Copycat Din Tai Fung Green Beans Recipe

Din Tai Fung is a renowned Taiwanese restaurant with locations in the U.S. and around the world, which we listed third in our ranking of the best Chinese restaurant chains. A certain vegetable dish, listed on the menu as string beans with garlic, has become especially popular. Copycat versions of these delicious flash-fried green beans tossed with plenty of garlic have been popping up on the internet, and for good reason. The dish is so packed with flavor we guarantee it will be hard to put your fork down once you taste it. The good news is it's also simple to make, so making it yourself is a good option if you can't afford the $16.00 price tag or don't live near one of Din Tai Fung's locations.

It may not be commonly known, but green beans are one of the best vegetables to deep fry. They only take a minute or less and if the oil is at the right temperature and you don't overcrowd the pan, they'll take on a distinctive flavor from the oil and a perfect tender crisp texture with visually appealing blistered skins. Recipe developer Michelle Bottalico has created a recipe for copycat Din Tai Fung green beans that replicates the texture of the original with quick high-heat flash frying. The fried beans are then tossed with sauteed garlic, salt, and bouillon powder to develop an intense, restaurant-worthy flavor.

For this recipe, you will need green beans and a neutral-tasting, high-heat oil for frying like vegetable, avocado, canola, soybean, or peanut oil. If you're worried about waste, you can reuse the frying oil in other recipes. After it cools, strain the particles out and store it in a closed container at room temperature.

An important ingredient you will need is fresh garlic cloves. If you're a garlic lover, feel free to use more than the recipe calls for. The final two ingredients are salt and bouillon powder. Chicken, mushroom, or vegetable bouillon powders will all work well according to your dietary needs and availability.

Wash the green beans and dry them completely with paper towels or a kitchen towel.

Trim the ends off the green beans and cut them in half.

Pour about ¾ inch of oil into a large skillet and heat it on medium-high to 360 F. The oil is ready when a grain of rice or a piece of green bean floats and sizzles vigorously when dropped in the oil.

Add half the green beans and fry for 1 minute until the skin wrinkles. If necessary, work in smaller batches. Do not overcrowd the pan or the temperature of the oil will drop and the beans won't fry correctly.

Remove the green beans from the pan with tongs or a wire mesh strainer and place them on a paper towel-lined dish to absorb excess oil.

Repeat the previous 2 steps with the other half of the green beans. Remove the pan from the heat.

Transfer 1 tablespoon of the oil to a second large skillet and heat it on medium.

Add the garlic and saute for about 30 seconds to 1 minute until lightly browned.

Add the green beans, salt, and bouillon powder and toss well to mix.

Serve immediately.

To deep fry green beans correctly, first, pat the beans dry, because water will cause the oil to splatter. Second, make sure the oil is hot enough. If you don't have a deep frying or candy thermometer, you can tell that the oil is around 360 F when a grain of rice or a piece of green bean floats right away and sizzles vigorously. If it doesn't float or bubble, the oil is too cold, and if it starts to burn right away, the oil is too hot.

You'll also want to avoid overcrowding the beans. Use at least ¾ inch of oil to give the beans enough room to fry, and cook one handful of beans at a time. If you put too many beans in the oil, the colder beans will cause the temperature of the oil to drop and it will no longer be hot enough to flash fry the beans correctly. The beans will take longer to cook, will lose more of their bright green color, and will absorb more oil, becoming soggy and greasy instead of crispy and flavorful.

Watch the beans while they cook. This will only take thirty seconds to one minute if the oil is hot enough. They will be done when the skins wrinkle and blister and the ends start to brown. Don't leave them in the oil longer than that or they will burn and transmit a burned flavor to the oil.

Deep frying is one of the ways to add flavor to green beans that not everyone knows about, but you can modify this recipe to cook the beans in other ways. The resulting dish won't have the signature taste or texture of the original, but it will be enjoyable in its own way.

Instead of deep frying the green beans before tossing them with the sauteed garlic, salt, and bouillon powder, you can blanch them first. To do this, cook them in boiling water for about 2 minutes until tender-crisp before submerging them in ice water to stop the cooking. Then toss the beans in the pan with the other ingredients until evenly coated. Although they won't have as much flavor, they will have a brighter green color when you use this method. If you'd prefer to skip the blanching step, saute the raw green beans in oil in a frying pan until tender-crisp before adding the garlic. Once the garlic is browned, add the salt and bouillon powder and toss everything together.

You can also cook the green beans in an air fryer. Give them a light coating of oil and air fry them at 375 F for about 10 minutes. The appearance of air-fried green beans is closer to the deep-fried original because the skins will blister, but the oil content will be much lower.