A classic French dish turned into a Thanksgiving staple; green beans almondine is a mainstay of holiday dishes. Every home cook needs to have this recipe in their back pocket for big family meals.
For some more great green bean recipes, why not try and make some Roasted Green Beans? Or make a tasty and simple Green Bean Casserole instead?
Green Beans Almondine
Green beans are one of those super delicious vegetables that can sometimes fall by the wayside because of their somewhat bland flavor when simply boiled.
Despite their crunchy freshness, their base flavor can be a bit underwhelming for people that aren’t familiar with some of the great recipes using this springtime vegetable.
This recipe is an absolute classic, and combines some crunchy, sweet almonds with a bunch of other flavoring ingredients to create a simple yet super delicious side dish.
Green Beans Almondine Ingredients
Make sure you look at the recipe card at the very bottom for the exact amounts so that you know exactly what to buy for this recipe.
• Salt
• Green beans (trimmed)
• Butter
• Almonds
• Yellow onion
• Garlic
• Lemon juice
• Black pepper
How To Make Green Beans Almondine
• Bring a large pot of salted water to boil
• Boil the green beans lightly for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, or until they are crisp-tender and just slightly undercooked
• Drain and set the green beans aside
• Melt 2 tablespoons of butter in a large skillet over medium-low heat
• Add the sliced almonds and stir for 2 minutes, or just until they start to turn a light brown
• Remove from the pan and set them aside
• Turn the heat down to low, and then add 1 tablespoon of butter, yellow onion, and garlic
• Sauté everything for 2 minutes, or until it is all turning lightly caramelized
• Add the green beans and 1 tablespoon of water to the skillet and sauté until the green beans are tender and well combined
• Add the almonds in, reserving about 2 tablespoons for topping, as well as the lemon zest and lemon juice, tossing everything gently to combine
• Add salt and pepper to taste, top with the reserved almonds and some fresh parsley and serve
How To Choose & Prepare Green Beans For This Recipe?
Green beans are an incredibly versatile vegetable, but a lot of people are put off of cooking with them because of the sheer variety of different green beans out there. Plus, they can be really tricky to prepare them properly.
For this recipe, try and look for green beans that are labeled as French haricot vert or just Haricot beans. These ones will have the right size and texture to work really well in this recipe, and they are easy to handle as well.
To prepare them, you really just need to trim off the fibrous ends of the green beans. These little bits that stick out from the end of each bean are edible, but they are especially stringy and slightly woody in taste, so they are best removed.
To get rid of them, you can do it the slow and intelligent way or the fast and easy way.
To do it slowly and minimize waste, go through each bean and snip off the end with a pair of scissors, making sure to leave as much of the green bean un-cut as you can.
To do it much faster, albeit with a little bit of waste, simply line up as many green beans in a single row as you can and chop the very tips of them off with a chef’s knife. This way will end up with some wasted green beans, but it will also result in the easiest and fastest way to get through the slightly irritating process of prepping green beans.
How To Really Boost The Flavor Of Your Green Beans Almondine
If made properly, green beans almondine should be crunchy, sweet, and super rich and filling, but one of the things that it could be said to be lacking in is some umami, savory flavors.
For those that love that really savory flavor profile, why not try and add some mushrooms to help boost the umami in this dish?
Try adding 1 cup of sliced mushrooms to the onions and sautéing them until golden brown and they have let go of all of their water.
If you don’t want to mess around with cutting and preparing fresh mushrooms, you could always do the 1950s dinner trick of using a can of condensed cream of mushroom soup. Keep in mind, though, that this will obviously make everything a lot more liquidy and will cut down on that crispy, crunchy snap of the green beans, so choose wisely!
Looking for more Side Dish recipes? Why not try these recipes:
• Bacon Wrapped Green Bean Bundles
• Roasted Parsnips with Garlic Herb Butter Sauce
Happy Cooking
Love,
Karlynn
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Green Beans Almondine
Ingredients
- 3 Tablespoons salt (for water)
- 1 lb green beans (Trimmed- Use smaller French haricot vert green beans if you can find them)
- 3 Tablespoons butter (divided)
- 1/3 Cup almonds (sliced)
- 1/4 Cup yellow onion (finely diced)
- 2 Tablespoons garlic (finely minced)
- 2 teaspoons lemon juice
- salt (to taste)
- black pepper (to taste)
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add the salt.
- Lightly boil the green beans for 4 to 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, or until they are crisp-tender and slightly under cooked. Drain and set aside.
- Melt 2 Tablespoons butter in a large skillet over medium low heat. Add the sliced almonds and stir for 2-3 minutes just until they start to turn a light brown. Remove them from the pan and set aside.
- Turn the heat down to low and add 1 tablespoon butter, yellow onion and garlic. Saute for 1-2 minutes until it is lightly caramelized.
- Add the green beans and 1 tablespoon of water to the skillet and saute until the green beans are tender and well combined.
- Add the almonds in (Reserve about 2-3 tablespoons for topping), lemon zest and lemon juice, toss gently to combine. Add salt and pepper to taste.
- Top with the reserved almonds and some fresh parsley and serve.
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