Sichuan Dry-Fried Beans

Blistered green beans with pork and preserved mustard.

20 min4 servingsChinese216 kcal/serving9g protein
Sichuan Dry-Fried Beans — Chinese recipe, finished and plated

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Ingredients

  • 400 g Green beans
  • 100 g Ground pork
  • 40 g Preserved mustard greens
  • 3 cloves Garlic
  • 3 Dried chilies
  • 1 tbsp Light soy sauce
  • 3 tbsp Neutral oil

Method

  1. Trim the beans and mince the garlic; rinse the preserved mustard greens.
  2. Heat the oil in a wok over high heat and fry the beans until the skins wrinkle and blister, then set them aside.
  3. In the same wok, crisp the ground pork with the garlic, dried chilies, and mustard greens until the pork is browned, then return the beans and splash in the soy.
  4. Serve with rice.

Nutrition per serving

216Calories
9gProtein
8gCarbs
17gFat
2gFiber

Estimated from ingredients; varies with exact portions and brands.

About Sichuan Dry-Fried Beans

Sichuan dry-fried beans, or gan bian si ji dou, is a classic of Sichuan home and restaurant cooking that treats the green bean as something to be transformed rather than merely cooked. The defining move is dry-frying: the beans go into a hot wok until their skins wrinkle, pucker, and blister, which drives off moisture and concentrates their flavor into something almost leathery-sweet and deeply savory. Only after the beans are blistered does the pork come in, crisped with garlic, dried chilies, and the crucial hit of preserved mustard greens that give the dish its funky, salty backbone.

The result is intensely flavored for so few ingredients: chewy-tender beans coated in crumbles of browned pork, tingling dried chili heat, and the pickled tang of the mustard greens cutting through the richness. This is emphatically a rice dish, meant to be spooned over a bowl and eaten in small, punchy bites alongside other Sichuan plates. What makes it worth the effort over a plain stir-fry is that blistering step, which most home cooks skip and which is exactly what separates real dry-fried beans from ordinary sautéed ones.

Equipment: wok.

Sichuan Dry-Fried Beans: frequently asked questions

How many calories are in Sichuan Dry-Fried Beans?

One serving of Sichuan Dry-Fried Beans has about 216 calories, with 9g of protein, 8g of carbs, 17g of fat and 2g of fiber. These are estimates based on the ingredient amounts in this recipe and will vary with your exact portions and brands.

Is Sichuan Dry-Fried Beans gluten-free?

As written, no — it contains Light soy sauce. You'd need a certified gluten-free swap for that ingredient to make it gluten-free.

How many servings does Sichuan Dry-Fried Beans make?

This recipe makes 4 servings. In the app you can scale it up or down and the ingredient amounts adjust automatically.