Garlic Green Beans Recipe

A serving dish of lemon garlic green beans.

Looking for an easy garlic green beans recipe? This simple preparation is the best. These buttery garlic green beans with lemon are perfect for busy weeknights and fancy enough for company. They go with practically any main course, making this garlic-sauteed green beans recipe your favorite way to eat legumes.

A bowl of fresh green beans.

These simple lemon and garlic-sauteed green beans are a quick and easy side dish your diners will love. The beans have a tender, but not mushy, texture, and the flavor is bright and punchy without overpowering the flavor of the legumes.

Why this recipe works:

  • It’s quick and easy to make in about 15 minutes, from start to finish.
  • The beans turn out perfectly cooked, bright green and well seasoned.
  • They go with everything! Perfect with beef, pork, chicken, lamb, fish and seafood.
  • Kids love the buttery garlic green beans with a touch of lemon juice. It’s a terrific way to get them to eat their vegetables.
  • This recipe is easily scaled for larger or smaller groups.
  • You can make the recipe using frozen green beans too.

Ingredients:

  • Trimmed Green Beans – You can use regular string beans or the French-style beans (a.k.a. haricots verts) or frozen beans, that have been thawed and blotted dry with a paper towel.
  • Butter – I prefer the European-style butter in this garlic green beans recipe, but you can use American butter with or without salt.
  • Fresh Garlic – is critical for seasoning green beans. It makes an otherwise neutral vegetable pop with flavor.
  • Lemon Juice – Freshly squeezed makes a big difference. Don’t use the squeeze bottle of lemon — instead, use fresh lemon juice to give your garlic sauteed beans a tangy finish.
  • Salt – Try fine sea salt or kosher salt instead of iodized; the flavor is purer.
  • Cracked Pepper – For the best flavor, grind it yourself in a pepper mill.
Trim the ends of the French green beans.

Before we get to the recipe instructions, let’s talk about how to pick fresh green beans.

Ideally, I prefer displays that allow you to pick your green beans instead of buying them in packages. This will enable you to sort the beans for the best ones and get as much as you need without waste.

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Look for firm stems and sturdy green beans that snap with an audible tick when you split them. Try and find legumes without blemishes or spots, if possible.

If your market only has bagged green beans (I’m talking to you, Publix), check through the wrapper to see that they’re bright green without blemishes or spots — you can trim away any bruised or damaged portions when you get home.

Directions:

  1. Fill a saucepan with water and bring it to a boil. Season the water with a teaspoon of salt.
  2. Add the beans and cook to your desired doneness for 4-5 minutes.
  3. Drain the beans in a colander.
  4. Melt the butter over medium heat in the same pot you cooked the beans, and add the minced garlic, stirring until fragrant and softened.
  5. Add the beans back to the pot and toss to coat.
  6. Season the buttery garlic green beans with lemon juice, salt and pepper.

How to know when the green beans are done cooking:

Test for doneness by fishing out a green bean with a pair of tongs and biting into it. It should be a crisp-tender al dente without squeaky sounds when you chew it.

To make this recipe with frozen green beans

You can use frozen green beans for this recipe. Just defrost the beans at room temperature or in the microwave and pat dry with paper towels; add the beans to the garlic butter mixture to quickly saute and season with lemon juice, salt and pepper.

Pro-Tips:

  • Sometimes bagged green beans get damaged during processing, and you’ll find split or bruised legumes. Since the torn ends tend to get dry and crusty in the package, I always trim the oxidized ends with a sharp paring knife before cooking the beans.
  • If the fresh green beans have come straight from the refrigerator, adding them to the boiling water will reduce the temperature of the water and stop the boiling. When the boiling resumes, start your timer from that point.
  • Mince the garlic finely using a sharp knife or garlic press. No one wants to bite into a big hunk of garlic.
  • Sweat the garlic until it is softened and fragrant but not browned. Browning can make garlic bitter, so keeping the flame on medium heat will allow the flavors to bloom without burning the allium.
Chopping garlic on a cutting board.

There are a multitude of ways how to season green beans. This version of lemon and garlic sauteed green beans is just the starting point. Feel free to augment the recipe to suit your tastes. Here are a few ideas.

Variations:

  • Add fresh herbs to the beans. It’s incredibly delicious with a few teaspoons of freshly chopped dill or thyme.
  • If you like a spicy kick, add a pinch of crushed red pepper flakes when you’re sauteeing the garlic butter.
  • Swap the salt and pepper for another dry seasoning blend, like Italian seasoning or lemon pepper.
  • Add more cooked vegetables to the dish like roasted bell peppers or sauteed mushrooms.
  • Swap minced garlic for sliced shallots for a sweeter flavor profile.
  • Make it vegan by swapping butter for olive oil or vegan butter.
  • Give the beans an Asian flavor by substituting butter with sesame oil, adding a teaspoon of ginger, 2 teaspoons of soy sauce and skipping the lemon juice. Add toasted sesame seeds for crunch. (You can even saute the beans in a wok).
  • Add a sprinkle of parmesan cheese for a salty-umami kick.
Seasoning the green beans in a skillet with butter, lemon, garlic, salt and pepper.

