The Best Ever Green Beans

An overhead image of a cast iron skillet of charred green beans with a wooden utensil in it

5 from 2 votes

The Best Ever Green Beans

This recipe gives you perfectly cooked green beans that are tender with a slight bite to them. Wonderfully charred with a smoky flavor and seasoned to taste, this is going to become your go to recipe for green beans.

Prep Time15

Cook Time10

Total Time25

Course: Side Dish

Cuisine: American

Servings:

Calories: 62kcal

Author: Kitrusy

Ingredients

1 lb green beans
1 tbsp salted butter melted (or any fat of your choice)
1 tsp Himalayan salt
1 tsp ground black pepper

Optional add-ins once cooked: crispy bacon bits, shredded parmesan cheese, roasted garlic

Instructions

Set a large pot of water to boil.
Wash, clean, and prep your beans by cutting off the tips.
Once your water has reached a rolling boil, add your beans and allow them to cook for 2-3 minutes.
After 2-3 minutes, immediately remove your beans from the boiling water and dunk them into an ice bath. Once cooled, drain and pat them completely dry.
Set a skillet on high heat and heat until it reaches its smoking point. Once smoking, add your melted butter (or fat of choice) and immediately add the beans and toss to coat.
Lower your heat to med-high and allow your green beans to char and blister undisturbed for a minute before tossing and allowing the other side to char and blister as well.
Once satisfied with the level of charring, remove your skillet from the heat and season your beans (to taste) with salt and pepper.
Enjoy!
Store any leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a week.

Notes

Ensure you're using fresh and raw green beans and not frozen, or canned beans.
If you intend to add in bacon, consider using a thick cut and rendering it to crispy perfection in your skillet and then using the rendered fat in your beans.
Note that butter has a low smoke point and will burn very quickly so if using you must add the beans at the same moment you pour in the butter. Alternatively you can toss the beans in the butter before adding it to the pan.
This recipe leads to the creation of a wonderfully smoky flavor to your beans but it also creates actual smoke in your kitchen so be sure to properly ventilate your kitchen area.

Nutrition