Blistered green beans and fresh mushrooms stir-fried in a rich and savoury stir-fry sauce. This Chinese Green Beans and Mushrooms Stir-Fry is so easy and packed full of flavour.
The veggies are enveloped in a thick sauce that’s perfect to be scooped over some rice or noodles.
COOKING WITH A REGULAR PAN VS. A WOK
Chinese recipes usually call for a wok to cook the food in but on days when I want to cook up something with less oil, I use a non-stick pan or skillet.
Cooking in a wok really adds to that whole experience and the ‘wok hey’ you get from high heat of cooking with fire but you can cook this on your electric or induction stove with a non-stick pan.
Using woks usually require more oil to prevent the food from sticking to the base so the advantage of using a non-stick pan is being able to use less oil in your dishes.
So I could say this dish is like takeout but better because it uses less oil—so it’s healthier too!
THE GREEN BEANS
I leave the green beans untouched n the pan for a few minutes to get them nice and toasted on each side which will eventually turn into ‘blistered’ green beans.
You also still get that nice charring even on a non-stick pan.
Afterwards, I then set the beans aside after cooking on a plate.
MUSHROOMS OF YOUR CHOICE
For the mushrooms, I used a mix of fresh oyster and brown shimeji mushrooms. You can of course opt to use other mushrooms such as king oyster, shiitake, button, baby bella, enoki, etc.
WHAT IF I DON’T LIKE MUSHROOMS?
You can just cook more veggies! Or even cook some tofu or tempeh.
This dish is really versatile and the sauce can be cooked with many different ingredients so feel free to get creative!
STIR-FRY SAUCE
I put the sauce together with the intention of scooping the excess over rice or noodles so this dish is extra SAUCY.
The sauce is actually a mix of a few basic ingredients with one ingredient that really adds that nice depth—the black bean sauce.
WHAT YOU’LL NEED FOR THE SAUCE:
You can find the full and printable recipe in the card below.
- 1 tbsp soy sauce or to taste
- 1 tbsp black bean sauce
- 1 tbsp vegetarian mushroom oyster sauce, plus more as needed
- ¼ cup + 2 tbsp room temp. water, more to thin out if needed
- 1/8 to ¼ cup cane sugar or other sweetener, adjust according to desired sweetness
- 1 tbsp Shaoxing wine or other rice wine, optional
- 1/2 tbsp Chinese black vinegar or rice vinegar
- 1 ½ tbsp cornstarch
- 1 tbsp sesame oil
- 1 tsp sriracha or other chili sauce, optional
BLACK BEAN SAUCE
I use this black bean garlic sauce from Lee Kum Kee but you can opt to use fermented black beans or douchi.
Important Note: black beans or black bean sauce are fermented and salty, so use this sauce sparingly. A tablespoon of this goes a really long way to add extra flavour.
STIR-FRYING EVERYTHING
The last part: cooking the rest of the ingredients and mixing everything together
Here are some photos on step-by-step process:
I first heated up the same pan I used to cook the green beans.
From there, I sautéed the onion and garlic.
Once the garlic and onion are cooked, I added in the bell pepper.
When the bell pepper are cooked through, I then added in the fresh mushrooms.
For the sauce, I made sure to mix it again first before pouring it in the pan with the mushrooms.
When you’ve added the sauce, mix it well and leave it to simmer over medium high heat.
The sauce will thicken from the cornstarch and beautifully coat the mushrooms.
Then we’ll add back the blistered green beans.
Mix everything well.
If you find the sauce a little too thick, you can add a little more water.
Turn off the heat, serve, and enjoy!
TO SERVE
Top the stir-fry with some sesame seeds, if you’d like!
You’ll need lots of rice (or noodles) for this dish. Waaay more than the rice photographed above (that was solely for photo purposes haha).
Trust me, you won’t enjoy this dish without either (or even both).
Check out the recipe below. Enjoy!
If you try out this recipe, I’d appreciate if you leave a rating or simply click on the stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ on my recipe card!
You can also check out my other Chinese vegan recipes down below:
- Chinese Sweet and Sour “Pork”
- Crispy Salt and Pepper Tofu
- Ginger and Scallion Noodles
- Chili Garlic Oil Noodles
- Chinese Sweet and Sour “Pork”
- Crispy Wontons
- Vegetable Dumplings
Are you looking for more delicious, vegan recipes?
You can get a copy of my cookbook, Vegan Asian!
If you crave vegan-friendly versions of classic Asian dishes, this cookbook is packed with Southeast and East Asian dishes inspired by those I grew up enjoying at home and those I’ve tried from my travels. From iconic Thai dishes to piping-hot Japanese fare and everything in between, the recipes in this will take your palate on a delicious food trip across Asia, and hopefully keep you coming back for more!
Chinese Green Beans and Mushroom Stir-Fry
Ingredients
Green Beans and Mushroom
- 300 g fresh green bean or string beans
- 2 tbsp neutral oil separated for cooking
- 300 g fresh mushrooms of choice I used a mix of oyster and brown shimeji (see notes)
- 1 small bell pepper seeded and thinly sliced
- 1/2 small onion sliced
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1 tsp minced ginger
Stir-Fry Sauce
- 1 tbsp soy sauce or to taste
- 1 tbsp black bean garlic sauce or fermented black beans
- 1 tbsp vegetarian mushroom oyster sauce plus more to taste if needed
- 6 tbsp room temp. water more to thin out if needed
- 2 to 4 tbsp cane sugar or other sweetener, adjust according to desired sweetness
- 1 tbsp Shaoxing wine or other rice wine, optional but highly recommended
- 1/2 tbsp Chinese black vinegar or rice vinegar
- 1 ½ tbsp cornstarch
- 1 tbsp sesame oil
- 1 tsp sriracha or other chili sauce, optional
To Serve
- Sesame seeds for garnishing
- Steamed rice or noodles for serving
Instructions
Sauce
- Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl. Feel free to adjust the measurements according to your desired taste. Set aside.You can also use this sauce for other stir-fried recipes, or even more noodles!
