Stir-Fried Cumin Green Beans and Chicken
Updated July 24, 2026
Ryan Liebe for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Anna Billingskog.
- Ready In
- 25 min
- Rating
- Comments
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Ingredients
2 tablespoons neutral-tasting oil, such as peanut, sunflower or grapeseed, plus more if needed
1 pound ground chicken or turkey, preferably dark meat
1 teaspoon fine sea or table salt
8 ounces green beans, cut into 1-inch lengths
2 red or green chiles, seeded or not, thinly sliced
5 garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
¼ cup cilantro or basil leaves and tender stems, chopped, plus more for serving
3 tablespoons rice wine vinegar, plus more for serving
4 teaspoons soy sauce, plus more to taste
1 teaspoon hoisin sauce or ½ teaspoon honey
Cooked white rice or rice noodles, for serving
Nutritional analysis per serving (4 servings)
20 grams carbs; 71 milligrams cholesterol; 265 calories; 4 grams monosaturated fat; 1 gram polyunsaturated fat; 3 grams saturated fat; 8 grams fat; 3 grams fiber; 603 milligrams sodium; 29 grams protein; 4 grams sugar
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
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Preparation
- Step 1
Heat a large (12-inch) skillet or wok over medium-high for 1 minute. Add oil and heat for another 30 seconds — it should be hot but not smoking.
- Step 2
Stir in chicken and ¾ teaspoon salt. Cook, breaking up meat with a spoon, until browned and crisp, 5 to 8 minutes. Transfer to a plate.
- Step 3
Return pan to heat and add more oil if it looks dry. Stir in green beans and stir-fry until they are crisp, tender and bright green, 1 to 3 minutes. Stir in chiles, garlic, ginger, cumin seeds and remaining ¼ teaspoon salt. Cook, stirring frequently, until fragrant, about 1 minute longer.
- Step 4
Return chicken to skillet, along with chopped cilantro, vinegar, soy sauce and hoisin sauce. Stir briefly to combine. Taste and add more vinegar and soy sauce if needed. Top with more chopped cilantro, and serve with rice or noodles if you like.
Private Notes
Comments
Why would you add the ginger garlic chillies cumin later, AFTER frying the beans? Start off with them in this order: Cumin, till popping Chillis Ginger and garlic. Once fragrant, add beans - they will take the flavors of these much better. Also, I would not fry the ground meat to crispness, it will harden. It should remain soft, just undercooked, and fully cook when you add it back in. Last, Western basil and cumin don’t pair well. Prefer fresh coriander or mint, preferably Asian mint varieties.
Am I in the minority by hating the taste and texture of barely cooked green beans?
This is a great dish, very similar to the classic Sichuan dry fried green beans with ground pork or chicken. For those who don’t like the rice vinegar generously used in this recipe, the Sichuan green beans recipe uses 1 tbs of Shaoxing rice wine instead.
This was under the heading of "cheap ingredient" and in any grocery store I've been, ground chicken is more expensive than ground beef.
As advertised, the chopping was a bit time-consuming (I diced the peppers rather than sliced them), but I did most of it ahead of time, which made the cooking go very smoothly. I didn't think the green beans were undercooked at all. Next time, I think I might make a bit more sauce. I served it with rice and a green salad dressed with one of those grocery store "Asian" dressings, which paired quite well. I'd give it four stars, and I'll definitely make it again.
I thought this was a just okay meal. I made it with broccoli and red onion. My daughter did not like it because it did not make enough sauce and so the udon noodles we made to go with it were dry. oh well...can't win them all....