Stir-fry of beef strips, green beans & mushrooms
Garlic-pressed and tossed with sriracha, the beef strips sit in their quick marinade while you get everything else ready. Five minutes later, they hit a screaming-hot wok and brown in under three.
Mushrooms and onion wedges follow, then the green beans go in last, just long enough to heat through. 618 kcal, 31 grams of protein, and 13 grams of fiber on brown rice, start to finish in a quarter hour.
Garlic-pressed and tossed with sriracha, the beef strips sit in their quick marinade while you get everything else ready. Five minutes later, they hit a screaming-hot wok and brown in under three.
Mushrooms and onion wedges follow, then the green beans go in last, just long enough to heat through. 618 kcal, 31 grams of protein, and 13 grams of fiber on brown rice, start to finish in a quarter hour.
Ingredients
- brown rice 3 ounces
- green beans (frozen) 1.5 cup
- garlic 1 clove
- Sriracha sauce 1 teaspoon
- beef strips 3 ounces
- mushrooms 4 ounces
- onion 0.5
- olive oil 1 tablespoon
Method
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Cook the brown rice following the packet's instructions.
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Prepare the green beans until tender-crisp as per the directions on the packaging.
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Press the garlic over a deep plate and mix in the Sriracha and beef strips. Let this marinate for 5 minutes.
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Meanwhile, slice the mushrooms and cut the onion into thin wedges.
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Rinse the green beans in a colander under cold running water and let drain well.
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Heat the oil in a wok and stir-fry the meat on high heat until nicely browned in about 2-3 minutes.
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Stir in the onion and mushrooms and stir-fry for another 2-3 minutes. Finally, add the green beans and stir everything well to heat through. Season with pepper and salt.
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Serve the beef strips with the rice.
Rinse the green beans under cold running water the moment they are done (Step 5). This stops the cooking dead and locks in the snap. Skip the rinse and they keep softening in their own heat, going from tender-crisp to mushy by the time the beef is ready.
Behind this recipe
Can I use white rice instead of brown?
Yes. The macro difference is smaller than most people think. Brown rice adds a bit more fiber (13 grams total in this meal) and some extra B vitamins, but both deliver the carbohydrate base this stir-fry needs. White rice cooks faster if you want to shave off a few minutes.
Read the full evidence reviewDo the green beans lose nutrients when I boil them?
Some, but not all. Boiling destroys more than half the vitamin C in frozen green beans. But their lutein stays completely intact because it belongs to the fat-soluble family and does not leach into cooking water. The fat in this meal, from olive oil and beef, gives the lutein a vehicle for absorption.
Why marinate for only five minutes?
Garlic and sriracha are both strong flavors that coat the surface fast. Five minutes is enough for the garlic oils and capsaicin to season the outer layer of the beef without the acid in the sriracha starting to change the texture. Longer is fine if you have time, but it is not necessary for a stir-fry where the beef cooks in under three minutes.