Green Beans
- Snap both ends off each bean with your hands and then snap off the top and bottom ends to remove strings or veins.
Stir-Fry
- Heat a large skillet or non-stick pan over medium-high heat. Once hot, add 1 tbsp oil.
- Add the green beans. Leave untouched for 2 to 3 minutes, or until browned on 1 side.
- Move the beans around and repeat this step until the beans are blistered and slightly wrinkly, around 10 minutes total.
- Remove the beans from the pan and set aside.
- Add the remaining 1 tbsp oil into the pan.
- Over high heat, sauté the onion, garlic, and ginger for 1-2 minutes until cooked and aromatic.
- Add in the bell pepper and sauté for 2 minutes.
- Add in the mushrooms. Sauté the mushrooms for 2 to 3 minutes until tender.
- Meanwhile, give the sauce a good mix again to make sure none of the starch is stuck at the bottom.
- Over medium heat, pour the sauce in the pan while mixing.
- Mix well to evenly coat the mushrooms.
- Lower the heat as the sauce thickens.
- Add back the green beans and mix well to coat in the sauce.
- You can add 1 tbsp more water to thin out the sauce if you’d like. This can also help deglaze the pan. Mix well.
- Taste the veggies and season with more veg oyster sauce if needed. If you're happy with how it is and the consistency of the sauce, turn off the heat.
- Enjoy this with some rice or noodles. Garnish with some sesame seeds if you’d like. Enjoy while hot!
WATCH Video
Notes
- Instead of mushrooms you can also just cook other veggies! Or even cook some tofu or tempeh.
- This dish is really versatile and the sauce can be cooked with many different ingredients so feel free to get creative!
NUTRITIONAL INFO
You can pin these images:
This Post Has 23 Comments
Yum!!! Made this for dinner tonight and it is delicious! A definite keeper. Thanks
Thank you for trying out these noodles! ❤️
Excellent recipe, but too sweet for my taste.
1 tbsp sugar would be enough
Really enjoyed this recipe! Using a variety of mushrooms really added flavour and texture to the dish. I used only 1tsp of sugar and was able to get cremini, shitake, and shimeji at my local grocer. Great dish, next time I will cook it with a hotter wok (that’s my bad).
Made this last night. Really good savoury, sweet flavour. Had it with noodles – nice combination.
Thanks so much for trying it out and leaving another review. Really appreciate it ◡̈
What a delish recipe for a quick dinner! Sending you love!
Thanks Emily!! Sending lots of love backk! ❤️
So I don’t know how I missed the actual recipe with measurements, lol, but “guestimated” and made it for 4 based on your pictures. Truly “My Bad!” I used less sugar then suggested, so I would say, add based on health and taste buds, but other then that, an absolute winner! I used crema and oyster mushrooms. That was my first time with oyster mushrooms but definitely not my last! I also used rice vinegar and some Sake I had because I didn’t have rice wine. I don’t know the composition of Sake, but it worked, so it could be a substitution. I love my vegetables firm and crunchy. I think I would blister them in smaller batches next time or blanch quickly, dry and then blister. Because I missed measurements, I probably blistered to many at once. I also seared salt & peppered shrimp for my son who is a pescatarian and just added to his serving. He too was thrilled with how authentic it tasted. I’m super excited to try more <3
Hi Caroll, thanks so much for your feedback!! Sake sure is a good sub–it has a sweeter note compared to Chinese rice one but amazing nonetheless! Oh and the recipe card usually comes in the latter part of my blog posts but there’s also a ‘jump to recipe’ button at the start of each of my blog posts so you can skip directly to the recipe. Hope this helps! 🙂
Another delicious meal! We had plenty left over to have for dinner the next night too. Thanks so much for another tasty dinner. X
Made this today absolutely delicious ? thank you ☺️
Thanks Layla! ◡̈
Made this recipe with a couple of tweaks – added 2 Tbsp of Black Bean sauce instead of one, used Gin instead of Chinese cooking wine and added thinly sliced tri-tip sirloin steak. My wife loved it!!
Thanks so much Dennis! Glad you guys enjoyed it ◡̈
Delish sauce!! Exactly what I was looking for
Hope you liked it Arelis!! ◡̈
Perfect over some noods on a cold snowy day!! Great taste!
Thanks Laura! ◡̈
This dish is such a toothsome combination of flavours: savoury, sweet, spicy and umami-filled. I made it last night for dinner, used a scant tablespoon of agave for the sweetener and that worked really well for me. Delicious over a mound of rice.
Glad you liked it, Fenice! Thanks so much ◡̈
I made this today, using snap peas, because that is what I had. The sauce was amazing. I will definitely make it again! I am also really excited to try the other dishes that you have on your site. Thank you for sharing recipes for a cuisine that I am not really familiar with, and for providing recipes that are truly delicious!
Thank you so much Patrick, this really means a lot!! Hope you enjoy the other recipes I have here, and thanks so much for giving it a try! ❤️