Paleo Sichuan Dry-Fried Green Beans

I absolutely LOVE this super flavorful, quick, and easy Paleo Sichuan Dry-Fried Green Beans topped with crispy minced meat in soy-free spicy garlic sauce. It tastes better and healthier than your favorite takeout. So don’t miss this simple and everyday one-skillet recipe!

If you love green beans as much as I do, you’ll also love my Din Tai Fung green beans and Chinese garlic green beans!

Chinese Dry-Fried Technique – Simple, Easy, and Healthy

What is dry-fried? Dry-fried in Mandarin 乾炒 (Gān chǎo) means to stir-fry without added liquid and oil. This is a method to reduce the liquid content often found in vegetables in order to create a light and crisp texture without deep-frying.

You know what I’m talking about – the crisp and slightly blistered texture when you bite into that delicious plate of stir-fried green beans at your favorite Chinese restaurant.

In the restaurant, the beans are quickly deep-fried to remove water content and thus create a slightly crunchy and blistered texture, but that also makes them greasy and not ideal for an everyday homemade meal.

Here’s how we use a less oily way to recreate that crispy blistered texture:

A well-heated skillet (preferably stainless steel) is crucial in recreating the slightly blistered texture. Pre-heat your skillet WITHOUT the oil over medium heat until it’s almost to a smoke point.

Pat-dry the green beans and dice to 2-inch lengths before adding them to the skillet. Keep scooping and stir-frying the green beans during the dry-fry process and make sure each bean has a chance to be in contact with the well-heated skillet /hot surface until you see the texture of the green beans get slightly crisp up and blistered.

Pay attention to the stovetop heat – if the beans seem to get blistered too quickly, lower the heat a bit and vice versa. This is the key to achieving that delicious Paleo Sichuan Dry-Fried Green Bean texture without frying. ❤️

Blistered Green Beans & Crispy Minced Pork – Paleo Sichuan Dry-Fried Green Beans

Green beans are the main star of this dish. In some instances, this dish could go completely without the pork mince and make it vegetarian-friendly. If, however, you’d like to add more flavor and protein to your meal and serve this dish as a main, use pork mince sparingly.

Pork mince depends on the flavor and to keep this dish light and crisp, keep sautéing the pork mince until it breaks down to finer pieces and is no longer watery. Pay attention to the meat and green bean ratio. Too much meat will result in more liquid in the sauté pan and thus the texture will change and the dish will be less tasty.

And if you want to add more variety using similar ingredients, be sure to check out my Spicy Pepper Pork Lettuce Wraps!

So I hope you’ll give this one skillet meal Paleo Sichuan Dry-Fried Green Beans a try and if you love my recipes be sure to give a 5-star rating and leave a comment below. I’d love to hear from you!

Recipe Card

Paleo Sichuan Dry-Fried Green Beans

5 from 17 votes

By ChihYu Smith

Prep: 10 minutes mins

Cook: 15 minutes mins

Total: 25 minutes mins

Servings: 4 people

Super flavorful, quick, and easy Paleo Sichuan Dry-Fried Green Beans topped with crispy minced meat in light soy-free spicy chili sauce. Tastes better and healthier than your favorite takeout. Don’t miss this simple and everyday one-skillet recipe ! 

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Ingredients  

1x2x3x

• ▢ ⅓ to ¼ lbs ground pork alt. chicken or turkey
• ▢ 1 lb. string beans trimmed, pat-dry, and diced to roughly 2-inch length
• ▢ 2 large garlic cloves finely chopped
• ▢ 1 tbsp fresh ginger finely chopped (use 1 ½ tbsp for stronger flavor if preferred)
• ▢ 2-3 bulbs scallions finely chopped & separate white and green parts
• ▢ 4-5 dry red peppers optional
• ▢ Avocado oil 2 tbsp + 1 tbsp

Stir-fry Sauce: (use 1 tbsp a time for stir-fry. Follow instructions below)

• ▢ 1 ½ tbsp coconut aminos
• ▢ 2 tsp red boat fish sauce
• ▢ ½ to 1 tsp Harissa paste sub for tomato paste for a non-spicy version

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Instructions 

• Preheat a large stainless steel skillet over medium-low heat WITHOUT oil until the skillet is well heated and almost to a smoke point. Add diced green beans. Stir-fry (this is called dry-fry in Chinese cooking) over medium heat for 4-5 mins until the beans are slightly blistered but not burnt.*
• Add 2 tbsp avocado oil to the skillet and keep stir frying the green beans with oil for 2-3 additional minutes. Set green beans aide.
• While the skillet is still hot, add 1 tbsp avocado oil with garlic, ginger, white parts of scallions, and dry red peppers. Season with a small pinch of salt and sauté until fragrant (about 8-10 seconds). Add ground pork. Season with another small pinch to salt. Sauté until the pork is completely cooked through, break up to finer pieces, and no longer watery.
• Add 1 tbsp of stir-fry sauce to the ground pork. Stir-fry for 5-10 seconds then add green beans back to the skillet. Toss to coat everything well. Taste and see if ½ to 1 more tbsp of stir-fry sauce is needed.
• Turn off the heat and stir-in green parts of scallions. Serve hot immediately with cauliflower rice, zoodles, or mixed greens.

Notes

*In the restaurant, the beans are quickly deep-fried to remove water content and thus create a slightly crunchy and blistered texture. Here we use a less oily way to recreate a similar texture. A well heated skillet (preferably stainless steel) is crucial in recreating the slightly blistered texture. Keep scooping and stir-frying the green beans during dry-fry process and make sure each bean has a chance to be in contact with the well heated skillet /hot surface is the key to achieve the right texture.

 

*Green beans are the main star of this dish. Pork mince depends the flavor and add some protein. To keep this dish not become watery/soggy and instead maintain its crisp texture, pay attention to the meat and green bean ratio. Too much meat will result in more liquid in the sauté pan and thus the texture will change and the dish will be less tasty.

Nutrition

Serving: 179g, Calories: 224kcal, Carbohydrates: 13g, Protein: 12g, Fat: 14.5g, Saturated Fat: 2.1g, Cholesterol: 24mg, Sodium: 558mg, Fiber: 4g, Sugar: 2g, Vitamin A: 350IU, Vitamin C: 6.6mg, Calcium: 50mg, Iron: 1.8mg

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

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