Falling In Love with Green Beans ♥ Favorite Recipes

Every year, I seem to fall in love with a new vegetable. One year beets, another year corn. Then one year something hit me about green beans – and I haven't looked back since, collecting one new green bean recipe after another. Here are my favorite recipes. Perhaps this is your year to fall in love with green beans too?

FIRST, HOW TO TURN GREEN BEANS from GOOD to GREAT
Great beans may start with the beans – fresh, snappy, fragrant – but it takes two more things to draw out the most flavor. Once I learned these two "secret" ingredients, wow, there was no not falling in love with green beans.

WATER Cook green beans in what will seem like a lot of water – that means eight full cups for every pound of beans.

SALT What does "well-salted water" mean? Salt the water with a full tablespoon of table salt (or two tablespoons of kosher salt).

BUT AREN'T WE ALL SUPPOSED TO AVOID SALT? Yeah, yeah, I know, salt is supposed to be bad for us and we're told to avoid it. But that advice is directed at the "average" eater who often eats salt-laden processed food and fast food. When we cook at home, when we use whole ingredients, we leave room in our diets for salt – especially when it makes us go crazy for green beans! (More info: According to Salt-Reduction Efforts May Need Different Approach from the Wall Street Journal, 75% of our salt consumption comes from packaged food and restaurants.)

FOR THE RECORD There's no saving woody green beans. When the fresh green beans are woody, go for frozen whole green beans. In fact, frozen green beans may well be 'fresher' than fresh green beans because beans lose sweetness very quickly, even in cold storage. (Believe it or not, I actually think that canned green beans have their place, they're the starting point for my Satisfying Lunch in One Point.)

WHY ARE GREEN BEANS CALLED 'STRING' BEANS? Only heirloom varieties of green beans still contain 'strings', long fibers that connected the two halves of the bean at the seams.

What Are Your Favorite Green Bean Recipes? There's a pile of garden green beans waiting on the counter -- and I'd love to find a new favorite recipe. How do you cook green beans? Leave a note in the comments! (Shy e-mail readers: Yes, that's you, right? Feel free to just hit 'reply' to your e-mail, I'll add the comment for you, using just your first name.)

GREEN BEAN NUTRITION ESTIMATE Per 1/4 pound raw green beans: 35 Calories; 0g Tot Fat; 0g Sat Fat; 8g Carb; 4g Fiber; 2g Sugar; 7mg Sodium; 0mg Cholesterol; 2g Protein; Weight Watchers Old Points 0, Points Plus 0

---

SIMPLE-SIMPLE GREEN BEAN RECIPES The best way to cook green beans, in my opinion, is in well-salted water. I love this simple treatment, just fresh green beans cooked in well-salted water and tossed with a little lemon and if you like, some pine nuts. Green Beans with Lemon & Pine Nuts (pictured) But green beans cooked in the microwave are also delicious. Green Beans with Tomatillo Salsa Dressing

Another quick way to cook green beans comes from Saveur. Simple Skillet Green Beans

Don't you just love to toss fresh just-cooked vegetables with a pantry ingredient or two? Weight Watchers, you'll love this recipe! Green Beans with Mayo-Soy Sauce (pictured) The mayo-soy sauce works beautifully with frozen green beans too. In fact, green beans are my my favorite frozen vegetable, the freezer is rarely without at least one or two bags. I even collect simple ways to "doctor" frozen green beans, see Quick Ways to Doctor a Bag of Green Beans.

WHAT A TREAT: ROMANO BEANS Watch for "romano beans" at the farmers market! They are flat, more tender and slightly velvety. So good! Garlicky Romano Beans

MAGICAL PAIRINGS Seems like, green beans nearly always stand alone. But one of my very very favorite recipes on A Veggie Venture pairs green beans with something creamy – new potatoes. "Best Ever" New Potatoes & Green Beans (pictured) But you can go the other direction, too, and pair green beans with something acidic – like tomatoes. Healthy Red & Green Green-Bean Salad

MY FAVORITE GREEN BEAN SALAD This is my favorite simple green bean salad, one so good, you can make a meal out of it. Chilled Green Bean Salad with Rosemary & Garlic Oil

ROCK YOUR WORLD WITH FRESH GREEN BEANS But I also like to transform favorites recipes usally made with canned green beans into their fresher counterparts – what a revelation! This is the traditional three-bean salad, except with fresh beans. Fresh Three-Bean Salad

This salad has an Asian-style dressing. Don't skip the soy-glazed almonds on top! Fresh Green Bean Salad with Asian Dressing

The real life-changer, however (for me, quite literally! someday I'll tell you that story ...) is what happens when you make the traditional green bean casserole with fresh green beans. That's when you create the ... World's Best Green Bean Casserole

THANKS! I hope this list of favorite green bean recipes is helpful. But if you still haven't found the one recipe you're looking for, yes, there are more! Don't forget to leave me your own favorite way to cook green beans! ~ more green bean recipes ~ from A Veggie Venture ~ more green bean recipes ~ from Kitchen Parade ~ A-Z of Vegetables ~

---

READER FAVORITES:
YOUR TOP TEN GREEN BEAN RECIPES
(our favorites are mostly the same! * not included above)

~ World's Best Green Bean Casserole ~
~ "Best Ever" New Potatoes & Green Beans ~
~ Make-Ahead Fresh Green Bean Casserole * ~
from Kitchen Parade
~ Simple Skillet Green Beans ~
~ Slooow Country Green Beans * ~
~ Fresh Green Bean Salad with Asian Dressing ~
~ Fresh Three-Bean Salad ~
~ Healthy Red & Green Green-Bean Salad ~
~ Chilled Green Bean Salad with Rosemary & Garlic Oil ~
~ Eggplant & Bean Thai Curry * ~
from Kitchen Parade
~ more green bean recipes ~

NEVER MISS A RECIPE! For 'home delivery' of new recipes from A Veggie Venture, sign up here. Once you do, new recipes will be delivered, automatically, straight to your e-mail In Box.

A Veggie Venture is home of green bean lover and 'veggie evangelist' Alanna Kellogg and the
famous asparagus-to-zucchini Alphabet of Vegetables.
© Copyright Kitchen Parade 2011,2014