Sauteed Garlic Green Beans Recipe

You only need 5 ingredients to whip up this garlicky sauteed green beans recipe that makes a great side to any lunch or dinner menu.

It is suitable for gluten-free, vegan, Paleo and Whole 30 diets. 

This garlic green bean recipes is one of my weeknight side dish staples. It is quick to whip up, bursting with over the top delicious flavor, and has everyone asking to seconds. Even better, I only need 5 simple ingredients and less than 10 minutes of prep to make this.

Between you and I, I love this and often turn it into the main event serving it over pasta or rice. These garlicky sauteed green beans are also perfect for holiday gatherings especially our Thanksgiving dinner menu alongside Smothered Green Beans or these make ahead Crockpot Green Beans and these fab Smashed Brussel Sprouts.

Why You’ll Love This Recipe

• Quick and easy – You only need a few simple steps to whip up this delicious side dish for busy weeknights and that is impressive enough to serve dinner guests.
• Customizable – I love how I can easily change this up with favorite mix-ins to taste. I highly recommend adding in buttery toasted almonds.
• Scalable – You can double or triple this recipe to feed a crowd or for meal prep. Although put this in front of me, and self control and leftovers go out of the window.

Ingredient Notes

In this easy recipe, we’ll sautee green beans with garlic and chili into a delicious side dish. Follow my tips on each ingredient for the best results.

• Green beans – This recipe calls for fresh green beans, that have been topped and tailed. Grab them from the supermarket or your garden. Select the best beans and discard any that don’t look fresh.
• Oil – Use any neutral flavored oil you have, like olive oil. I tend to add in a little butter too which adds fantastic flavor.
• Fresh garlic cloves – Get the freshest garlic you can. Make sure to slice them, not crush them, so you get that nice golden fried crunch. Trust me on this.
• Fresh chillies – These are optional and I use very, very mild chilis.
• Salt – I simply season with salt, and sometimes use a flavored salt. If you like add in your favorite spice blends or fresh herbs.

How To Make Sauteed Green Beans

Use the process shots below as a visual guide to help you make this. Get the complete ingredients list and instructions from the recipe card below.

Blanch the green beans

Step 1 – Rinse and top and tail the beans.

Step 2 – Boil the beans in salted water for up to 5 minutes depending on their size until cooked but not overdone.

Then plunge cooked beans into ice-cold water to stop cooking, drain, and set aside.

Make the Garlic Green Beans

Step 3 – Heat the oil in a skillet, and add the garlic and chillies. Season with salt and fry stirring frequently until the garlic becomes crunchy and just starts changing colour.

Take off the heat immediately and pour it into a cool container.

Step 4 – In the same frying pan quickly stir-fry beans for a minute.

Return all the garlic and chili and half the seasoned oil to the pan and mix.

Bintu’s Tips and Variations

I really love switching things up in the kitchen. Here are some tips for easier cooking and variations for you to try if you want something a little different.

• Ice cold water is best as this cools the beans quickest and keeps them from cooking further as they cool down.
• Make sure the oil is warm but not burning hot before adding in the garlic, so the flavor goes through into the oil. But watch out, as garlic goes from golden to burnt real quick so keep an eye on and decant as soon as they start turning golden.
• Serve with less oil. Not everyone will want extra oil, so when serving be careful of the amount of oil you dish out to guests. Me and mine love it all though.
• Vary the vegetables. Fried chillies and garlic make such a good vegetable topping combo. I have successfully swapped out green beans for other vegetables like roasted broccoli, roasted carrots and roasted cauliflower. Let me know what else you try.
• Add bacon. Cook diced bacon after cooking the garlic and chilis, and then add in your green beans for that extra new flavor boost. I highly recommend smoky streaky bacon.
• Use canned green beans. This calls for fresh beans but you can easily use canned green beans. Simply drain the beans, put them in a saucepan and cover with water. Heat until warmed through or cook for a further few minutes if you prefer softer beans. Then continue with making the chilli garlic oil before adding in the beans.

