Green Beans With Bacon
This post may contain affiliate links which will not change your price but will share some commission. Please read my privacy policy.
This Green Beans With Bacon recipe first appeared on Savory Experiments where I am a contributor.
Fresh Green Beans with Bacon make the perfect side dish with the fresh green beans and crispy bacon offering up the best bites. This recipe is my latest obsession!
Green beans make a delicious addition to any table. Whether you are preparing this dish for lunch, dinner, or meal prepping for the week, you are going to love the flavors this dish has to offer.
Looking for other side dish options to shake up your week? Check out my Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes and Red Wine Mushrooms!
Green Beans with Bacon Recipe
These green beans with bacon are made from the freshest string beans and cooked until tender. But, if that isn’t good enough, they are finished off with a healthy topping of deliciously crispy bacon.
It’s an easy side dish that’s traditionally served in the cooler months but brightened up with summer flavors like lemon, mint, and basil.
Serve these green beans as an elegant side dish at your next dinner party or as a delicious weeknight side to chicken or steak.
One thing is for sure, this easy recipe only takes about 20 minutes and will always please.
Ingredients you will need to make Green Beans with Bacon
Green Beans: I recommend using fresh green beans as they are the star of the dish. However, if you need to substitute, you can with frozen green beans. I don’t recommend using canned because they won’t have the same flavor or texture.
Bacon: I recommend using finely diced thick cut bacon.
Onion: a white onion sliced super thin with all the perfect flavor without being too bold.
Cheese: for this recipe, I used creamy burrata cheese which I believe really balances out the dish. You can also use fresh torn mozzarella if you need to substitute!
Delicious greens: there is nothing better than fresh herbs in a dish. For this recipe I used both fresh mint and basil.
Lemon juice: the juice from 1/2 a lemon adds the perfect amount of tang and really brightens up the dish.
Seasoning: kosher salt and pink peppercorns.
*For a detailed list of ingredients and measurements, please reference the recipe card down below.
How to make Green Beans with Bacon
1. Cook the bacon. Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Add the bacon and cook for 5-6 minutes, until crispy. Remove the bacon from the pan and drain on paper towels.
2. Drain the excess fat. Pour out excess fat from the pan, leaving about 1 tablespoon.
3. Cook the onion. Add the onion to the pan and cook for 6-8 minutes or until translucent and slightly caramelized.
4. Cook the green beans. Add the green beans to the pan along with 2 tablespoons of water. Season the green beans with salt. Cook the green beans, stirring occasionally, until tender, about 5 minutes.
Just before removing from the pan, mix in the lemon juice and half the basil and mint.
5. Serve. Transfer the green beans and onions to a serving dish. Top with bacon, remaining herbs, torn burrata, and pink peppercorns.
How to prepare green beans
Before cooking you are going to want to prepare your green beans.
If you are using fresh green beans (after washing them), you are going to want to snap off the stem end. Depending on where you bought your green beans, this may already be cut off/detached. If your green beans still have them attached, just snap off the very end of the stem of each green bean.
If you don’t feel like snapping them off one by one, you can line them up and cut them off with a knife.
Tip!
Snapping the ends off green beans is a great activity to give kids who want to help in the kitchen!
What are pink peppercorns?
If you are unfamiliar with pink peppercorns, you may be surprised to learn, they are not actually pink! Pink peppercorns are red and add add a pop of color to whatever you are making!
In terms of flavor profile, pink peppercorns are similar to black pepper but much milder, a tiny bit sweet, and fruity.
I’ve recently become a regular user of these in my cooking for both flavor and aesthetic reasons. If you haven’t used pink peppercorns before and/or don’t have them in your spice rack, I recommend them for this recipe and others! Before you know it, you will be topping salads, chicken, and more with them.
Can I use canned green beans?
Nothing beats the texture, flavor, and crispness of fresh green beans. However, if you need a substitute, I recommend using frozen green beans.
Admittedly, frozen green beans are not as good as fresh, but they’re miles better than canned ones. The nice thing about frozen green beans is that they’re quick frozen and uncooked. What this means is they retain that beautiful green color.
Can you eat green beans raw?
Raw green beans contain lectins (a protein that works as an antifungal and natural insecticide for plants), which may trigger nausea, diarrhea, vomiting, or bloating symptoms in people. As such, I do not recommend the consumption of raw green beans.
Do you have to cut the ends off green beans?
Nope! You can leave them stem on the green beans and eat them if you’d like. The reason the stems are cut off is mostly aesthetic. However, the stems can also be hard and uncomfortable to eat. You can choose to leave the stems on and even eat them and it would be completely safe!
WANT TO TRY THIS GREEN BEANS AND BACON RECIPE?
PIN IT to your side dish recipes, green beans recipes, or vegetables recipes board to save it for later!
Find me on Pinterest for more great recipes. I’m always pinning!
Did you make this recipe? Post a photo on Instagram and tag me @JZEATS or #JZEATS so I can see! Leave a comment below and let me know what you think, too!
Green Beans With Bacon
Ingredients
- 8 ounces thick cut bacon, finely diced
- 1 white onion, very thinly sliced
- 2 lbs fresh green beans
- kosher salt, to taste
- 1/2 lemon, juice
- 1/4 cup fresh basil, finely chopped
- 2 tablespoons fresh mint, finely chopped
- burrata cheese, torn
- pink peppercorns*, to taste
Instructions
- Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Add the bacon and cook for 5-6 minutes, until crispy. Remove the bacon from the pan and drain on paper towels.
- Pour out excess fat from the pan, leaving about 1 tablespoon.
- Add the onion to the pan and cook for 6-8 minutes or until translucent and slightly caramelized.
- Add the green beans to the pan along with 2 tablespoons of water. Season the green beans with salt. Cook the beans, stirring occasionally, until tender, about 5 minutes. Just before removing from the pan, mix in the lemon juice and half the basil and mint.
- Transfer the green beans and onions to a serving dish. Top with bacon, remaining herbs, torn burrata, and pink peppercorns.
Notes
- If you don’t have pink peppercorns, you can use fresh cracked black pepper instead.
Oh wow! These green beans were so delicious and very flavorful! My family LOVED this especially since we LOVE bacon! Excited to use up the rest of my green beans I have to make it again!
These bacon-topped veggies were so delicious! Everyone gobbled them up at dinner time.
Such an esay anf flavorful recipe!
This is such a simple and flavorful side dish! Such an easy way to add some extra veggies to our dinner table!
Made this for thanksgiving and it was delicious! Totally forgot about the burratta until it www too late and the dish was almost gone, but it was great even without it!
Bacon makes everything better, right? These green beans look like the perfect side dish.
If I were to make these in the morning for thanksgiving dinner, do you think it’d be an easy recipe to heat up later?
Hi! Yes, you can make this ahead of time. I would do everything until step 6, then cover and refrigerate (let it cool first or it will steam up in the fridge). When you are ready to serve, complete step 6. This way your green beans won’t get soggy from too much baking. I have reheated this before in the microwave (small servings) and also reheated in the oven after fully cooking and while both of those methods work, I prefer the first method I suggested 🙂
Sorry to bug you on Thanksgiving- but you said stop before step 6. Maybe I’m crazy but I don’t see a step 6! Step 5 is serve.
AH! Sorry I was thinking about my other green bean recipe 🙂 To prep ahead of time, I would cook the onion and chop the bacon. Cook the green beans just before serving. You can re-heat the onions in the microwave or in a skillet. Alternatively, you can put it all together (before adding the burrata) and reheat in the oven uncovered at 325 F.