I love cooking fresh green beans in a skillet on the stovetop. It makes them so quick and easy. They’re seriously delicious, especially when you add my garlic butter to the skillet. These sautéed green beans will be perfectly tender in about 15 minutes. I also love our easy sautéed zucchini! Or, for a more hands-off green bean recipe, try my easy roasted green beans.
Key Ingredients
Green Beans: I prefer fresh green beans in this recipe. They should look vibrant green and feel firm. If you bend them, they should snap. String beans, haricot verts, and wax beans work in my green bean recipe below. Olive Oil and Butter: I start cooking the beans with a tiny bit of olive oil, and then add that delicious garlic butter at the end. Plant-based butter is a great alternative to keep this recipe vegan. Garlic: I use three cloves of garlic for this recipe and love it. You can increase or decrease the garlic based on your tastes. You can also swap the garlic for ginger, like I do for these ginger green beans. Lemon: I love adding lemon to most dishes! A little lemon zest and juice keep these green beans tasting bright and fresh.
How to Make Sautéed Green Beans
I like my green beans to be bright green with a few blistered spots on the outside and tender and flavorful in the middle. To achieve this, I cook fresh green beans in a wide skillet with oil and salt and toss them every few minutes. The beans won’t cook through at this stage, but you should see a few blistered spots. Then, to cook them through so they are tender, I pour in a small amount of liquid (like water or stock) and cover the skillet with a lid. After about 2 minutes of cooking, the green beans should be tender. You can serve them as is or add more flavor with minced garlic, butter, and other spices you love. Toss everything around for a minute or two, and then serve! It’s so easy! In this recipe, the green beans are not blanched. Adding a bit of liquid and covering the skillet achieves the same results. I save blanching green beans to make this green bean casserole or salad, like my green bean salad with crispy shallots or this green bean potato salad.
What to Serve with Sautéed Green Beans
This green beans recipe is fast. It’s one of the best ways to cook fresh green beans, so we make it often! Here are a few of our family’s favorite dishes to serve them with:
Turkey Meatloaf (see our secret for making sure it isn’t dry) Juicy Skillet Chicken Breasts Lemony Baked Chicken Breasts Juicy Skillet Pork Chops Amazing Chicken Parmesan Lemon Herb Baked Salmon
1 teaspoon olive oil 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt 1/4 cup (60ml) water or stock 1 tablespoon butter or vegan butter 3 medium garlic cloves, minced, about 1 tablespoon 1/2 teaspoon lemon zest 1/4 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper Lemon wedges, for serving 2Cook for about 5 minutes until lightly blistered, tossing the beans around the pan so they cook evenly. 3Pour in water (or stock). Cover the skillet (or use foil if needed) and cook for 2 minutes. 4Uncover, reduce heat to medium-low, and cook until the remaining liquid evaporates. 5Stir in the butter, garlic, lemon zest, and pepper. Cook for another minute, stirring the garlic. Serve!
