Spicy green bean appetizer: Also known as Szechuan green beans or Korean-style green beans or the-best-green-beans-you’ll-ever-eat.

About the Recipe

I’ve seen variations of this appetizer recipe on many menus. They’re usually called Szechuan green beans or something of the sort, but I ended up using an amazing Korean barbecue sauce (Annie Chun’s Gochujan sauce) to flavor this dish. So the variation I made wasn’t really Chinese – but it’s absolutely delicious, so does it really matter?

Go get yourself a bottle of this insane sauce immediately. I found a bottle at Whole Foods for about $3.50.

The Cost

• Green beans (1 pound) = $2.29
• Garlic (4 cloves) = $.15
• Red Fresno peppers (2) = $.19
• Sauce (3 tablespoons) = $.52
• Rice vinegar (1 tablespoon) = $.13
• Other ingredients (oil and red pepper flakes) = $.10

Total cost for entire recipe: $3.38

(These would be even cheaper if green beans had been in season. Note to self: Revisit this recipe in the summer!)

Love green beans? Check out these baked Parmesan green bean fries – they take just 10 minutes to prep! And these almond-crusted turmeric green bean fries.

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Spicy Green Bean Appetizer

Yield: 2 servings

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Total Time: 30 minutes

Alternatively, this recipe can be made in a wok.

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Ingredients

For green beans

• 1 pound green beans
• 3 garlic cloves, finely minced
• 1 or 2 red Fresno peppers, finely chopped
• 2 tablespoons cooking oil

For sauce

• 3 tablespoons Korean barbecue sauce (I used Annie Chun's Gochujang sauce)
• 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
• 1 clove garlic, finely chopped
• Pinch of crushed red pepper

Instructions

1. Rinse green beans and remove ends. Chop into small, 2-inch pieces. Pat dry with a paper towel. Set aside.
2. Mix all sauce ingredients together and set aside.
3. To make green beans, heat oil in a large frying pan over high heat. Once oil is very hot - after about one minute - add green beans. Stir occasionally until beans begin to blacken in spots, about 5 to 7 minutes. Add chopped garlic and peppers about a minute before beans are done.
4. Turn heat off and pour in sauce. Stir to evenly coat. Serve hot.

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