Quick and easy and a great all-around side dish. Sautéed green beans with garlic and shallots make an excellent accompaniment to almost any dish. Make these and you are sure to watch them disappear quickly.
This has always been and probably will always be one of my favorite go to recipes. I even use this as a basis for my grilled green beans as well. One of the biggest reasons is that it is quick, easy, really inexpensive and really tasty. These green beans go back to my college days when I wanted something heathier to eat than ramen but still tasted good and about as expensive.
In this recipe
This recipe is really light on the ingredients and very simple. Those make some of the best foods when you get to just taste the veggies.
Green beans: you will want to make sure that you get fresh green beans and not frozen or canned. If they are frozen they will become limp once sautéed.
Shallots: can be replaced with onions
Blanching and Shocking
One of the tricks to cooking green beans, and a lot of other vegetables for that matter is blanching and shocking. Blanching is when you cook food mainly fruits, vegetables, and/or nuts in boiling water or steam for a specific amount of time. It can be a few seconds or a few minutes depending on what you cooking. Then the process of shocking is to immediately plunge the hot fruit, vegetable, or nut into cold water. This helps preserve the color and nutrients.
Season the water well
One of the things is that this recipe calls for less than a teaspoon of salt for 2 pounds of green beans. The reason it is so little is that you want to season the water that you will blanche the green beans in heavily. If you think you are adding too much you probably aren’t and the beans will not come out really salty either. You want to water to be as salty as the ocean when you cook the beans. Or about as salty as the water your grandmother used to make you gargle when you had a sore throat.
Keep it boiling
I honestly don’t remember when I started doing this but you want to make sure you choose a pot large enough that the water doesn’t stop boiling when you cook the beans. This might mean that you have to do smaller batches and that is ok but you want to make sure that the water stays as hot as possible when cooking the green beans.
Looking for other healthy sides?
Sautéed Green Beans with Garlic
Equipment
- Large sauce pan
- Large mixing bowl
- Colander
- 12 inch skillet
- Spider strainer or slotted spoon
Ingredients
- 2 pounds green beans cleaned and stems removed
- ½ cup shallots chopped
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 tablespoon garlic minced
- ½ tablespoon ground black pepper
- ½ teaspoon salt kosher
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add enough salt to make it taste like the ocean.
- Fill a large mixing bowl with ice water and set aside.
- Place the mixing bowl of ice water next to the stove. Add the green beans to the pot of boiling water and cook for 3-4 minutes. Using the spider strainer remove the beans from the pot and immediately plunge them into the ice water. This might need to be done is 2-4 batches depending on the size of the pot.
- Once all of the beans are in the ice water heat the oil in the skillet over medium high heat. Add the shallots and cook until they are translucent and have softened stirring occasionally. While the shallots are cooking drain the ice water from the bowl.
- Add the garlic and cook for a minute. Then add the green beans, salt, pepper, and sauté until done, about 4-7 minutes.
Nutrition
I love green bean recipes like this, especially when I have garden fresh green beans! Thanks for the recipe share!
Everyone should have this green bean recipe in their arsenal! Such a classic and simple side plus it really does go with everything. Delicious!
A total go-to! Thanks for adding some new tips to an old fave….I never have tried the blanching step, and now I’ll know to keep it boiling 😉 So helpful!!
Simple and delicious! We’ve been eating more green beans lately and I just love how easy they are to prepare – you can’t go wrong with garlic!
These green beans came out perfectly! So tender, flavorful, and loaded with garlic just the way I like it. My family enjoyed them as well and there were no leftovers!
This is my favorite side dish! So easy to prep and it pairs well with pretty much any meal.
I love how simple and delicious this green bean side dish is! We all loved it and it can be served with just about anything. Thanks for the recipe!
I love making simple dishes like this one. It is so easy yet delicious and healthy!
Green beans are one of our favorite sides, but I don’t think I’ve ever prepared them this way. My family devoured them! I guess sautéing them with garlic IS the way to go. I’ll definitely be making these again and again.