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This stir-fried bean sprout recipe makes a delicious and healthy side dish for any main meal. Enjoy the delightful crunch of bean sprouts and the flavorful aromatics, such as garlic and Thai chili pepper. Serve it with rice, noodles, or your favorite savory entree.
Stir-Fry Bean Sprouts: A Delicious All-Veggie Side Dish
If you love a perfect balance of a main meal with a healthy fibrous side dish, then you should add stir-fried bean sprouts to your meal plan. Like most stir-fried dishes, making this dish is super fast and easy using only everyday ingredients.
On top of that, you get to enjoy the health benefits of bean sprouts, such as lowering cholesterol levels, supporting weight loss, and aiding in digestion.
To make this all-veggie dish, start by sauteing minced garlic with Thai chili peppers if you like it hot. Then, add your bean sprouts and stir-fry with seasonings. The seasonings are just your pantry staples, including light soy sauce, salt, sugar, bouillon powder, and cumin.
Finish the dish with chopped green onions for a fresh oniony taste and any of your favorite vegetables to make it more fulfilling. You can customize this dish according to your dietary preference, whether you are into vegan food or need something gluten-free. If you need more stir-fry recipes, try out my other recipes:
- Easy Stir-Fried Yu Choy
- Stir-Fried Chinese Sticky Rice
- Stir-Fried Shrimp Mei Fun
- Bitter Melon Stir-Fried With Eggs
- Stir-Fried Bok Choy And Mushrooms
- Tomato and Eggs Stir-Fry
- Black Pepper Beef Stir-fry
- Kimchi Pork Belly Stir-fry
Recipe Tips And Ingredient Recommendations
This is one of the most flexible dishes there is since it is really up to you what ingredients to put. You can add more vegetables, change the seasonings, and choose which dishes to pair it with. Here are some ideas on how to customize this dish:
- Garlic: Garlic has always been a staple in stir-fried dishes loved for its nutty and garlicky taste. If you are a garlic girl like me, you can add lots of minced garlic for a strong garlicky taste. If you don’t have garlic but want the garlicky flavors, you can substitute 1 clove of garlic with 1/8 tsp of garlic powder or 1/4 tsp of granulated garlic. You can also incorporate pre-cooked crispy fried garlic if you have one.
- Thai chili pepper: Thai chili pepper or bird’s eye chili will make the dish hot and spicy. You can omit this if you can’t tolerate spicy foods. Aside from Thai chili peppers, you can add green chili peppers, crushed red pepper flakes, or cayenne peppers.
- Bean sprouts: Bean sprouts are crisp and juicy. You can find different types of bean sprouts, such as mung bean sprouts and soybean sprouts. These are available in Asian markets and most local grocery stores. When choosing bean sprouts, pick the freshest one without a dark or mushy appearance. Since bean sprouts have a high water content, they should be stir-fried over high heat to release the water and retain its crunch.
- Light soy sauce: Light soy sauce brightens up the flavor with its salty and umami taste. You can also use tamari, liquid aminos, coconut aminos, or gluten-free soy sauce. If you plan to add more vegetables to the recipe, you may need to adjust the soy sauce amount.
- Salt: A small amount of salt brings out the flavors of the ingredients. Use any type of salt, such as sea salt, pink salt, and kosher salt, and adjust to taste.
- Sugar: Balance the salty flavors of light soy sauce with some sugar. You can use any type of sweetener, including white sugar, cane sugar, brown sugar, maple syrup, or coconut sugar.
- Bouillon powder: Bouillon powder gives it a boost of flavor. I used chicken bouillon powder, but you can use vegetable, chicken-flavored, or mushroom powder to make it vegan or vegetarian. This ingredient is also optional, depending on your taste preferences.
- Cumin powder: Cumin lends an earthy, citrusy taste. For a similar flavor profile, you can swap cumin with ground coriander, garam masala, and taco. Alternatively, you can omit it if you’re not fond of its taste.
- Green onion: Chopped green onions, with their mild oniony taste, make the dish more mouthwatering. They add a pop of color to the bean sprouts, making them more appealing. I chopped the green onions to a similar length as the bean sprouts, unlike in dishes such as Steamed pork and Tofu And Eggs, where they are finely chopped for garnish. You can substitute this ingredient with chives or shallots.
- Optional flavoring ingredients: Here are other excellent ways to customize the dish.
- Make it nutty with sesame oil and musty with white pepper.
- For a touch of Korean, add a tablespoon of gochujang.
