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A couple of weeks ago I was emailed by a reader to try Green Bean Fries, like the ones at T.G.I. Friday’s. So, I went to the source and tried them. They were good, but mine might have been sitting around for a while as they were a little mushy. So I got home, plugged in the deep fryer and started to experiment. Â The first two tries were alright but not amazing. Then I figured it out and created some of the tastiest Green Bean Fries around. In my opinion they were even better than the ones at Friday’s.
I served the green bean fries with a side of ranch dressing. Although a dill veggie dip might be amazing too.
Green Bean Fries
- 1 pound green beans
- 1 cup flour
- 1 egg
- 1/2 cup milk
- 2 cups panko bread crumbs
- 2 tsp garlic powder
- 2 tsp Hungarian paprika
- 1 tsp onion powder
- Kosher salt
- pepper
Rinse and then trim off the ends of the green beans by snapping the ends off. You can do this with a knife or snap each one individually.
Fill a medium/large pan with a couple of inches of water and place the pan over high heat on the stove . When the water starts to boil, turn it down to a simmer and add the green beans and blanch them for 3 minutes.
When the time is up, drain the beans and place them into a bowl of ice cold water. This will stop the cooking process. When I first started trying these, I failed to cook the beans first. This made a hard uncooked bean that was hard to eat. I next cooked the bean too long and finally settled on a quick blanch of 3 minutes.
Next, set up three dishes for the breading process. Originally, I tried a traditional beer batter for the green beans. That did not work at all. Half of the beans had breading and the other half had none. Then, I tried an egg wash with regular bread crumbs and the results were ok, but the bread crumbs got soggy and the green beans were cooked for way too long before being deep fried. Finally I came up with the batter below.
In the first dish add the flour, garlic powder, onion powder, paprika and a pinch of salt and pepper. In the second dish, blend together the milk, egg and a pinch of salt and pepper. In the third dish, mix together the panko bread crumbs and a pinch of salt and pepper. The key is to season each and every aspect of the breading process. Not all of the breading will stay on, so you want to make sure that everything that is still on the green beans is seasoned.
Take a few of the green beans from the water with your left hand and quickly shake them to remove most of the water. Next, roll them in the flour with your left hand. The water will help the flour adhere to the beans. Then dip the beans in the egg wash. Roll them around to make sure that they are fully covered using a fork in your right hand.
Now, using the fork, pick up the egg washed green beans and place them into the panko bread crumbs.   Now using either another fork or your right hand, cover the beans in the bread crumbs. Make sure to rotate them to ensure that they are covered.
Finally, pick them up with your right hand and give them a quick little shake to make sure that all of the excess bread crumbs fall and place them on a plate or tray.
If you follow the left and right hand directions above, you will prevent yourself from having hulk hands. You know when you dip your hands into a liquid and then into flour or bread crumbs and you end up with huge dough hands that look like the incredible hulk’s.
Preheat your deep fryer to 350 degrees.
Place the beans into the fryer basket or gently drop them into the deep fryer. If using a fryer basket, give it a little shake when it enters the oil to make sure that none of the beans sticks to it.
Fry the beans for approximately 2 minutes or until the panko gets nicely browned. Remove them to a plate lined with paper towels to let them drain. Serve with a side of ranch.
Using this method I made the whole pound of beans in under 15 minutes. They were all perfectly crispy and amazing. The panko made a crispy crust that did not get soggy when the beans sat.
Altogether this was an amazing appetizer that I will definitely make again. Thanks for the suggestion Yvonne.
You just completely inspired my Saturday cook. We LOVE fried asparagus at a local restaurant and I've been wanting to try it. I'm thinking your green bean recipe is pretty damn close. You rock, Rex. Your the Rexasaurus!
Chris, this works with any vegetable. Also try adding a little cayenne powder to the flour. It adds just a tad bit of heat.
Deep fried courgettes with home made tzatziki, a Greek claasic! Do it everyone. Btw I wouldn't be so proud of making better food than TGI Friday's, not exactly haute cuisine you're competing with is it?
Agree that TGI friday's isn't haute cuisine, however I never claimed to make haute cuisine. I just recreate the dishes that my readers have requested and enjoy. These were some fabulous green bean fries though.
I made basically the same thing (based on liking the TGIF version). If you let the beans sit in a bag of flour/seasoning directly from cooling (instead of rolling), and add a little plain yogurt and heavy cream to the egg wash, it will help the breading stay on better. Also, I pan fried them in just enough peanut oil for them to brown (adding more oil in between batches). Afterwards, I stored them on a rack and pan in a 200 deg. oven to drain the oil and make the crust crunchier. My 4 year old, who likes most vegetables except green and yellow beans, ate most of the ones I made. Careful handling during the breading and cooking is KEY to keeping as much of the breading on as possible (though, the yogurt helped a lot). A little red pepper flake in the panko was a nice touch as well.
Have you tried replacing the normal flour with cornflour? Cornflour generally gives a crispier bite once fried than plain wheatflour – also good in cakes if you substitute a small amount of wheatflour for cornflour (say 1oz/25g). Gives it a lighter finish…
And (though I am English) I agree with the Scots – most things taste better deep fried! Mmmm
Susie, I have tried cornmeal in other recipes. I have experimented and found out that you can replace about 1/3rd of the flour with cornmeal and still get a good texture. Anything more and it seems to give it too dense of a coating. I will definitely have to try to it out with green beans.
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This is really nice
Could you just plain bake them in the oven once youve coated them? I'm a nervous fryer…
If you spray them with oil or a vegetable spray prior to baking, I don't see why you couldn't. I would follow the directions, but then spray them with pam or a vegetable oil then place them into a pre-heated 400 degree oven till golden brown. Since I have done this, I am unsure on the exact amount of time. I would start with 10 minutes and then keep checking them for doneness every couple of minutes.
Rex
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I’m just curious if anyone has tried this in an air-fryer. And what, if any, modifications need to be made to the recipe. Thanks!
Allison,
I have never made these in an air-fryer. Hopefully one of our readers has tried cooking them that way!