This quick Pork Stir Fry with Green Beans packs a big flavour punch! It’s a fast take on the classic Szechuan dish, Stir Fried Green Beans with Minced Pork. Made with ground pork, this recipe comes together in just over 10 minutes. Don’t skip charring the beans, it’s the defining feature of this stir fry!
Pork Stir Fry with Green Beans
If you’ve ever been to a Chinese Szechuan restaurant, you might be familiar with a green bean and pork stir fry which is a firm favourite among spicy Asian food lovers. Chopped green beans cooked over high heat until blistered, then stir fried with a spicy intense flavoured sauce and pork.
If the full blown Szechuan version is what you’re after, you’ll need a couple of speciality ingredients requiring a trip to the Asian grocery store – Szechuanpicked mustard greens (Sui Mi Ya Cai), Szechuan peppercorns, dried chillies. And here are a couple of recipes from my most trusted Chinese cooking blogs – Woks of Life and Omnivore’s Cookbook.
This Pork Stir Fry with Green Beans recipe is a slightly simplified version of the authentic Szechuan version. It packs a similar flavour punch, and it still has the signature charred green beans, but I pick up everything from the supermarket. In fact, if you have pork mince (that’s ground pork to those of you in Canada and the States!) and beans, there’s every possibility you have everything you need to make this right now.
This pork stir fry is a quick and easy pork mince recipe with big flavours!
Magic 4 ingredient stir fry sauce
The sauce for this Pork Stir Fry with Green Beans only has 4 ingredients in it:
Chinese cooking wine (see recipe notes for subs)
dark soy sauce (for colour)
Chilli Garlic Sauce (for spice / vinegar / general Asian tasty flavour – see notes for subs)
sugar.
The reason this recipe gets away with such a simple sauce is because of this – the charred green beans. Char any vegetable, and you take it from bland to amazing. Steamed beans vs charred green beans is simply no contest!
Best charred in a hot skillet
Unlike most of my stir fries, I like to cook this in a cast iron skillet so you can spread the beans out to char them. It takes a mere 2 ½ – 3 minutes, faster than using a wok.
Because of this extreme high heat cooking – that skillet gets stinking hot – the one tip I have for this stir fry is to chop rather than grate / mince the ginger and garlic. It will stop it from sticking to the skillet and burning in 2 seconds.
Actually, that’s a general stir frying tip. 🙂 Chop instead of grate the ginger and garlic. Never again suffer burnt garlic in your stir fry!
Oh PS That’s the Chilli Garlic Sauce I use. ↑↑↑ Available at supermarket – Woolies, Coles etc. BUT if you can’t find that exact brand or similar, sriracha or even non Asian hot sauces will make a terrific sub. Anything that is spicy but also a bit vinegary – which most hot sauces are. Even Franks Hot Sauce!
You won’t miss sauciness
When it comes to stir fries, I’m usually all about the sauce, the sauce, the sauce. And if you’re in the sauce camp with me, I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised by how you don’t miss sauce with this Pork Stir Fry.
The pork mince sucks up all that sauce and is actually quite intense flavoured – you’d find it rather salty without rice.
So mix it up with the rice, then enjoy the leisure of a stir fry you can eat with a spoon. It’s perfect Couch Food – which I define as food you can eat with a spoon without taking your eyes off the TV. 😂 – Nagi x
PS And because my mother will never forgive me if I don’t mention this – this Beans and Pork Mince Stir Fry is the Japanese version of this stir fry on her website, RecipeTin Japan. Similar flavour, but made using Japanese sauces.
WATCH HOW TO MAKE IT
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Pork Stir Fry with Green Beans
Ingredients
- 300g / 10oz green beans (Note 1)
- 220g / 7 oz pork mince (Note 2)
- 1/2 small onion , finely chopped (about 1/2 cup)
- 2 garlic cloves , finely chopped (Note 3)
- 2 tsp ginger , finely chopped (Note 3)
- 2 1/2 tbsp peanut oil (or vegetable or canola)
Sauce
- 1 tbsp dark soy sauce (Note 4)
- 1 tbsp Chinese cooking wine (shaoxing wine) (Note 5 for subs)
- 1 tsp white sugar (sub any sugar or faux sugar)
- 1 1/2 tsp + Chilli Garlic Sauce (Note 6)
For serving
- Rice of choice
- Sliced red chilli
Instructions
- Sauce – Mix Sauce ingredients in a bowl.
- Trim the stem end of the beans, then chop into 2 – 2.5cm / 4/5 – 1" pieces.
- Char Beans: Heat 1 1/2 tbsp oil in a heavy based skillet over high heat (I use cast iron) until smoking. Add beans, spread out to cover base. Leave for 1 minute. Quick stir, spread out, cook for 30 seconds. Stir, then leave for 30 seconds, then repeat once more (so 2 1/2 minutes in total cook time) until beans are charred but tender crisp (not withered and floppy). Remove into bowl.
