recipes

31 Green Bean Recipes That’ll Make Other Veggies Envious

From charred and snappy to silky and saucy, green beans can do anything.
Sheet pan and plate of green beans and meatballs.
Photograph by Isa Zapata, Food Styling by Thu Buser, Prop Styling by Stephanie De Luca

Green bean recipes aren’t just for Thanksgiving. Green beans aren’t only fit for blanketing in sauce and baking until they’ve turned into an intoxicatingly molten mess. One of high-summer’s most versatile veggies, they’re bright and crunchy and really only need salt, extra virgin olive oil, and a hit of medium-high heat to make their naturally grassy flavor shine.

But that’s only the beginning. We’ll show you how to cook green beans, whether you’re going for blanched, grilled, or sautéed green beans—and we’ll also be honest about the fact that they don’t require cooking at all in order to be excellent. (Check this smashing technique for proof.) Oh, and they also contain vitamin C, vitamin A, and potassium, among other good-for-you elements.

Convinced to make them for dinner tonight yet? Here are our best green bean recipes to make now and later.

  • Blue plate of salad on marble surface.
    Photograph by Isa Zapata, Food Styling by Taneka Morris, Prop Styling by Dayna Seman
    1/31

    Som-Tam-Style Chicken Salad

    This green bean recipe marries the key spicy-sour elements of classic Thai green papaya salad with zesty grilled chicken and the best of summer produce.

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  • Alex Lau
    2/31

    BA’s Best Green Bean Casserole

    Fresh green beans are essential for this casserole recipe, a classic anchored by umami-rich browned crimini mushrooms, béchamel sauce made with nutty Parmesan cheese, and good old French’s fried onions—that’s right, store-bought is fine.

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  • Photograph by Yudi Ela, food styling by Susie Theodorou, prop styling by Aneta Florczyk
    3/31

    Cheesy Charred Green Beans

    Grilled cheese? Yes, please. But not that kind. We’re talking creamy and charred paneer with grilled green beans, a perfect vegetarian side for your next cookout.

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  • Photograph by Isa Zapata, Food Styling by Kaitlin Wayne, Prop Styling by Graylen Gatewood
    4/31

    Som Tum Thai (Green Papaya Salad)

    This is the ideal side dish for a summer cookout, but it also packs up well if you want to take it to a picnic. (And you do. You want to take it to a picnic.)

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  • Photo by Alex Lau, Food Styling by Sue Li
    7/31

    Summer Beans With Miso Butter

    This is a recipe for any string beans you find at the summer market: green beans, wax beans, Romano beans, haricot verts. Whatever looks fresh and beautiful, pick it up, char it, and dress it with this savory miso-sesame combo.

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  • Photograph by Isa Zapata, Food Styling by Thu Buser, Prop Styling by Stephanie De Luca
    8/31

    Herby Sheet-Pan Meatballs With Green Beans

    We’re here for sheet-pan dinners that can go in and out of the oven in a total time of 30 minutes. We’re also here for leftovers that are easy to reheat and stuff into a hoagie.

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  • Photo by Isa Zapata, Food Styling by Pearl Jones, Prop Styling by Anne Eastman
    13/31

    Butternut Squash and Green Bean Stew

    We need only list the ingredients in this stew to convey how flavorful the result is: mustard seeds, curry leaves, asafetida, ginger, garlic, red onion, turmeric, tomatoes, and coconut milk.

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  • Photo by Laura Murray, styling by Judy Mancini
    14/31

    Charred Green Beans with Spicy Tonnato

    Have you met tonnato? It’s a super easy, creamy sauce made with jarred tuna and lime or lemon juice, and it makes this green bean side dish taste fantastic.

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  • Photograph by Laura Murray, food styling by Susie Theodorou, prop styling by Sophie Strangio
    15/31

    Smashed Green Beans With Lemony Sumac Dressing

    This is the failsafe method for blanching green beans: Cook them in a large pot of boiling salted water until bright green and crisp-tender, about 2 minutes. Then, using a slotted spoon, transfer to an ice water bath to chill. Drain. Take that with you and fly, readers, fly!

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  • Photograph by Cody Guilfoyle, Prop Styling by Nicole Louie, Food Styling by Thu Buser
    16/31

    Crispy Noodles With Coconut Shrimp

    Smothered in a red curry and coconut milk sauce, these fried noodles are crispy-meets-soggy at its best. While this recipe calls for sugar snap peas, feel free to mix and match your favorite vegetables: carrots, pea shoots, button mushrooms, and, of course, green beans.

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  • Photo and Food Styling by Sarah Jampel
    17/31

    Green Beans Palya

    A South Indian classic, palya is usually composed of a single vegetable chopped into bite-size pieces and sautéed in spiced and seasoned oil. In other words, it’ll make your green-bean haul shine.

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  • Photograph by Chris Simpson, Food Styling by Taneka Morris, Prop Styling by Gözde Eker
    18/31

    Charred Green Beans With Brown Butter Vinaigrette

    You’ll need a large skillet, preferably cast iron, to stir-fry 1 lb. of fresh green beans until charred in spots. They’ll taste smoky while still feeling crisp-tender. A little sharp Dijon cuts the richness.

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  • 19/31

    Spicy Green Bean Ditalini With Caramelized Lemon

    In Italian, “ditalini” means “small thimbles,” and that’s exactly what the tiny tubed pasta looks like. With lots of green beans, fresh herbs, and toasted walnuts, though, this leans more meal-worthy salad than pasta dish.

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  • Photograph by Jenny Huang, food styling by Tyna Hoang, prop styling by Sophie Strangio
    20/31

    Creamy Mushroom and Green Bean Masala

    Green beans are more of a supporting character in this saucy Indian-style gravy, but they’re still crucial for texture (and adding in an extra helping of vegetables).

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  • Photograph by Isa Zapata, Food Styling by Jesse Szewczyk, Prop Styling by Dayna Seman
    25/31

    Bangladeshi Spiced Shrimp and Green Bean Stir-Fry

    In Bangladeshi homes, chingri—shrimp in Bengali—are traditionally cooked with lubi uri (borboti or long beans) in mustard oil. Here, we swapped them for the belle of this gallery’s ball, green beans.

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  • Photograph by Isa Zapata, food styling by Kaitlin Wayne, prop styling by Stephanie De Luca
    26/31

    Hot-Smoked Salmon Noodle Salad

    This take on traditional niçoise salad features soba noodles dressed in a zesty rice vinegar and sesame oil vinaigrette, punctuated with karashi (a.k.a. hot Japanese mustard).

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  • 29/31

    Green Beans With Benne and Sorghum

    A combination of molasses-like sorghum syrup and sesame-seed-adjacent benne imbue this green bean dish with old-school Southern flavor.

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  • ALEX LAU
    30/31

    Pad Prik King

    This vegetarian Thai curry is less spicy and more fragrant than you might expect. If you like heat—and we’re with you on that— add a dried chile de árbol.

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  • Christopher Testani
    31/31

    Bean Salad With Lemon and Herbs

    You get two types of fresh beans in this green bean recipe: the kind we’ve been talking about this whole time (French beans, string beans, whatever you want to call them) and shell beans. A little lemon zest, black pepper, olive oil, and herbs and you’ve got a gluten-free, vegetarian weeknight dinner.

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Joe joined the Bon Appétit team in 2022 after climbing the editorial ranks for a few years at Condé Nast’s other food publication, Epicurious. As the senior SEO editor, he works to make sure Google loves all of BA’s cooking stories just as much as you do. Look for his... Read more
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