Fresh Green Beans
I love cooking fresh green beans! And this tutorial will show you how to cook those green beans so they taste divine! 4 ingredients is all that is needed to make this fresh bean recipe. The perfect complement to any dinner you whip up.
If you are on the hunt for a fresh green bean recipe, you might enjoy this one. No complicated steps, no fuss. Just simple ingredients that offer big flavor.
Ingredients:
- Fresh beans
- butter
- salt
- pepper
How to Make
Break the ends off of each bean and then break them into bite sized pieces.
Discard the ends or feed ’em to your chickens.
Don’t have chickens? Go get at least three or four hens before proceeding to the next step.
Just kidding.
Place all of these beans in a pot of water along with a stick of butter. Place this over medium high heat and cook until the water cooks down almost completely, stirring from time to time. This is also where you would add some minced garlic if you like.
I sometimes add a heaping teaspoon, but I like garlic so you do you! There will be a little liquid left in the pot but not much at all. This will take anywhere from 10-15 minutes or more depending on how hot your pot gets.
Don’t be tempted to call the beans done before the water is cooked down.
They will be tender before that but not nearly as flavorful as they will be once they are tender all the way through and cooked down to a nice thin buttery coated sauce.
Recipe FAQs
I like to add garlic and some red pepper flakes too, depending on my mood. If I have some bacon grease handy I like to add a tablespoon or so of that as well, totally optional.
You can use frozen green beans in place of fresh if you really can’t get fresh, just promise me you’ll try it with fresh sometime, ok?
Let’s not talk about using canned green beans in this recipe, we just don’t even want to let that thought enter into our minds. 🙂 If you want to make canned green beans taste good, check out this recipe (click here).
If you are not sure what to look for when picking green beans let me help. Here you will look for bright colored beans, that don’t show a lot of brown spots. You also want the beans to be firm to touch. You should hear a snap when you bend the bean and it breaks. If it just bends it is too far gone.
You can cut off the ends of your beans. You just want to cut off the stems so you don’t get a woody texture when you eat them. If you prefer your beans not as long slice them in half. This will also help speed up the cooking time for smaller beans.
These are good with just about anything. We have been eating them as our low carb side when the kids are having rice or mashed potatoes so I like to keep a big container of them already cooked in the fridge for us.
Get the recipe for To Die For Meatloaf by clicking here.
Ingredients
- Fresh Green Beans
- 1 stick of butter
- salt and pepper
- minced garlic, red pepper flakes optional
Instructions
- Break ends of green beans off and discard. Break each bean into bite sized pieces.
- Place green beans and butter in a large pot. Cover with water.
- Bring to a boil over medium high heat (add minced garlic now if you like and a pinch of salt) and continue cooking, stirring often, until water is almost completely cooked out and beans are very tender.
- Salt and pepper to taste. And if you like red pepper flakes add them here and enjoy!
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Here are some other recipes for green beans that you may enjoy:
- Last Minute Green Beans & and Pretending to Let Go
- Sweet And Sour Green Beans
- Green Bean Casserole Rich, Creamy With The Perfect Crunch
- Creamed Beans and Taters
- French Onion green beans
Christy, Recipes like this one help me again to find confidence in cooking. Residual effects of chemotherapy have caused me so much brain fog that simple recipes are about all I can manage and I have even mangled a few of the simple ones! I spin like a top in the kitchen but I try my best. At one time I was a good “cheap” cook but not so much now. I’m still cheap, just not good. Your recipes and stories give me inspiration and hope. And I love to read all of the comments as well……such wonderful, friendly, helpful folks. I consider all of them neighbors. Love to all of you, Patricia
Love, blessings and healing to you Patricia!!
Instead of just water, I use a half and half immersion with chicken broth…I think it kicks up the flavor a notch…but I’ve done it both ways and it is imperative that you cook it until the liquid is almost gone!
Thank you do much for your simple recipes and your spiritual encouragement!
God bless you,
Sherry
Thank you Sherry!!
Fresh green beans are great, if you have them. I have to respectfully disagree about the canned green beans. A lot of it has to do with the brand you buy.
Oh absolutely. That’s purely my personal opinion only and just individual taste. If you like canned ones that’s great!
By the way, folks are gonna eventually come across this and wonder what your favorite brand of canned is so feel free to share if you happen back by!
How many beans?? In green bean recipe with butter. Thanks
This is just a simple way of cooking that will easily adapt to a pound or five pounds. It just depends on how many you have or want. Cover with water, add a stock of butter. That works for a sliding scale of quantity. 🙂
Thank you very much for posting this simple recipe. I am not an experienced cook, although I am learning, and big, long recipes intimidate me. So, really, thank you so much for this. I like when I feel like I can be part of the cooking gang too! 🙂
Oh my goodness, I have faith in you Ashley!!! I know you are going to turn out to be a fabulous cook!!
How many pounds of green beans do you use in this recipe?
I hate the green beans served out at dinners/restaurants that are so hard when you try to cut them they literally jump off the plate. I read a piece year’s and years ago by James Beard about cooking green beans until they are very tender.
He said you could tell when they were done because the cooking odor changed when they achieved that .moment of doneness.
My mother said that too and she was just a simple East Texas cook who could make a believer of the most ardent vegetable hater. It works though. Try it.
This is exactly what happens when you cook that whole pot of water down and why I cautioned not to consider them done until the end. 🙂
I agree, So good!