These cast iron green beans are a delicious and flavorful side dish perfect for any meal. Serve them up with dinner and watch how quickly they become an instant family favorite!
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Cooking green beans in a cast iron skillet brings out the best in green beans, ensuring even cooking and a wonderfully blistered texture. Not only does it enhance the flavor of the beans, but it also adds a nice amount of color to your plates as well.
Made with fresh green beans and seasoned with simple seasonings, it's a quick, tasty addition to any meal. Ready in just 30 minutes, these green beans are sure to be a hit, making family dinners a breeze!
If you love green bean recipes, then don't forget to try our Italian Green Beans with Tomatoes, Air Fryer Canned Green Beans, and Instant Pot Steamed Green Beans.
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💛 Why You'll Love This Recipe
- Simple ingredients. One of the best things about this recipe is that it uses very simple household ingredients, many of which you may already have on hand!
- They're flavorful. These pan seared green beans are packed with flavor in every soft and crisp bite. This green bean skillet recipe is a perfect blend of fresh green beans and garlic with a little tangy lemon for added freshness.
- They'll be great served with anything. Serve them up with a holiday feast next to some Cajun Turkey Breast, a simple Sunday roast, or at your next BBQ, and they're sure to be enjoyed at any occasion.
🛒 Ingredients
Fresh green beans- Rinse, trim the ends, and keep them whole or halved for even cooking. (Try extras in Garlic Parmesan Roasted Green Beans.)
Butter- You'll want the butter to help grease the pan and start the caramelization of the green beans.
Soy sauce- Adding in soy sauce will help to give us a lot of great flavor depth.
Lemon juice- Brightens the flavor and enhances the color.
See the recipe card below for full ingredients and instructions.
🫛 How to Prep Green Beans
- Rinse under cool water, pat dry, then trim about ¼ inch off the stem ends. Leave whole or snap/cut in half for evenly sized pieces.
💰 Budget-Friendly Tips
Buy green beans on sale. They're cheapest in summer but stay affordable most of the year.
Stretch the serving by adding ½ sliced onion or a handful of mushrooms (cheap and filling).
Skip lemon if you don't have it; a splash of vinegar works too.
🥄 Instructions for Cast Iron Green Beans
Step 1: Heat your skillet over medium-high heat.
Step 2: Melt the butter in the skillet.
Step 3: Add in the fresh green beans and then cook until looking blistered and golden along the sides. This will take several minutes (about 10 minutes).
Step 4: Add in the soy sauce, red pepper flakes, garlic, and paprika. Toss well to combine.
Step 5: Now add in the lemon juice and stir to combine.
Serve warm.
👩🏻🍳 Expert Tips
- Pan Options: A cast iron skillet gives the best blister, but any heavy skillet works.
- Heat Control: If beans brown too quickly but stay firm, reduce heat and cover for 1-2 minutes to steam.
- Outdoor-Friendly: These beans cook beautifully over a grill or campfire at ~375°F.
❄️ Storage, Reheating & Make Ahead
Storage: Store leftover Cast Iron Green Beans in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3-4 days.
Reheating:
- Best method: Reheat in a skillet for a few minutes to regain crispness.
- Fast method: Microwave 1-2 minutes (softer texture).
Make Ahead: Wash and dry beans up to several hours ahead. Trim right before cooking to prevent drying out.
🥗 Side Dishes or Pairing Ideas
These Cast Iron Green Beans go great when served alongside simple main dishes like Crispy Sour Cream and Onion Chicken or Garlic Brown Sugar Pork Tenderloin.
- Crispy Sour Cream and Onion ChickenRecipe $12.70 / Serving $3.18
- Garlic Brown Sugar Pork TenderloinRecipe $10.98 / Serving $1.83
- Healthy Turkey MeatloafRecipe $5.34 / Serving $1.34
- Mushroom Garlic SpaghettiRecipe $4.37 / Serving $1.09
❓ Recipe FAQs
While you can wash the green beans and let them dry on a paper towel-lined colander in the fridge for a few hours I do not recommend cutting off the ends until ready to cook. This is because once those ends are cut you are exposing the insides to air that can dry out the veggies. We don't want the green beans to dry and shrivel up.
While this recipe can be doubled I would only recommend that if you are using a 14 or 16-inch skillet as a 12-inch skillet would be too small to hold in all of the green beans and not make a mess. The cooking time might extend a few minutes as well as get all of the beans blistered and the liquid to cook out of the pan.
I recommend either cooking them on a skillet until warmed through or placing them into the oven at 350 degrees F for a few minutes. Either of these methods will help to regain some of the crispness of the green beans while heating them through. If you like your green beans softer then you may microwave a serving at a time for about 1-2 minutes.
🍽️ More Recipes You'll Love
- Roasted Frozen Green BeansRecipe $1.37 / Serving $0.27
- The Best Canned Green Bean RecipeRecipe $1.14 / Serving $0.29
- Easy Yeast Rolls for BeginnersRecipe $1.06 / Serving $0.12
- Roasted Brussels Sprouts and CarrotsRecipe $4.39 / Serving $0.73
🐝 If you tried these Cast Iron Green Beans, please leave a ⭐️ star rating and share your buzz in the 💬 comments below. I'd truly appreciate it!
📖 Recipe
Cast Iron Green Beans
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter - ($0.25)
- 16 ounces fresh green beans, trimmed - ($1.78)
- 1 teaspoon soy sauce, low-sodium preferred - ($0.02)
- ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes - ($0.02)
- 2 cloves garlic, minced - ($0.16)
- ¼ teaspoon paprika - ($0.02)
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice - ($0.09)
- salt and ground black pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Heat skillet. Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat.
- Cook green beans. Melt the butter in the skillet. Add the green beans and cook for about 8 to 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until blistered and golden in spots.
- Season. Add the soy sauce, red pepper flakes, garlic, and paprika. Toss well to evenly coat and cook for 30 to 60 seconds, just until fragrant.
- Finish. Stir in the lemon juice, season with salt and black pepper to taste, and remove from heat.
- Serve. Serve warm.
Notes
- Prep. Wash and trim green beans just before cooking to prevent drying.
- Heat control. If beans brown too quickly, reduce heat slightly and continue cooking until tender-crisp.
- Flavor balance. Low-sodium soy sauce keeps the dish from becoming overly salty when combined with butter.
Nutritional Information
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