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Green Bean and Ground Beef Stir fry is an easy ground beef recipe perfect for busy weeknights. Serve over rice for a quick weeknight meal packed with flavor!
Easy Ground Beef Recipe
Most of us struggle with the question “What can I make for dinner tonight?” Well, if you have a pound of ground beef, I have the perfect recipe for you. Green Bean and Ground Beef Stir Fry. I usually don’t think of ground beef as being an ingredient for stir fries, but it actually makes a very quick and convenient protein to use in this easy stir fry recipe.
How to make a ground beef stir fry
For this recipe we make a quick sauce that is more flavorful than any store bought stir fry sauce – then pour it over the ground beef and let it marinate for about 20 minutes while you prepare the rest of the recipe. I usually like to make some rice to serve with this. Then trim and cut your green beans.
You will quickly saute the green beans so that they get browned and blistered – that gives them great flavor and texture. Then remove from the pan and add the ground beef. When the ground beef is cooked, add the green beans back to the pan and stir to combine. Allow to cook until most of the excess moisture cooks off – that will concentrate the flavors.
If you like this recipe, you will also love my Korean Ground Beef Bowls, Easy Korean Meatballs and Taco Stuffed Potobellos.
Green Bean and Ground Beef Stir Fry
Ingredients
- 1 pound ground beef
- 8 oz green beans trimmed and cut in half
- 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes more or less to taste
- 2 tsp fresh ginger grated
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1 tbsp canola oil or other neutral oil with high smoke point
For the Marinade
- 1/4 cup low sodium soy sauce
- 4 cloves garlic finely minced or grated
- 1 tablespoon sesame oil
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
- 1 tablespoon ginger root grated
- 1 teaspoon chili garlic sauce
- 1 tbsp Cornstarch
Instructions
- Whisk together all ingredients for the marinade. Place raw ground beef in a medium sized bowl, pour marinade over beef, stir to fully combine. Set aside for 20 minutes.
- Heat a sauté pan over medium high heat. Add one tablespoon of oil. Cook the green beans, stirring often, until starting to blister, 3-4 minutes. Add in ginger, garlic, red pepper flakes, cook 30-60 seconds until fragrant. Remove from pan and reserve on a plate.
- Add beef, cook until browned.
- Add green beans back to the pan, stir to combine.
- Continue cooking until excess moisture has evaporated.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Everyone liked this recipe. It was easy to follow. I added onions at the same time as green beans and it was great. I didn’t have sesame oil, so I subbed with olive oil, and I substituted quince vinegar for rice vinegar as that was all I had. It took me more than 30 mins, more like a hour, but I’m pretty slow in the kitchen.
I’m so glad you liked it! I’ve never tried quince vinegar, that sounds great!
Been making a slightly different version of this quick and healthy recipe for nearly 40 years. Your recipe is superior because of the marinade (in place of a similar sauce added at the end) and the touch of brown sugar, and because you specify cooking the green beans first and separately. A great recipe brought to perfection!
The ginger and garlic are the key flavors here (along with the soy sauce). Rice wine or cider vinegar are both acceptable and provide the touch of mild acidity which punches up the flavors. Doubling the quantity of green beans and adding a tablespoon or two of dry sherry or white vermouth to the marinade are the only improvements needed; otherwise, the recipe should be followed exactly as written as the flavors and spicing are perfectly balanced. It is critical to use a high-quality, very fresh, very low-fat ground beef, such as 93% lean, in order to avoid draining the beef after cooking and losing all that great flavor. Makes for wonderful leftovers!
Thanks Brian, those are great insights!
Made with impossible meat and it came out delicious. Used Sriracha instead of chili garlic oil.
So glad you loved it!
DEFINITELY a hit with my family. My daughter cannot stop thinking about it-so I am making it again tonight. First time we made this was about 3 weeks ago. We didn’t have some of the ingredients—ginger or the chili garlic sauce but we threw something else in–cannot remember the specific items–but it was still amazing!
