12 Recipes That Elevate Fresh Green Beans (2024)

Garlicky Green Beans With Pine Nuts

It just takes a few ingredients—namely olive oil, garlic, and pine nuts—for this recipe to give cooked green beans a nutty boost. If 15 minutes of total time isn't enough incentive to make this dish, consider that pine nuts are one of the eight healthiest types of nuts.

Green Bean Salad with Crispy Bread Crumbs

Fresh breadcrumbs sauteed in anchovies and lemon add a delicious crunch to go with this dish's garlicky dressing. For more dramatic color, use a medley of green, wax, and purple beans.

Green Beans With Bacon Vinaigrette

This recipe tosses cooked green beans in a warm dressing of softened shallots, cider vinegar, and crisp bacon. You can make this stovetop side in just 25 minutes, start to finish.

Green Bean and Celery Salad

Green beans, apples, and celery are expected on a holiday menu, but not in the same dish. That unexpected combo—along with a Dijon, honey, and apple cider vinegar-based dressing—makes this recipe a surprising delight.

Steak With Gnocchi and Green Beans

This recipe offers a full meal deal in just 30 minutes thanks to a store-bought gnocchi shortcut. While the hanger steak rests after a quick sear, blanched green beans and cooked gnocchi simmer together briefly in a buttery, herby liquid for a super-simple tasty side.

Roasted Chicken With Lemon-Garlic Green Beans

Fresh green beans and small red potatoes play supporting roles in this chicken dish yet add an essential pop of color. The best part of this recipe is the chicken and sides roast together in the same pan, making for quick-and-easy prep and cleanup.

Ginger Stir-Fry Beef With Green Beans

This recipe teams fresh green beans with thinly sliced flank steak and treats them to a thick, glossy, Asian-inspired sauce made with soy sauce, sesame oil, and chili-garlic sauce. Scallions and freshly grated ginger round out the dish, which is served with white rice and sesame seeds.

Grilled Hanger Steak with Green Bean and Sweet Pepper Slaw

Keep this recipe in your back pocket for an evening you look at the oven and stove and say, "No, I just can't even." While hangar steaks sizzle on the grill, prep this no-cook, no mayo, green bean-and-bell pepper slaw in just minutes, and then enjoy the rest of your evening!

Greek-Style Shrimp and Potatoes

In this recipe, green beans lend flavor to a tomatoey broth for tender potatoes and juicy shrimp to simmer in. Its Greek inspiration comes from a topping of crumbled feta and fresh dill. Opa!

Rosemary-Garlic Chicken Thighs

Green beans are uncredited in this recipe title, but you won't forget them if you try it. They're cooked in luscious chicken drippings (after the chicken's been removed) until crisp-tender for a rich, flavorful twist.

End-of-Summer Salad

When you think of green beans, a summer salad generally isn't top of mind, but this recipe may make you reconsider. It mingles cooked green beans with shrimp and other stars of summer—cherry tomatoes and corn—in a Dijon-miso vinaigrette topped with cornichons (pickles) and fried onions. Yum!

Spring Minestrone

Green beans feature prominently in this veggie-packed soup, along with leeks, celery, and Swiss chard. They join ditalini (or any small) pasta in vegetable or chicken broth for a springy, flavorful meal.

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