- It doesn’t have to be just a side dish since you can make it a heavy protein-packed meal by adding tofu, mushrooms, or soy meat.
- If you prefer more variety of vegetables, you can do that too! Just make sure the additional vegetables are cut into strips or small cuts to cook them faster for stir-frying. Add shredded carrots, green beans, red bell pepper, or zucchini.
- Top it with sesame seeds for a slight crunch and nutty taste.
- When done, mix this dish with your choice of noodles.
Which Pan Is Best For Stir-Fried Bean Sprouts?
Although you can use a regular pan for stir-frying, there’s nothing like reaping the benefits of using a wok. There are several reasons why you commonly see restaurants prefer to use a wok for stir-fried dishes and fried rice. Here’s why a wok is better than other pans:
- It has slanted and wider sidewalls, making it the ideal shape to stir and toss without the food spilling easily.
- It is made to cook on high heat and be able to trap it. Moreover, it evenly distributes heat. In this way, you can cook food faster and evenly.
- It lends a smoky taste and aroma to your dish, making it even more delicious. This gives you the authentic “wok hei” effect.
Ingredients And Kitchenware
As mentioned, a wok is preferable for stir-fried dishes. However, using a non-stick pan or cast iron pan instead of a wok is fine as long as the dish is cooked on high heat. Here are the ingredients to prepare:
- 1/2 cup of minced garlic
- 1/2 cup of Thai chili pepper
- 1 pack of bean sprouts, 500g
- 1 tbsp of light soy sauce
- 1/2 tsp of salt
- 1/2 tsp of sugar
- 1/2 tsp of chicken bouillon powder
- 1/2 tsp of cumin powder
- 1 cup of chopped green onions
- 2 tbsp of cooking oil
5 Steps To Make Stir-Fry Bean Sprouts
Follow these 5 easy steps and finish the recipe in 10 minutes! Check out my quick tutorial video on Instagram or TikTok to learn how I did it. If you have your own version of this recipe, share them in the comments section.
When you are done making this dish, remember to snap a photo and tag me @kitchenmisadventures. Don’t forget to enjoy this dish with noodles like Japchae, serve it as a side dish for Teriyaki Tofu, or eat it with Chinese Sausage Fried Rice (Lap Cheong Chow Fan). Here are the 5 steps to make stir-fry bean sprouts.
- Wash the bean sprouts thoroughly and try to drain off excess water as much as possible. This helps prevent them from releasing water while stir-frying.
- Heat oil in a pan and sauté minced garlic and Thai chili pepper until fragrant. If using a wok, it is ideal to preheat it without the oil. When the wok is hot, add oil and spread it throughout the edges of the wok.
- Add bean sprouts and stir-fry until softened. Stir-fry over high heat. This is also the step where you can add extra vegetables or longer-cooking ingredients, if applicable. Avoid overcrowding the wok to allow all the ingredients to cook evenly. Moreover, overcrowding the wok can lead to steam and create excess moisture, which can make the ingredients soggy and lose their crispness.
- Season with light soy sauce, salt, sugar, and optionally, chicken bouillon powder and cumin powder.
- Add chopped green onions and stir-fry for an additional 1 minute.
- Transfer to a serving plate and serve. Top with more garnishes if you prefer.
Stir-Fry Bean Sprouts (Ready In 10 Minutes!)
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup minced garlic
- 1/2 cup Thai chili pepper
- 1 pack of bean sprouts 500g
- 1 tbsp light soy sauce
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp sugar
- 1/2 tsp chicken bouillon powder
- 1/2 tsp cumin powder
- 1 cup chopped green onions
- 2 tbsp cooking oil
Instructions
- Wash the bean sprouts thoroughly and try to drain off excess water as much as possible. This helps prevent them from releasing water while stir-frying.
- Heat oil in a pan and sauté minced garlic and Thai chili pepper until fragrant. If using a wok, it is ideal to preheat it without the oil. When the wok is hot, add oil and spread it throughout the edges of the wok.
- Add bean sprouts and stir-fry until softened. Stir-fry over high heat. This is also the step where you can add extra vegetables or longer-cooking ingredients, if applicable. Avoid overcrowding the wok to allow all the ingredients to cook evenly. Moreover, overcrowding the wok can lead to steam and create excess moisture, which can make the ingredients soggy and lose their crispness.
- Season with light soy sauce, salt, sugar, and optionally, chicken bouillon powder and cumin powder.
- Add chopped green onions and stir-fry for an additional 1 minute.
- Transfer to a serving plate and serve. Top with more garnishes if you prefer.
