has become one of my favorite green beans side dish recipes! So tasty alongside a good porterhouse steak or anything you’d think it would pair with nicely.
I love all mushrooms, especially shitake , and this combo with the wonderfully tasty Asian sauce is simply terrific!
Quick and easy with incredible flavour, I’ve whipped these up a few times when I needed a side. As long as you have the most basic asian staples in your pantry, you can make this last-minute whenever you want, minus the shiitake. I find cemeni mushrooms substitute the shiitake just fine, though it does lack that incredibly meaty flavour.
Quick, simple and spectacularly good. I make as is for a veg side dish. For vegan main course I use 16oz of shiitake and don’t cut too finely. I also double everything but veg oil and green beans.
Hi Jenn,
Quick question. My family isn’t a fan of mushrooms. Can I omit them or should I replace them with something else or use more green beans? Also, I notice you often use non-stick pans in your recipes. I use All-Clad stainless steel pots and pans without any non-stick lining. Is there anything I should do differently?
Thanks,
Maura
Hi Maura, I would replace the mushrooms with more green beans, and I don’t think you’ll need to make any changes with a stainless steel pan. Hope you enjoy!
I tend to modify recipes to taste or based on what I have on hand. In this case, I added a bit of rice vinegar and plum vinegar, since I didn’t have any sherry. I then added a squirt of yellow mustard, since I was out of mustard powder. I also cooked cubed, firm tofu in the oven and tossed it in at the end with the beans and mushrooms. This was easy to make and my husband and daughter loved it! Thanks, Jen!
These were fantastic!
The only missing ingredient is the Szechuan pepper. There is NOTHING that replaces that flavor. I am searching for an authentic Szechuan green bean recipe. The title had me fooled. I’ll keep searching although I am sure this is a tasty green bean N mushroom recipe. Maybe I’ll try to convert this and use authentic Szechuan pepper. If you’ve ever had real Szechuan pepper you never go back!!
I wish I had tried this recipe sooner. It is so tasty. And I thought I knew how to cook Chinese food. This dish is exquisite and I got to use green beans from my garden. The only mushrooms I had were dried porcini ones so I used those instead. It still tasted great. I hope to make this a lot!
Jen,
This is one of our family’s favorite sides! The garlic and red pepper flakes are highlighted nicely. I’ve also subbed fresh asparagus spears with teenager-approved results! Thank you for your recipes. We’ve enjoyed so many of them. Cheers!
Hi Jen
I am thinking of making this recipe for a progressive dinner on New Years Eve. I plan to double the recipe. I would like to cook this in advance and re-heat prior to dinner. Thoughts? Does this reheat well? And if so how would you suggest I reheat it?
Thanks
Hi Vivian, Yes, I think you could cook the dish in advance and then reheat in the pan with the sauce. Enjoy!