Recipe Cooking Green Beans

Recipe Cooking Green Beans – Learn how to cook fresh green beans perfectly every time! Serve them as a side dish or add them to your favorite green bean recipes.

Most of my fresh green bean recipes start by blanching the beans. If you ask me, everyone should learn this method of cooking green beans. It’s quick and easy and produces vibrant, crisp, tender beans that aren’t mushy at all. They are perfect for serving as a side dish or for salads and sandwiches. Heck, they make a great green bean casserole too!

Recipe Cooking Green Beans

Below you’ll find a step-by-step guide on how to cook fresh green beans, as well as my favorite green bean recipes. They include ideas for Thanksgiving, summer picnics and year-round dinners. I hope you find something you love!

Sauteed Green Beans With Garlic

Wash and peel the beans first. Rinse them in a colander under cold running water and remove the stems. While you work, bring a large pot of salted water to the boil. Place a large bowl of ice water nearby.

The beans are then blanched. When the water boils, throw the chopped beans into the pot. Cook for 2 minutes until the beans are crisp, tender and vibrant green.

So relax! Immediately transfer the blanched beans to the bowl of ice water to stop the cooking. Let them cool for at least 15 seconds; you want them to cool completely.

In the summer and early fall, when fresh green beans are at their best, I often serve them on their own as a side dish. Next, I toss the blanched beans with olive oil, lemon juice and zest, garlic, and salt to refresh their flavor. Serve them as they are, or spice them up with toasted almonds or pine nuts, grated parmesan, red pepper flakes or fresh herbs such as basil, parsley or thyme.

Cheesy Roasted Green Beans

Freshly cooked green beans are also a good starting point for larger green bean recipes. You’ll find them in my Creamy Vegan Pasta Salad, Nicoise Salad, Broccoli Pasta Salad, and Chickpea Salad Sandwiches, as well as in my Green Bean Salad and Casserole! In short, learning how to cook fresh green beans by blanching them will prepare you to make all kinds of delicious recipes. Let me know which ones you try!

Serve these blanched green beans or green beans as a side with lemon and olive oil, or add them to your favorite green bean recipes. Find tips in the post above!

We like to eat, travel, cook and eat again! We cook and photograph vegetarian recipes from our home in Chicago while our shiba puppies eat kale stalks that fall on the kitchen floor. These simple stir-fried green beans are a perfect healthy side dish. All you need is a bunch of fresh green beans, a pot, garlic, olive oil and some seasoning! That is all! So if you’ve never tried making sautéed green beans, you’ll love how easy they are to make!

I’m so excited for you to try these easy stir-fried green beans. They are one of my most loved recipes.

Green Beans And Tomatoes

I’ve actually been making green beans this way since I was a teenager learning to cook. My father invented this cooking technique and we have both been making it this way ever since.

If you’re one of the unlucky few who’s ever experienced the texture of canned green beans, *raises hand* then you know how bad a green bean can go if it’s not cooked properly . Whatever you do when cooking green beans, the key is not to overcook them.

How long to cook green beans: As a general rule, you can cook them from raw to tender in about 4 minutes. This is especially true for steaming and boiling. That said, there are a number of ways to cook green beans, and cooking times vary depending on each.

If you’re hoping to cook fresh green beans ahead of time and don’t want to make a stew, a good option is to blanch them in boiling water and then shock them in an ice water bath. For example, in this recipe here for Orange Ginger Green Beans, you’ll heat them up in a skillet.

Green Beans And Mushrooms

You can read more about all this and get tips for freezing, grilling and even roasting green beans in my guide to how to cook green beans.

To cook the green beans in a pot, I chose extra virgin olive oil. You can also use another cooking oil, such as avocado or canola oil.

We love the hint of heat that red pepper flakes add to this dish. Feel free to use less or more according to your taste. If you don’t like spicy food, you can completely omit them. Alternatively, once the beans are cooked, you can season them with ground black pepper for a more subtle amount of spice.

You will need a pound and a half of fresh green beans for this recipe. Read our tips for choosing the freshest green beans in the supermarket here.

Quick Green Beans With Bacon Recipe: How To Make It

We love garlic as a simple seasoning for fresh vegetables. You will need three cloves. We always recommend freshly chopped garlic rather than buying pre-chopped garlic.

We opted for coarse kosher salt instead of table salt here for easy sprinkling on the green beans. You can use regular table salt if you prefer, but remember that it is higher in sodium, so you should use less. Read more about replacing kosher salt here.

A key to getting a good texture is adding water to the pan. This helps to steam the green beans so that they become completely tender.

Trim the stem ends. An easy way to do this is to line up a handful of sides of the stem and then cut them off with a knife. I think this method is faster than breaking them by hand.

Bacon Green Beans

Next, choose a large frying pan. We have a nice cast iron skillet that I like to use for this recipe. You will need a lid, so make sure the pot you choose has a suitable lid. (Note: Aluminum foil will work if needed.)

Add the green beans to the pan to simmer in the hot oil. Stir often to make sure they all saute a little

Add your oil to the pan and let it heat up. After getting the red pepper flakes to bloom in the oil, add the green beans to brown them and brown them. This step takes a while simply because the pan is so full and it takes a while to turn the bean mass until it touches the pan.

After this step you can add garlic. If you do this sooner, it will burn. Cook until fragrant but not burnt.

Garden Green Beans With Bacon

Then add the water. Adding water stops the browning, but it creates steam so you can trap it with the lid on to cook the beans.

Here’s how you know they’re done: They turn bright green and cook to crisp-tender perfection in a minute or two. And this is all!

Avoid overheating when reheating so that the green beans are not overcooked. We like to heat them in the microwave for about 90 seconds per portion. Alternatively, you can reheat them in a non-stick pan with a splash of water or stock, covered, until warm. Stir occasionally to heat evenly.

We often get this question! We came up with these Make Ahead Green Beans as a great way to fix them ahead of time. You can use a similar method here by doing the following:

Sautéed Green Beans With Mushrooms & Onions Recipe

4. Before using them in your recipe, make sure they are completely dry (use a clean tea towel or paper towel).

5. Follow the instructions in this recipe, but do not add the covered water and steam. They will be quite tender after blanching. Note that the beans will not brown as well as sear, but they will still be quite tasty.

Our favorite meals during the summer months usually involve cookouts, and these green beans are a great addition to grilled meats and poultry. They look fantastic with this Grilled Sirloin Steak with Chimichurri Sauce or our Lemon Garlic Marinated Chicken.

For a traditional holiday meal or Sunday dinner, pair these stir-fried green beans with roast turkey or the ever-celebratory roast pork loin with apple chutney. For a smaller party, pair these green beans with roasted turkey breast.

Sautéed Green Beans With Red Peppers & Almonds

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These simple stir-fried green beans are a perfect healthy side dish. They are made in a pan with garlic, olive oil and a little spice. They are vegan, paleo and naturally gluten free.

To cut the beans: the stem end