Tender chicken cubes are stir fried with fresh green beans and carrots in a ginger-scented garlic sauce, served with brown or white rice.
I love a good stir fry. It’s a perfect way to clean out the fridge with any veggies you have on hand, and you can use any protein from pork to sirloin – even using leftovers! By adding ginger, garlic, peppers, and hoisin you are instantly transported to another part of the world. I always have chicken and green beans on hand, which is why this Sesame Chicken and Green Bean Stir Fry is an easy go-to dinner.
Ingredients
For the sauce, I like to balance sweet, salty, sour and spicy flavors to create a well-balanced dish. Rice wine vinegar adds clean acidity, soy sauce provides much needed salt, hoisin adds sweetness and chili paste gives it a little spicy kick.
As for the stir fry ingredients, in this case we are keeping it simple. Just chicken breast, green beans, and carrots.
How to Make Sesame Chicken and Green Bean Stir Fry
To prepare for your stir fry, start by cutting your chicken breasts into cubes.
Pour half the rice wine vinegar into a bowl to start your marinade.
Add half of the soy sauce as well.
Whisk in half of the corn starch until it’s fully dissolved. Pour into a resealable bag with your chicken and marinate for at least 30 minutes, but the longer the more flavorful.
Cook your chicken for 5-7 minutes over medium high heat until browned. Once done, remove from pan and set aside.
While the chicken is marinating or cooking, make your sauce. Start by combining the rest of the rice wine vinegar and soy sauce.
Add the remaining corn starch as well.
Then stir in the corn starch and add the hoisin sauce.
Stir in the chicken broth, and make sure that the corn starch is fully dissolved. Add the chili paste as well, though it can make it spicy, and can be skipped over if you’re feeding picky eaters.
Using a microplane or cheese grater, add your fresh garlic to the sauce.
Finish your sauce with the freshly grated ginger.
In the same pan you cooked your chicken, add the green beans and carrots and cook for a couple minutes.
Then slowly pour your sauce over your vegetables and deglaze the pan, using a wooden spoon to scrape up any browned bits. Bring to a simmer, cover, and steam vegetables for an additional 3-4 minutes.
Add the chicken back to the pan and cook until warmed through. Drizzle with sesame oil.
Serve on top of brown or white rice, garnish with green onion and sesame seeds, and enjoy!
Easy Ingredient Swaps
- Switch out the veggies. Instead of green beans, use broccoli or another green vegetable.
- Change out the protein. If you’re like me and like to rotate through different proteins throughout the week, try it with beef or pork.
- Make it vegetarian. This dish easily becomes both vegetarian and vegan by removing the meat. Use tofu or add additional veggies instead.
Frequently Asked Questions:
What should I serve this with?
The most popular choice would be rice, but I also pair stir fries with a chopped salad or egg drop soup.
What if I don’t have fresh ginger?
As an alternative to fresh ginger, I love using ginger paste. You can pick it up at your local grocery store and store it in your fridge to use over and over.
How do I store leftover stir fry?
Kept in an airtight container, store it in the fridge for up to 4 days.
More Asian Inspired Dishes
- Low Carb Ground Turkey Lettuce Cups
- Sweet and Spicy Baked Salmon
- Pho-Inspired Vietnamese Shrimp Noodle Soup
- Kung Pao Shrimp
- Oven Baked Egg Rolls
Like It, Eat It, Share It!
Did you try this stir fry? The next time you make it, snap a picture and share it to your socials. Tag @thelemonbowl and #thelemonbowl so we can admire and share your dish.
Stir fries are amazingly quick and simple dinners that you can throw together, even on your busiest days. And despite their simplicity, they’re delicious and a hit with all ages. Give this Sesame Chicken and Green Bean Stir Fry a try.
Your fork is waiting.
Sesame Chicken and Green Bean Stir Fry
Ingredients
- 1 pound chicken breasts (sliced thin)
- ¼ cup soy sauce (low sodium)
- ¼ cup rice wine vinegar
- 2 tablespoons corn starch
- 2 tablespoons hoisin sauce
- ½ cup chicken broth (low sodium)
- ½ tablespoon chili garlic paste
- 2 tablespoons ginger (grated and minced)
- 2 cloves garlic (grated)
- 3 cups green beans (trimmed and cut in 2 in pieces)
- 2 large carrots (peeled and thinly sliced)
- 2 teaspoons sesame oil
- Toasted sesame seeds (optional garnish)
- Diced scallions (optional garnish)
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, wisk together half of the soy sauce, rice rice vinegar (2 tbs each) and corn starch (1 tbs).
- Add chicken and marinade for 30 minutes or longer.
- Meanwhile, whisk together remaining soy sauce, rice vinegar, and corn starch as well as hoisin, chicken broth, chili garlic paste, ginger, and garlic; set aside.
- Heat a large wok or deep pan on high heat and spray with non stick spray.
- Saute chicken (patted dry) for 5-7 minutes or until browned then remove from pan and reserve.
- Meanwhile, add green beans and carrots to hot pan and saute 3-4 minutes.
- Pour in soy/broth mixture and use wooden spoon to scrape brown bits from bottom of the pan.
- Bring to a simmer and cover with a lid to steam the beans and carrots an additional 3-4 minutes.
- Add chicken back to the pan and cook 2 minutes until warm.
- Drizzle sesame oil over the top of the stiry fry and garnish with toasted sesame seeds and scallions. Great with a side of brown rice.
The directions part of the app is very confusing and not very user friendly. All Recipes was much better. Again o can understand having to scroll through endless advertisements for non paying customers but once you buy the app monthly it should bi pass that.
I’m sorry Rich, I’m a little confused by what you mean when you refer to an app! I don’t charge anyone to use my website or view my recipes, so I’m also unsure what you mean when you say you pay monthly. Can you elaborate?
Why can’t I print recipes? I can understand for people not paying for the app but I should be able to print the recipe.
Hi! Everyone is able to print our recipes. Are you clicking the “print” button on the recipe card, or trying to print it another way? It’s working for me!
Looks delicious.. can I use canned green beans instead of fresh? Would it affect the taste?
You can definitely use canned as well! The green beans just might be a bit saltier and not have as muchof a “snap” to them.