These Chinese-style Miso Garlic Green Beans with Spicy Chili Sauce are always a crowd-pleaser. They are absolutely delicious and perfect to serve as a tasty appetizer or side dish.
Seasoned green beans is a staple at most Asian restaurants; yet can be paired with almost any dish. They are quick and easy to make at home with just basic kitchen tools; it's just a matter of cooking and flavoring the green beans right.
These umami flavored miso garlic green beans are perfectly crisp, tender, and sautéed with buttery miso and garlic. In addition to the savory, they are coated with chili oil to spice things up.
How to cook green beans?
There are a few ways to cook green beans. These include steaming, boiling, and blanching. Personally, I prefer to steam them because this is the easiest way to retain some of the crispiness of the green beans. For me, the golden number for steaming green beans is 5 minutes. This results in thoroughly cooked but still somewhat crunchy beans for me. You can steam them for more or less than 5 minutes, as you desire. Another option is to blanch them.
Blanching is essentially controlled boiling. When blanching green beans, or any vegetable for that matter, you dunk them briefly (for about 3-5 minutes) into about 4 quarts of boiling water with a tablespoon of salt. At intervals, check the texture during these breaks until you achieve the “doneness” you desire (usually when they are tender-crisp and still bright green); after which you immerse the vegetables in ice water to immediately stop the cooking process.
The whole blanching process can take between 3-5 minutes depending on how well you like your vegetables cooked. Blanching is also ideal for when you want the vegetable to retain its pretty colors.
Ingredients Notes
- Green Beans - Fresh Green Beans will have the best results for this recipe. Frozen Green Beans can work too, but they don't always get the same crisp as the fresh.
- Butter - Vegan butter is used for this recipe, since it is made plant-based. But you can use your favorite kind of butter.
- Oil - Toasted Sesame Seed Oil is used to add a nutty flavor to the dish, but you can opt out for the oil and just double the quantity of the butter. Other oils like Avocado or Coconut will work well too.
- Miso Paste - Use your favorite kind of miso paste.
- Garlic - Freshly minced garlic is best for bold flavors, but it's still a win with garlic paste or store bought minced garlic.
- Chili Oil - Use your favorite chili oil. If you are wondering what's a good chili oil to buy, then I recommend trying Lee Kum Kee Chili Oil.
- Salt - Optional or as desired.
How to make Miso Garlic Green Beans with Chili
- Step 1 - Place the green beans in a steam basket and steam them over boiling water at medium heat for 5 minutes with the lid on.
- Step 2 - Remove them from the heat, then immediately plunge into ice water to stop the cooking for about a minute. Then drain them and set aside.
- Step 3 - Heat the oil in a medium deep pan over low heat and then add the butter.
- Step 4 - Whisk in the garlic and miso paste till it's smooth like sauce.
- Step 5 - Add the steamed green beans and sauté with the miso garlic sauce for 30 seconds till evenly coated.
- Step 6 - Remove from heat and mix in spicy chili sauce. Add salt, if desired.
Detailed recipe is in the recipe card.
Expert Tip
For Step #4: keep the cook time for the garlic miso sauce under 1 minute at low heat because the miso can burn quickly.
Special Equipment Used
How To Serve Miso Garlic Green Beans with Chili
These buttery, savory, garlicky and spicy green beans served with a side of whole grain brown rice make an amazing and healthy appetizer. Or you can ditch the rice, and serve it as a starter dish or as finger food.
These miso garlic green beans are popular to have along side Asian foods like noodles, sautéed veggies, curries. You can also remove the chili oil, and side it with roasted potatoes, minestrone soup, lasagne, or other pasta dishes.
Variations
The sauce is essentially a combination of butter, miso, garlic and chili oil. It makes a wonderful marinade that you can use to coat a variety of vegetables, like baby bok choy, carrots, asparagus, edamame, etc. So, if you want to experiment with other vegetables, then don't limit yourself; you can use this recipe with other alternative veggies.
More Vegan Appetizers
- Jackfruit Lettuce Wraps
- Easy Crispy Baked Tofu
- Vegan Ramen Noodles with Lemongrass Broth
- Red Thai Curry
- Classic Vietnamese Plum Soda
- Thai Iced Tea with No Artificial Dyes
Miso Garlic Green Beans
DESCRIPTION
EQUIPMENT
INGREDIENTS
- 12 oz green beans
- 1 tablespoon vegan butter
- 1 tablespoon toasted sesame seed oil (for nutty flavor)
- 1 tablespoon white miso paste
- 2 tablespoon Lee Kum Kee chili oil or less, if desired
- 2 tablespoon garlic paste or minced garlic
- ¼ teaspoon salt optional
METHOD
- Prep the green beans either by trimming the ends with a knife or kitchen scissors or by hand using the traditional method. Set out a large bowl of ice water.
- Place the clean green beans on a steam basket and steam them over boiling water at medium heat for 5 minutes with the lid on. Keep watch on the time because overcooking the green beans can make them soggy. You can check if they are cooked by taking one string bean out and rinsing it in running water -- you want it to be soft enough to bite into but still have enough crunch. If you are happy with the result, remove them from the heat, then immediately plunge into ice water to stop the cooking for about a minute. Drain and set them aside. (If you don't have a steamer or steam basket, then read the blanching method above).
- Place a medium deep pan (or a wok, if you have it) over low heat and drizzle it with oil before melting the butter.
- Once the butter has melted, add garlic and then white miso paste and stir it into the butter to make the sauce. Keep stirring till smooth (I like to use a whisk for this). Note: miso can burn quickly, so keep the temperature low and cook time under 1 minute.
- Toss in the steamed green beans and sauté for 30 seconds till evenly coated with the miso garlic sauce.
- Remove from heat, and add the chili oil (make sure to scoop out the actual chili at the bottom of the bottle and not just the oil). Season with salt if desired.
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