FAQ’s

What is a serving size of green beans?

One pound of beans serves about four people, so figure ¼ pound per person. If you’re having 12 for dinner, you’ll need 3 pounds of beans.

What can I put in my green beans to give them flavor?

Learning how to season green beans according to your tastes is easy. Start with this recipe and then try some of the variations listed to see what you like.

Storage:

Leftover garlic sauteed green beans will lose some of their bright green color, but the flavor remains the same.

Store leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 3-5 days. To reheat, microwave for 45-60 seconds, stir and heat again in bursts as needed.

I don’t recommend freezing already cooked and seasoned green beans – they won’t be as good as fresh and won’t keep their color and texture.

Perfectly seasoned green beans with garlic and lemon.

Making this lemon garlic green beans recipe is simple, and it’s a side dish everyone loves because of the perfectly balanced flavors and the fact that it goes with everything.

More easy side dish recipes:

Serving a dish of garlic lemon green beans on a white serving dish.

More green bean recipes:

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A plate of garlic lemon green beans for serving.
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5 from 1 vote

Garlic Green Beans Recipe

These buttery, garlic green beans are super easy to make in about 15 minutes. Great for holidays and entertaining.
Author: Lisa Lotts
Course Side Dish
Cuisine American
Keyword garlic, green beans, lemon
Dietary Restrictions Gluten-Free, Low-Carb, Paleo, Vegetarian
Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 10 minutes
Total Time 15 minutes
Servings 4

INGREDIENTS:

  • 1 pound green beans trimmed
  • 1-2 large cloves garlic minced (about 1½ teaspoons)
  • 1 tablespoon butter
  • ½ teaspoon kosher salt
  • ¼ teaspoon black pepper
  • 2 teaspoons fresh squeezed lemon juice

DIRECTIONS:

FOR THE GARLIC GREEN BEANS RECIPE:

  • Bring a medium pot or 3-4″ deep skillet filled ⅔ with water to a boil over high heat. Add one teaspoon salt.
  • Add 1 pound green beans to the boiling water and cook for 4-5 minutes or until crisp-tender. Pro-Tip: Fish out a green bean with kitchen tongs so you can taste it to be sure it’s cooked the way you like.
  • Drain the blanched beans well in a colander.

HOW TO SEASON GREEN BEANS:

  • Place the pot on the burner over medium heat. Add 1 tablespoon butter and 1-2 large cloves garlic, minced and heat until butter is melted and garlic is fragrant about 1 minute.
  • Transfer the beans to the pot and add 2 teaspoons fresh squeezed lemon juice, ½ teaspoon kosher salt and ¼ teaspoon black pepper. Toss the beans with the tongs to coat them with seasonings. Transfer to a serving dish and enjoy.

NOTES:

Notes:
Adding cold beans to the water will lower the temperature and stop the water from boiling. Bring the beans up to a boil, and once the water starts boiling again, cook the beans for 4-5 minutes or until crisp-tender.
To test for doneness, use a pair of tongs to retrieve a bean from the pot and bite into it. It should be firm but not hard — and shouldn’t squeak when you chew it.

NUTRITION:

Calories: 62.23kcal | Carbohydrates: 8.41g | Protein: 2.17g | Fat: 3.1g | Saturated Fat: 1.86g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.24g | Monounsaturated Fat: 0.75g | Trans Fat: 0.12g | Cholesterol: 7.53mg | Sodium: 320.17mg | Potassium: 247.41mg | Fiber: 3.12g | Sugar: 3.77g | Vitamin A: 870.81IU | Vitamin C: 15.04mg | Calcium: 45.04mg | Iron: 1.2mg

Why fresh beans are better than canned:

I stopped buying canned green beans (a long time ago) when it occurred to me how much better fresh beans were. Don’t believe me? Here’s scientific PROOF.

This photo comparison (above) of canned Italian beans (on the left) versus fresh blanched beans (on the right) illustrates the difference between the two.

Canned beans:

  • Canned green beans aren’t green. They’re more “army khaki“.
  • They aren’t snappy or crisp-tender. They’re soft and mushy. (a.k.a. blech!)
  • They don’t taste like a green bean, instead they have a muted bean-ish flavor with a hint of metallic.
  • Canned beans lose a lot of their nutritional value in the cooking and canning process.
  • No amount of seasoning will make these beans taste good. (I only buy them for hurricane supplies — you know, in case of the apocalypse).

Fresh green beans:

  • Are bright green.
  • Have a firm, but snappy texture.
  • They are best when seasoned simply with a knob of butter and a bit of lemon and garlic.
  • Fresh beans retain their vitamins and minerals.
  • They are one of the easiest side dishes to make.

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One Comment

  1. 5 stars
    Yum! Thank you! Such easy, simple directions. I love fresh green beans. This will become my go to recipe.