Chinese Restaurant-Style Sautéed Green Beans

This is a green bean recipe that is very easy to do, yet will agree with some of the most finicky eaters. I have a teenage brother who will sit down and just shovel loads of Cheez-its in his mouth when there is perfectly good food in front of him. That changed when I brought these green beans over to my sister’s house last November. He kept going back and eating more and more of these things.

If I had to describe the taste, they actually taste like green beans with the sauce from PF Chang’s Mongolian Beef. I love Mongolian Beef, but I wasn’t sure if I wanted my green beans tasting like that. As it turns out it’s absolutely delicious.


Chinese Restaurant-Style Sautéed Green Beans
By Susie Middleton

Serves 2 to 3 as a side dish (more like 2)

• 1 Tbs less-sodium Soy Sauce
• 1 Tbs Honey
• 1 Tbs unsalted Butter
• 2 Tbs extra virgin Olive Oil
• 1# younger Green Beans, trimmed
• Kosher Salt
• 1 Tbs minced Garlic

Combine the soy sacue, honey, and 1 Tbs water in a small dish and set near the stove. Set a shallow serving dish near the stove, too.

In a 10-inch straight-sided sauté pan, heat the butter with the olive oil over medium-high heat. When the butter is melted, add the green beans and ½ tsp salt and toss with tongs to coat well. Cook, turning the beans occasionally, until most are well browned, shrunken, and tender, 7 to 8 minutes. (The butter in the pan will have turned dark brown.)

Reduce the heat to low, add the garlic, and cook, stirring constantly with a heatproof rubber spatula, until the garlic is softened and fragrant, 15 to 20 seconds. Carefully add the soy mixture (you’ll need to scrape the honey into the pan). Cook, stirring, until the liquid reduces to a glazey consistency that coats the beans, 30 to 45 seconds.

Immediately transfer the beans to the serving dish, scraping the pan with the spatula to get all of the garlicky sauce. Let sit for a few minutes and then serve warm.