- Sauté aromatics – Turn heat down to medium high, add 1 tbsp oil. Add onion, then garlic and ginger. Cook for 1 minute until edges of onion are golden.
- Cook pork – Turn heat back up to high. Add pork and cook, breaking it up as you go. Cook for 2 minutes until the pork is cooked through, then add Sauce. Cook for 30 seconds, then add beans and stir for another 30 seconds.
- Serve over rice. Garnish with slices of large red chilli (it's mild), entirely optional. To eat, mix the pork into the rice then eat it with a spoon – forget chopsticks for this one! (For a low carb, low cal option, try Cauliflower Rice)
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
Originally published June 2014, long overdue for an update with fresh new photos and a recipe video!
More quick pork mince recipes (ground pork)
Also, try the popular Quick Asian Beef Ramen Noodles or Asian Beef Bowls using ground pork / mince instead of beef!
Life of Dozer
At the coffee shop, when he spies food on neighbouring tables. He’s been known to make grown men give up huge chunks of their breakfast with just a glance…
I love recipes like this. So easy, so so good.
I cooked the pork and green bean stir fry last night, it was delicious. Even better than at yum cha, which I am missing terrible. This will become a regular dish like many, many others of yours.
I just made this Pork Stir Fry with Green Beans and it was a 5+! So delicious! Thank you. I had planned to only have a small serving, but couldn’t help myself and HAD to have a second helping. Now I want to try your beef stroganoff
but I’m gluten free; what do you suggest to thicken the sauce? Thank you. Lorraine
Doubled everything except the sauce. I quadrupled it and added cornstarch to make it thicker. Omitted the chili garlic sauce since I’m not a fan of spicy or hot. I think this dish is at the very top of my Asian recipes. Soooooo 😋 delicious!
Absolutely fantastic!
I added 2.5 tbsp of water as my salt tastebuds have found things salty lately. I thought, I could taste near the end and add a few drops of dark soy if needed.
I did it w forbidden rice as another option to mix it up.
Thank you for the very well done videos; I might not have tried this without it. I can cook many foods of culture but Asian food always made me apprehensive. Thank you Nagi! 👏🏼
Had this at a Chinese restaurant in China town in my city. Fell in love with it. Such umami flavor. This tasted just like it. Thanks for posting.
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Hi Nagi. Another weeknight winner that’s definetly added to the rotation…. best of all economical and quick! Added some Szechuan pepper for extra zing.. delicious!
Hi Nagi!
I’ve been following you for quite sometime now and your recipes have a been a go to for me whenever I want to try something new. This minced pork with green beans is so delicious and our family totally enjoyed it. So easy to make, definitely it will be a regular repeat on our menu. Thank you for sharing your recipes. Stay well and safe, Nagi!
Great recipe! Easy to make once prep is done, set off the smoke detector but results were 100% worth it. Even my toddler dug it.
PS: your dog is adorable
Keep up the good work!
This was super tasty – thanks Nagi!
When i make it again i might add some water chestnuts too 🙂
Just made this tonight for dinner for husband and me.
Yummy, quick, easy and economical. This goes into my regular repertoire.
thank you !
Nagi, this is a favorite dinner of our family! Everyone loves the taste and I love that it’s fast, easy, and really cheap when I’m in a *super frugal* mood. Thank you for your awesome blog!
This recipe has become a weekly staple at my house. My college kids had it for breakfast the next morning the first time I made it. We all love it!! I make extra sauce at my husband’s request. Thank you Nagi, you are my favorite! I will give it 10 stars if I could.
This recipe has become one of my emergency mid week dinners. It’s so favourful and tastes just like the pork with beans from Four seasons in China town. Thanks for creating this recipe Nagi
Hi Nagi,
I have been cooking many of your recipes and love them all. I went out and bought coconut milk powder after seeing a recipe that I thought I would try. The question is which recipe was it?? I have looked and now can’t find which recipe of yours contains coconut milk powder. HELP!!
Was it Coconut rice perhaps Tracy? https://discountspot.info/fluffy-coconut-rice/%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E
Made it for the first time. Sub pork with beef and cooking wine with chicken stock, it was very easy and delicious!! Thank you for the recipe nagi!!
Another delicious recipe! You are an amazing cook, we have made numerous of your dishes and all have become favorites. Sicilian pasta, sun dried tomato pasta, Chinese stir fry, this. All yummy
We loved this!! In fact I haven’t made anything we don’t love yet!
This will be on rotation!!
Can I make this with pork fillet sliced thinly and stir fried rather than pork mince?
You sure can Tracy! It will be fab 👌🏼
Cant seem to find chili garlic in my local store. Is it same as Chilli oul (chiu chao)?