Name: String Bean Chicken
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 10 min
Total time: 20 min
Ingredients: 12 oz. boneless skinless chicken breast or thighs, thinly sliced; 2 tablespoons water; 1 teaspoon soy sauce; ½ teaspoon sesame oil; 2 teaspoons cornstarch; 1 teaspoon vegetable oil; 1/2 cup chicken stock or water; 1 teaspoon sugar; 1 tablespoon soy sauce; 2 teaspoons dark soy sauce; ¼ teaspoon sesame oil; white pepper ((to taste)); 2 teaspoons cornstarch; 4 tablespoons vegetable oil ((divided)); 1 pound string beans ((ends trimmed and cut in half)); 3 cloves garlic ((sliced)); 1 tablespoon Shaoxing wine

This 20-Minute stir-fried String Bean Chicken recipe is another weeknight staple from me, The Woks of Life’s resident lazy weeknight cook.

If you’re looking for a simple one-pan meal with your vegetable and protein covered, this is the recipe for you. Watch the video to see how I make it!

Note:

This recipe was originally published on March 6, 2019. It has since been updated with more detailed instructions, high resolution photos, a video, and nutrition information. The recipe remains the same. Enjoy!

A Quick and Easy Dish

It’s no secret that I love recipes that can be made in 20 minutes or less. The fewer ingredients you need and the less time spent at the stove, the better.

I do love taking the time to cook an elaborate, high-effort sort of meal on weekends and for special occasions. But on regular weeknights, I’m looking to do a lot less cooking and a lot more relaxing (read: sweatpants and TV).

But along with the soothing voice of Sir David Attenborough narrating some intense nature drama or the latest food-related Netflix documentary, I want in my hands something fresh, tasty, and balanced (i.e. protein and vegetable, all in one).

This String Bean Chicken Stir-fry, whipped up in 20 minutes or less, fits the bill perfectly.

Video: See How I Make It!

Notes on the Recipe

Here are some quick notes to read through before you start cooking.

The Chicken

This recipe emulates the Chicken with String Beans (AKA Chicken with Green Beans) you may get at your local takeout restaurant.

Restaurants often use boneless skinless chicken breast, but you could also use boneless skinless thighs if you like. The dark meat is juicier and will give the dish even more flavor. As a bonus, thighs are also much cheaper!

Sauce Ingredients

For me, a good string bean chicken stir-fry also has plenty of dark brown sauce to soak into a plate of steamed rice.

The signature dark color of the sauce here can be achieved using dark soy sauce, a thicker, darker soy sauce that, with just a couple teaspoons, can transform a dish from pale to that tantalizing dark amber we all want in our Chinese takeout-style dishes.

As for the sauce flavors, the base is chicken stock (though you can also use water in a pinch, or water with a bit of chicken bouillon paste).

In addition to the soy sauces, I also add a little bit of sugar. The sauce isn’t sweet, but that teaspoon of sugar balances the saltiness of the soy sauce and brings out the sweetness of the green beans.

Finally, a bit of sesame oil and white pepper give the sauce more oomph. I don’t add any additional salt, because the soy sauce and Shaoxing wine (which is salted) provide all the salt the dish needs.

Thickening the Sauce

While in most of our recipes, we create a separate cornstarch slurry to thicken the sauce, I actually include the cornstarch in the sauce itself.

Since we are pre-cooking both the string beans and the chicken, the ingredients don’t need to be simmered before we thicken the sauce. That eliminates an extra step, and makes one extra bowl that doesn’t need washing!

Gluten-free?

To make this recipe gluten-free substitute gluten-free soy sauce. We recommend Lee Kum Kee GF Soy Sauce, but any brand you like that is naturally brewed will work. For dark soy sauce, you can use our dark soy sauce substitute recipe and make it with your GF soy.

Shaoxing wine also contains wheat, so substitute that with a dry sherry!

Also, you all can rest assured that this Woks of Life resident lazy cook’s recipe was thoroughly vetted by The Woks of Life’s resident Chinese Takeout expert, my dad––ya’ll know him here as Bill. So you know it’s legit.

Serve it with steamed white rice or brown rice (or if you’re not the biggest brown rice fan, try this quinoa rice combo!), and enjoy a great dinner.

Ok, let’s talk about how to make this String Bean Chicken Stir-fry.

String Bean Chicken Recipe Instructions

Start by slicing your chicken. Make sure that you’re slicing it against the grain! See those faint horizontal lines in the photo below? That’s the “grain” of the meat.

holding piece of chicken breast and pointing at the grain of the meat with a knife

You want your knife to slice the chicken perpendicular to those lines for the most tender result.

It also helps if the chicken breast is slightly frozen. The semi-solid chicken will be easier for the knife to slide through.

cutting boneless skinless chicken breast into slices for stir-fry

Next, add all the marinade ingredients to the chicken in a bowl, mix well with your hands so the chicken absorbs all the marinade liquid, and set aside.

ingredients for Chinese chicken with string beans recipe

Prepare the sauce by mixing together ½ cup chicken stock or water, 1 teaspoon sugar, 1 tablespoon soy sauce, 2 teaspoons dark soy sauce, ¼ teaspoon sesame oil, a pinch of freshly ground white pepper, and 2 teaspoons cornstarch.

When ready to cook, preheat your wok over medium high heat until it’s almost smoking. Add 2 tablespoons oil to the wok. You’ll know it’s hot enough if the oil “shimmers” when it spreads across the wok, like so:

Sear the chicken until it’s just browned. If your wok is as hot as it should be, the chicken should not stick.

Turn off the heat while you transfer the chicken to a separate bowl. Leave any oil/fat in the wok.

Turn the heat back on to medium-high. Add 2 additional tablespoons oil to the wok, and add the string beans in a single layer. Sear the string beans on one side, about 1 minute.

Stir-fry the beans for 30 seconds, and then add ¼ cup water to the wok. Cover the wok and allow the green beans to steam for 60-90 seconds (still on medium high heat).

Add the garlic and stir-fry for another 30 seconds. Spread the Shaoxing wine around the wok to deglaze it, stir-frying for 15 seconds. Then stir up your sauce mixture to make sure the cornstarch is well incorporated, and add the sauce to the wok. Bring it to a simmer.

Add the chicken back to the wok and stir-fry everything together for another 30 seconds.