Sautéed Green Beans

by Sabrina Snyder

Published on Last updated

23 Comments

5 from 9 votes
4 servings
Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 10 minutes
Total Time 15 minutes
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Sautéed Green Beans made with butter, garlic, and fresh green beans is the PERFECT side dish that goes with almost any meal and is ready in under 15 minutes!

Our dinner table wouldn’t be the same without all of the work we put into perfecting our side dish recipes, and this week we’re loving Creamy Garlic Mashed Potatoes, Baked Mac and Cheese, and Green Bean Casserole.

Sauteéd Green BeansSAUTéeD GREEN BEANS

Sautéed Green Beans are hot and buttery, with savory garlic flavor and a fresh crisp-tender texture. I usually make a double batch of these beans because they always manage to disappear before dinner is over. You can use butter or olive oil to sauté them, both add a nice flavor with the garlic.

A close second to this recipe is my Roasted Green Beans, and Spicy Chinese Sichuan Green Beans. String beans are very versatile, so you can add a lot of different flavors to them!

CAN I MAKE GARLIC GREEN BEANS WITH VEGETABLE OIL?

You can use any oil you have in your kitchen for garlic green beans, including vegetable oil, coconut oil, or olive oil. Personally, I like to go with butter because my family likes the flavor, and it has the highest cooking temperature of all of them.

A restaurant trick is to mix butter and extra virgin olive oil together to get the flavor of the oil with the cooking temperature of the butter, making it easier to sauté your garlic before adding the beans without burning.

CAN I SAUTé GREEN BEANS WITHOUT BLANCHING?

Technically you can get away with not blanching the green beans before throwing them in the sauté pan. But I always like to blanch them first because it helps preserve the texture and bright green color of the fresh green beans, making for a better overall side dish.

CAN I BLANCH GREEN BEANS AHEAD OF TIME?

You can blanch green beans ahead of time. Dip them in ice water right after blanching (to stop the cooking), then dry them as well as you can with paper towels, and store them refrigerated in an air tight container until you’re ready to sauté. They’ll last in the refrigerator for a total time of 1-2 days before they start to get too soft to be sautéed.

CAN YOU TRIM GREEN BEANS IN ADVANCE?

You can trim green beans in advance if you are going to use them within 1-2 days. Keep the green beans refrigerated and tightly sealed. Pull them out when you’re ready to make any green beans recipe.

Sauteéd Green Beans

WHAT TO SERVE WITH SAUTéeD GREEN BEANS

TIPS FOR MAKING SAUTéeD GREEN BEANS

  • Add other spices to the beans with the garlic for more flavor like oregano, cayenne, or thyme.
  • Garlic green beans also work well with sautéed onions, mushrooms, sliced toasted almonds, white wine, lemon juice, or a tablespoon of parmesan cheese.
  • Trim the ends of your string beans to avoid a fibrous woody texture.
  • Sauté the beans in a skillet over medium-high heat for 3-5 minutes max, so they don’t overcook. You want to maintain that tender-crisp texture in your beans recipes.
  • If you don’t have fresh garlic, sub in 1 teaspoon of garlic powder instead.
  • If you use frozen green beans for this dish, you can skip the blanching step and go straight to the sauté pan.
  • If you’re cooking for someone with allergies, this dish is naturally gluten free!

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Dinner, then Dessert

Sauteed Green Beans

Sauteed Green Beans made with butter, garlic, and fresh green beans is the PERFECT side dish that goes with almost any meal and is ready in under 15 minutes!
Yield 4 servings
Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 10 minutes
Total Time 15 minutes
Course Side Dish
Cuisine American
Author Sabrina Snyder
Sauteéd Green Beans in red pan
PrintRate

Ingredients
 

  • 1 pound green beans
  • 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
  • 3 cloves garlic minced
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/8 teaspoon pepper

Instructions

  • In a large skillet add ¼ cup water and the green beans on high heat and bring to a boil, cooking for 3 minutes.
  • Remove green beans and water, wiping dry with paper towels and add in the butter and garlic, stirring and cooking until fragrant before adding in the green beans, salt and pepper and tossing to combine.

Notes

Note: click on times in the instructions to start a kitchen timer while cooking.

Nutrition

Calories: 113kcal | Carbohydrates: 8g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 8g | Saturated Fat: 5g | Cholesterol: 22mg | Sodium: 153mg | Potassium: 248mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 3g | Vitamin A: 1045IU | Vitamin C: 14.5mg | Calcium: 49mg | Iron: 1.2mg

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About the Author: Sabrina Snyder

Sabrina is a professionally trained Private Chef of over 10 years with ServSafe Manager certification in food safety. She creates all the recipes here on Dinner, then Dessert, fueled in no small part by her love for bacon.

Sabrina Snyder is a professionally trained personal and private chef of over 10 years who is the creator and developer of all the recipes on Dinner, then Dessert.

She is also the author of the cookbook Dinner, then Dessert – Satisfying Meals Using Only 3, 5 or 7 Ingredients, published by Harper Collins.

She started Dinner, then Dessert as a business in her office as a lunch service for her coworkers who admired her lunches before going to culinary school and becoming a full time personal chef and private chef.

As a personal chef Sabrina would cook for families one day a week and cook their entire week of dinners. All grocery shopping, cooking and cleaning was done along with instructions on reheating. As a private chef she cooked for private parties and cooked in family homes in the evenings for families on a nightly basis after working as a personal chef during the day.

Sabrina has been certified as a ServSafe Manager since 2007 and was a longstanding member of the USPCA Personal Chef Association including being on the board of the Washington DC Chapter of Chefs in the US Personal Chef Association when they won Chapter of the year.

As a member of the community of food website creators Sabrina Snyder has spoken at many conferences regarding her experiences as a food writer including the Indulge Food Conference, Everything Food Conference, Haven Food Conference and IACP Annual Food Professionals Conference.

Sabrina lives with her family in sunny California.

See more posts by Sabrina

Dinner, then Dessert, Inc. owns the copyright on all images and text and does not allow for its original recipes and pictures to be reproduced anywhere other than at this site unless authorization is given. Read my disclosure and copyright policy. This post may contain affiliate links.

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Comments

  1. One of my favorite side dishes of all time was sauteed green beans from a local Chinese buffet. No matter what I tried, I couldn’t duplicate their recipe… until now! This is so quick and easy and the beans come out PERFECT! THANK YOU SO MUCH!

    Reply

  5. Is the cooking time about the same with frozen green beans as fresh and also if I were to add in onions could I add the onions and green beans in at the same time?

    Reply

  9. Green beans have never been my favorite, but cooking them this way, makes them so much better!! They have become a favorite!

    Reply

    2. Yes! Agreed! This is about the only way I like green beans, other than in a casserole. The all that butter and fresh garlic makes them taste amazing! ?

      Reply