Looking forward to tonight’s dinner–with the correct ingredients! THANK YOU, Meghan, for making this simple recipe we can all enjoy!
I’m so happy you loved it!
Can this dish be frozen for future meals?
Hi, I haven’t tried freezing it so I can’t be sure! I think it would probably work.
can i use ginger paste instead of root?
Still great!!
I soaked dried Shitakes and used the soaking liquid to dilute the corn starch (arrow root). I also added a Tbsp of Sake to the marinade.
Really great meal and pretty simple to put together.
I’m so glad you love it! Thats such a great upgrade with the dried shiitakes!
So good! It’s like bulgolgi with green beans. I reserved a couple tablespoons of the marinade (before adding the beef) to add after I drained the meat.
EXCELLENT idea Stephanie. I read your comments AFTER I prepared our 1st meal—I am definitely going to reserve some marinade this time!!
Thanks for the idea.
Thank you for the new recipe!
Red chili peppers were not available at my grocery store during these times, so I used red bell peppers. My whole family loved it. My husband added Cholula Chipotle hot sauce to his, on his plate. We used ground sirloin which is very lean, costs more but well worth it for those wanting the lower fat cuts.
I’d do more green beans next time- probably 1 lb, bc this was very meat heavy. And def use lower fat ground beef- if you drain it after cooking, you’ll lose so much flavor from the marinade! Otherwise, easy and tasty
Giving this a 5 on flavor. I didn’t have ginger but haD everything else and the taste was awesome. Someone else mentioned the meat texture. I waited to add my corn starch until I cooked the beef. I wish I’d drained the. I think the texture was because I didn’t couldn’t drain it after I cooked it so it had that bit of grease feel in your mouth. Maybe just me or the beef was fattier than it should have been. But I will definitely make again! So yummy… And EASY! Kids loved it too
So glad you loved it!
Do you need to drain the fat while cooking?
Hi, if there is excess fat you can drain it.
Loved it
So glad to hear that!
The recipe tasted good. One thing I did not enjoy was that the beef absorbed most of the fat in the skillet and left me feeling pretty bad after eating it. Are you supposed to drain it?
Hi Karina – you can drain the fat after browning.
I made this last night, and it just might have been the best thing I’ve ever made! Truly. Super easy (I had to use the vinegar I had around, and — sorry — but a teeny bit of catsup because had no chili sauce) but my son and I LOVED it!
So glad you loved it!
I made this for dinner tonight. It was so easy and delicious! I served it with jasmine rice.
So happy you loved it!
Yum! Versatile and easily modifiable, too. I’ve made this a couple times now — both times, I just cooked up the vegetables in oil and the marinade was plenty flavorful for the whole dish. To make it gluten free, I use tamari. Other substitutions that have worked for me (limited to what’s in the pantry): Coconut sugar instead of brown sugar, apple cider vinegar instead of rice vinegar, GF flour instead of cornstarch. I also like to add green onion. Tonight, I switched up the green beans for Brussels sprouts and orange bell pepper. I’ve been leaving out the crushed red pepper and sriracha because I’m feeding littles, but I would typically love the spice. Thanks for a great go-to recipe for my family and me!
So happy you love the recipe!
Pretty good. Lot’s of flavor for just ground beef. I added a little salt and pepper at the end. The meat has a little bit of an odd texture. Definitely serve with rice to cut the heat. Otherwise I would have given 5 stars.
So Yummy and very easy to make! We served with cauliflower rice and traditional white sticky rice also paired this with Keto crabrangoons. Will definitely make again!
So glad to hear that!
This was SO GOOD. I actually followed the recipe (only leaving out the spicy ingredients, as my husband can’t handle spice) and it was so good I made it again a few days later. The balance of sweet/salty/umami is perfect.
I’m so happy you loved it Claire!
Ground beef and green beans are the perfect combination for a quick dinner. Putting them together in one dish sounds amazing.