Sautéed Green Beans With Garlic

These green beans are tender and juicy, coated in a tasty tangy sauce with crunchy sautéed garlic. They are a perfect side for grilled meats, poultry and fish dishes.

Sautéed green beans with garlic are made with fresh green beans (also known as French beans) for their crisp, slightly sweet and refreshing flavour.

The beans are tender and juicy coated in a tangy savory, garlic sauce with a crunchiness from the sautéed garlic and almonds (or breadcrumbs).

When garlic is lightly sautéed it becomes a little crunchy and its flavour mellows becoming less pungent with a slightly sweet flavour - it is absolutely delicious!

Serve these garlic green beans with all your grilled meats, roasted poultry, sausages and fish dishes. They also pair beautifully with eggs and casseroles.

For an easy and delicious light lunch add a couple of sliced hard boiled eggs to the dish with some crusty bread to soak up the garlic dressing.

Preparing green beans in this way is a wonderful speedy alternative to the traditional Thanksgiving green bean casserole. It is great for guests who are vegan, on a gluten-free diet (use almonds not the breadcrumb option), or are simply looking for a healthy alternative.

Green bean season runs from June to the autumn so grab a few bags of fresh green beans from your local farmers market or supermarket as you'll be wanting to make this on repeat for all your summer to fall get togethers.

If you have fallen in love with this recipe and need to make these green beans all the year round, you can absolutely make it using frozen beans too.

The difference between using fresh, in-season produce vs frozen is that fresh green beans will have better flavour and texture.

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Jump to:

• Ingredient tips
• Instructions
• Tips to prevent garlic from burning
• Variations
• Make ahead
• Storing leftovers
• You may also like these ...
• Recipe
• Reviews

Ingredient tips

Here are the ingredients you will need:

• green beans - preferably fresh but you could also cook from frozen.
• olive oil - or salted butter (for better flavour)
• garlic - use fresh garlic - it is a star of the dish, not purée from a jar as it contains too much moisture.
• salt
• freshly ground black pepper
• lemon - juice of half a lemon (freshly squeezed lemon juice has a better flavour than bottled lemon juice.)
• crushed almonds - or dried breadcrumbs
• salted butter (optional) to garnish for creaminess.

See recipe card for quantities.

Instructions

Follow these step-by-step instructions to prepare sautéed green beans with garlic.

1. Wash green beans in cold water and drain. The stems are edible but if you wish to remove them, align beans in a row on a chopping board and trim off the ends. Leave the beans long or cut in half if they are too long.

2. Add the beans to a pan of boiling salted water and simmer for 4-5 minutes.

3. In a medium skillet sauté the crushed almonds and chopped garlic in oil till light brown.

4. Add the drained beans to the skillet and stir till well coated in garlic oil and crushed almonds. Cook for a few minutes longer till beans are tender taking care not to burn the garlic (it only takes a few more seconds for the garlic to start burning).

5. Season then add butter (optional) and lemon juice. Mix well then transfer to a serving dish and serve at room temperature.

Tips to prevent garlic from burning

Do not add garlic to hot oil or it will burn, instead add oil and garlic to the cold skillet then turn on the heat and warm them together till the garlic turns pale gold.

Take care not to let the garlic burn (it should not brown or sizzle) or this will give an unpleasant bitter flavour and ruin the dish.

Variations

Heres are some other ways you can prepare these green beans:

• spicy - add chili pepper flakes while heating the garlic and crushed almonds to flavour the oil.
• light lunch - add sliced hard boiled eggs and serve with some crusty bread.
• nut-free - instead of almonds, use 60g (½ cup) dried breadcrumbs (pangratatto). 
• cheese - grate some Parmesan cheese over the top (Note: Parmesan is not vegan).

Make ahead

Steam or boil the beans in advance then cool and and keep in the fridge for up to 3 days.

When you are ready to prepare the dish, sauté the beans in oil, garlic, crushed almonds, lemon juice and season before serving.

Storing leftovers

Store leftovers in a closed container and keep in the fridge for up to a 72 hours.

We do not advise freezing as the ingredients will become mushy.

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Are you making this recipe for sautéed green beans with garlic? I'd love to know how it turned out, let me know in the comments below and don't forget to give it a star rating.

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