Yard-long beans can be eaten raw or cooked. Sliced yard-long beans can be added raw to salads similar to French haricots verts. Yard-long beans can be steamed or sautéed as a side dish. They can be added to soups and stews.
Yard-long beans have a chewy, crunchy texture–more so than snap beans–and a flavor reminiscent of the dry navy bean or asparagus.

Yard-long beans are also called asparagus beans, yard-long beans, Chinese peas, snake beans, dau gok, and bodi or boonchi.
Yard-long beans are warm-season plants harvested from mid to late summer. Long beans will be damaged by frost.

How to select yard-long beans
- Yard-long beans are most flavorful thin and about 18 inches long. (Long beans referred to as yard-long beans will never reach a yard long.)
- Seeds inside a long bean should not be fully developed; avoid beans that are bulging.
- Yard-long beans are dense and meaty; they are not crisp or juicy like green beans, and they are not a substitute for green beans).
- Avoid mature yard-long beans that are yellow or whitish-colored.
- Avoid yard-long beans that are limp.
- There are both pale green and dark green yard-long beans. A paler bean will be sweeter tasting and meatier than dark green long beans. Pale green long beans will be more tender than dark green yard-long beans. Dark green long beans will be stronger flavored and firmer than pale green long beans.
- Mature yard-long beans can be harvested for their seeds which can be dried and stored like other dry beans.
- Beans that have grown too old will turn limp and rusty colored.
- Yard-long beans do not contain as much moisture as bush or pole beans (the long bean is not a close relative of the common bean), that’s what makes them more flexible and snake-like, and drier to taste.
How to store yard-long beans
- Yard-long beans will keep in the refrigerator for 2 to 3 days in a closed plastic bag.
- Wrap yard-long beans in a paper towel and placed them in a plastic bag.

How to prep yard-long beans
- Trim away both ends then slice the bean into desired lengths on the diagonal or straight across.
- Slice yard-long beans into 1 to 2-inch bite-sized pieces for stir-frying.
- Yard-long beans are best trimmed before cooking.
Yard-long bean cooking suggestions
- Yard-long beans can be stir-fried, stewed, braised, sautéed, shallow-fried, and deep-fried.
- Yard-long bean flavor intensifies with cooking.
- Stir-fry yard-long beans until just tender and crunchy.
- Steam yard-long beans until just tender about 3 to 7 minutes.
- Braise yard-long beans for 20 minutes with other vegetables and meats, best in a garlicky or oniony braising liquid. Dark green long beans are best suited for braising.
- The taste of yard-long beans intensifies with cooking; they become nutty, chewy, and firm.
Yard-long bean serving suggestions
- Long beans can be served raw in salads.
- Serve long beans with vegetable or meat stews, fried rice, black beans, sausage, roast pork, curry, or chili sauce.
- Add long beans to soups or stir-fried dishes.
- Long beans are often used in Szechwan-style Chinese cooking. The Szechwan dish called dry-fried beans is the long bean deep-fried, drained, and then stir-fried with a spicy seasoning. That dish takes about 5 minutes to cook.
Yard-long beans flavor partners
- Yard-long beans have a flavor affinity for pork, ginger, nuts, fermented black beans, garlic, strong herbs, soy and fish sauce, chili peppers, sausages, oil, and vinegar.
Yard-long bean nutrition
- Yard-long beans are rich in vitamin A and also contain vitamin C and potassium.
- Yard-long beans are low in calories, about 45 calories per cup.

Get to know yard-long beans
- Yard-long beans are climbing plants that reach 6 to 13 feet long.
- The pods can be straight or hooked. Each pod contains 15 to 20 elongated kidney-shaped seeds usually black or brown and each about ½ to ¾ inches long.
- Yard-long beans are ready for harvest at 8 to 10 inches long but can be picked much longer, at 1½ to 3 feet long.
- Yrd-long beans originated in tropical and sub-tropical Africa before traveling east to India, Indonesia, and China and then on to the Pacific Islands. From Africa, the long bean traveled west to the Caribbean and North America.
- Yard-long beans are commonly grown in California and Hawaii.
- Yard-long beans are also called Chinese long beans and asparagus beans.
The botanical name for the yard-long bean is Vigna unguiculata, subsp. sesquipedalis. (Sesquipedalis means foot and a half long in Latin.)
Also of interest:
How to Harvest and Store Beans
Articles of interest:
Best Herbs for Container Growing
Garden Planning Books at Amazon:
- Vegetable Garden Almanac & Planner
- Kitchen Garden Grower’s Guide Vegetable Encyclopedia
- Vegetable Garden Grower’s Guide
- Tomato Grower’s Answer Book
More kitchen tips:
Bring your harvest to the table. Kitchen prep tips and easy recipes for the vegetables you grow. Click below for vegetable prep and recipes you can use now.
- Almonds
- Apples
- Apricot
- Aprium
- Artichoke
- Arugula
- Asparagus
- Avocado
- Bamboo Shoots
- Banana
- Basil
- Beans, Dried
- Beans. Long
- Beans, Shell
- Beans, Snap
- Beets
- Bitter Melon
- Blackberry
- Bok Choy
- Broccoli
- Broccoli Raab
- Brussels Sprouts
- Cabbage
- Cardoon
- Carrots
- Cauliflower
- Celeriac
- Celery
- Chard
- Chayote Squash
- Cherimoya
- Cherries
- Chestnut
- Chickpea
- Chinese Cabbage
- Chives
- Cilantro
- Citron
- Clementine
- Collards
- Coriander
- Corn, Sweet
- Corn, Baby
- Corn Salad, Mache
- Cranberry
- Cress
- Cucumber
- Daikon
- Dandelion
- Dill
- Eggplant
- Endive, Belgian
- Endive and Escarole
- Fava Beans
- Fig
- Florence Fennel
- Garlic
- Ginger
- Grapefruit
- Grapes
- Guava
- Horseradish
- Jerusalem Artichoke
- Jicama
- Jujube
- Kale
- Kiwifruit
- Kohlrabi
- Kumquat
- Leeks
- Lemongrass
- Lemons
- Lettuce
- Lime
- Mache (Corn Salad)
- Mandarin Orange
- Mango
- Maple Syrup
- Marjoram
- Melons
- Michihili
- Mint
- Mizuna
- Mushrooms
- Mushrooms, Cremini
- Mustard Greens
- Napa Cabbage
- Nectarine
- Okra
- Olives
- Olive oil
- Onions
- Oranges
- Oregano
- Parsley
- Parsley Root
- Parsnips
- Passion Fruit
- Pawpaw
- Peaches
- Pears
- Peas, Garden Snap
- Peas, Snow
- Pei Tsai
- Peppers, Chili
- Peppers, Sweet
- Persimmon
- Pineapple
- Pineapple Guava
- Plantain
- Plums
- Pluots
- Pomegranate
- Potatoes
- Prickly Pear
- Pumpkin
- Quince
- Radicchio
- Radishes
- Raspberries
- Rosemary
- Rhubarb
- Rutabaga
- Sage
- Salsify
- Sauerkraut
- Savory
- Shallots
- Sorrel
- Spinach
- Squash, Summer
- Squash, Winter
- Strawberries
- Sunchokes
- Sunflower
- Sweet Potato
- Swiss Chard
- Tangerine
- Taro
- Tarragon
- Thyme
- Tomatillo
- Tomato
- Turnip
- Turnip Greens
- Yams