Storage

Have any leftover? Lucky, lucky you.

• Prep ahead – Boil the beans, cool, dry and refrigerate for a few hours and then follow the rest of the recipe when needed. Saves you a bit of time.
• Store – Refrigerate cooled cooked beans in an airtight container for up to 3 days. 
• Reheat – for a couple of minutes in a preheated air fryer. You can also use a microwave but they will not be crispy.

Serving suggestions

These garlicky green beans make a great side dish to many main, from everyday dinner, to special date nights as well as the holidays. I recommend serving them alongside this Vegan Lasagna, my weeknight fav 5 ingredient Baked Tortellini Casserole, this easy peasy Baked Salmon, my family favorite juicy Grilled Steak as well as the Air Fryer Steak.

Oh and by the way, leftovers are great added into a salad or brunch omelette. Yeap, they so are.

More Recipes You Might Like

If you like this recipe, then you for sure want to check these out.

• Green Beans Almondine <= made on the stovetop.
• Check out this fresh take on the classic Green Bean Casserole Recipe!
• Smothered Green Beans. So, so good.
• Crockpot Green Beans. Easy to make.
• These best Air Fryer Green Beans ever in 8 minutes.

Weight Watchers Points

If you use olive oil, there are 6 Blue Plan Smartpoint per serving.

Post originally published August 2013.

Get The Sauteed Green Bean Recipe

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Print Recipe

5 from 8 votes

Garlic Green Beans Recipe

a simple side dish everyone will love

Prep Time5 minutes mins

Cook Time10 minutes mins

Total Time15 minutes mins

Course: Side Dish

Servings: 4

Calories: 240kcal

Author: Bintu Hardy

Ingredients

• ▢ 1 lb (450g) green beans, topped and tailed
• ▢ 4-5 tbsp vegetable oil
• ▢ 4 cloves garlic
• ▢ 2 very mild chillies
• ▢ Salt

UK Measures – **Convert to US Measures**

Instructions

• Boil the beans in some salted water for up to 5 mins depending on their size until cooked but not over done.
• Then plunged cooked beans into ice cold water to stop cooking, drain and set aside.
• Peel and slice the garlic cloves, de-seed and chop the chilli.
• Heat oil in a frying pan and add the garlic and chillies and season with salt. Fry on low to medium heat, stirring frequently until the garlic becomes crunchy and starts changing colour.
• Take off the heat immediately and poor into a cool container.
• In the same frying pan with only the residual leftover oil quickly stir fry beans for a min.
• Return the all the garlic and chilli and half the seasoned oil to the pan and mix. If you pour all the oil on the beans it might be too much so if you want to add a bit more then mix in an extra 1/2 tbsp of oil at a time.

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Notes

• Ice cold water is best as this cools the beans quickest and keeps them from cooking further as they cool down.
• Make sure the oil is warm but not burning hot before adding in the garlic, so the flavor goes through into the oil. But watch out, as garlic goes from golden to burnt real quick so keep an eye on and decant as soon as they start turning golden.
• Serve with less oil. Not everyone will want extra oil, so when serving be careful of the amount of oil you dish out to guests. Me and mine love it all though.
• Vary the vegetables. Fried chillies and garlic make such a good vegetable topping combo. I have successfully swapped out green beans for other vegetables like roasted broccoli, roasted carrots and roasted cauliflower. Let me know what else you try.
• Add bacon. Cook diced bacon after cooking the garlic and chilis, and then add in your green beans for that extra new flavor boost. I highly recommend smoky streaky bacon.
• Use canned green beans. This calls for fresh beans but you can easily use canned green beans. Simply drain the beans, put them in a saucepan and cover with water. Heat until warmed through or cook for a further few minutes if you prefer softer beans. Then continue with making the chilli garlic oil before adding in the beans.

Nutrition

Calories: 240kcal | Carbohydrates: 12g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 21g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Sodium: 10mg | Potassium: 354mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 5g | Vitamin A: 1075IU | Vitamin C: 49mg | Calcium: 54mg | Iron: 1.6mg