Crispy Stir-Fried Bean Sprouts with Bell Peppers — 豆芽菜炒青椒香菇木耳

Bean sprouts stay gloriously crisp when flash-seared over high heat with aromatics — a calming, refreshing vegan plate. 大火快炒让豆芽保持脆嫩，香菇木耳的香气扑鼻，是一道清爽解腻、五分钟就能端上桌的家常素菜。

📹 Watch the Recipe

Recipe by 芭樂媽的家 Qistin Wong TV

🥘 Why This Recipe Works

In Taiwanese home kitchens, 炒豆芽 (chǎo dòuyá — stir-fried bean sprouts) is the ultimate humble vegetarian staple. Cheap, ridiculously fast, and endlessly customizable, it appears on weekday tables whenever the cook wants something light and honest after richer dishes. This version from Qistin Wong adds shiitake, green bell pepper and black wood ear for color, texture, and depth.

The real trick is the technique: the vegetables are blasted in a very hot wok with almost no liquid. Because the sprouts and mushrooms release their own moisture as they cook, adding water only makes everything soggy — and nobody likes limp bean sprouts. The dish finishes with a generous grinding of black pepper, which cuts the slightly raw, beany smell some people find off-putting and turns it into something bright and addictive.

This version: 5 ingredients, one pan, 8 minutes.

🛒 Ingredients

👨‍🍳 Instructions

Step 1: Prep everything first

• Rinse the bean sprouts and let them drain well — excess water makes them soggy.
• Slice the shiitake mushrooms into thin strips, and cut the green bell pepper into fine strips.
• Slice the black wood ear mushroom into fine strips so everything cooks in the same quick rhythm.
• If using cucumber in place of pepper, cut it into thin strips too. Arrange the piles neatly — the white-and-green contrast is part of the beauty.

Step 2: Bloom the mushrooms

• Heat 2 tbsp of oil in a wok or cast-iron pan over high heat until it shimmers.
• Add the shiitake strips first and stir-fry until they become fragrant and lightly golden.
• An iron or carbon-steel wok conducts heat fast and builds that smoky 鍋氣 (wok hei) that induction pans can’t match.

Step 3: Add the rest and blast on high

• Toss in the black wood ear and stir-fry for a few seconds.
• Add the bean sprouts and bell pepper, keeping the heat raging high.
• Do NOT add water — the sprouts and mushrooms release their own moisture as they sear.

Step 4: Season and finish crisp

• Season with 1 tsp of salt.
• Grind black pepper generously over the pan — it neutralizes the sprouts’ raw, beany smell.
• If the pan looks dry, swirl in a splash more oil. Stir until everything is just cooked but still crunchy, then turn off the heat.

Step 5: Garnish and serve

• Transfer to a plate and sprinkle with white sesame seeds.
• Serve hot as a light main or alongside rice and other dishes.
• Tip from the video: fold in cooked noodles plus a dash of soy sauce and it becomes a one-pan stir-fried noodle dish.

💡 Tips & Substitutions

📊 Nutrition

Per serving (serves 2 as a side)

~90 cal · Protein: 3g · Carbs: 11g · Fat: 5g · Fiber: 3g

🌱 Why This Dish

Dou Dou (豆豆)

Crispy Stir-Fried Bean Sprouts with Bell Peppers — 豆芽菜炒青椒香菇木耳

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 5 minutes mins

Cook Time 3 minutes mins

Total Time 8 minutes mins

Servings: 2 servings

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: Chinese

Ingredients Method Notes

Ingredients

  

• 300 g Bean sprouts 豆芽菜 rinsed and drained well
• 4–5 Shiitake mushrooms 香菇 sliced into thin strips
• 1 Green bell pepper 青椒 sliced into fine strips
• 1 handful Black wood ear mushroom 黑木耳 sliced into fine strips
• 2 tbsp Cooking oil 食用油 plus a splash more
• 1 tsp Salt 鹽 or to taste
• to taste Freshly ground black pepper 研磨黑胡椒 generous—key to the flavor
• 1 tsp White sesame seeds 白芝麻 optional, garnish
• 1 Cucumber 小黃瓜 optional, substitute for bell pepper

Method

 

1. Rinse the bean sprouts and let them drain well — excess water makes them soggy. Slice the shiitake mushrooms into thin strips, and cut the green bell pepper into fine strips. Slice the black wood ear mushroom into fine strips so everything cooks in the same quick rhythm. If using cucumber in place of pepper, cut it into thin strips too. Arrange the piles neatly — the white-and-green contrast is part of the beauty.
2. Heat 2 tbsp of oil in a wok or cast-iron pan over high heat until it shimmers. Add the shiitake strips first and stir-fry until they become fragrant and lightly golden. An iron or carbon-steel wok conducts heat fast and builds that smoky wok hei that induction pans can't match.
3. Toss in the black wood ear and stir-fry for a few seconds. Add the bean sprouts and bell pepper, keeping the heat raging high. Do NOT add water — the sprouts and mushrooms release their own moisture as they sear.
4. Season with 1 tsp of salt. Grind black pepper generously over the pan — it neutralizes the sprouts' raw, beany smell. If the pan looks dry, swirl in a splash more oil. Stir until everything is just cooked but still crunchy, then turn off the heat.
5. Transfer to a plate and sprinkle with white sesame seeds. Serve hot as a light main or alongside rice and other dishes. Tip from the video: fold in cooked noodles plus a dash of soy sauce and it becomes a one-pan stir-fried noodle dish.

Notes

Sharp, clean and fast — this crispy bean sprout stir-fry is proof that simple vegan cooking can be genuinely exciting.

Bean sprouts are a quiet cornerstone of Chinese Buddhist vegetarian cooking — 素食 (sùshí) temple kitchens prize them because they’re affordable, nourishing, and ridiculously fast to prepare, letting monks coax a satisfying meal from the humblest of ingredients. The name 豆芽菜 (dòuyá cài) simply means “bean sprout vegetable,” a word that needs no elaboration because the ingredient has been trusted for centuries. In Taiwanese and Chinese homes, a crunchy plate of stir-fried 豆芽 appears on the table whenever the cook craves something clean — a foil to richer dishes, a quick lunch over rice, or a light supper in the lingering heat of early autumn. Paired with wood ear (黑木耳) and shiitake (香菇), its plainness becomes something quietly elegant: proof that in meatless cooking, simple and fast can still be deeply satisfying.

You Might Also Like 🥢

Main DishesTomato Stir-Fried Mushrooms — 番茄炒蘑菇

Main DishesTomato-Braised Potatoes — 番茄燜馬鈴薯

Main DishesBraised Eggplant with Chickpea Skins — 鷹嘴豆皮炆茄子