This canned green bean recipe is an easy and delicious way to use those green beans in your pantry! A few ingredients make a veggie the family will love!
I always like to have a small stock of canned goods in my pantry. Small mainly because my current pantry is small. Ha. Even though I usually have preserved produce {like tomatoes, zucchini, and broccoli} in my freezer or fresh from my garden, some days call for a quick veggie fix if I’m going to get one onto the table in time for dinner. Which is where this easy canned green bean recipe comes in!
I grew up eating these and loving them, my mom was the master and making veggies delicious, and this easy canned green bean recipe is one of Abram’s favorites as well. Andy will even eat them!
And seriously, it’s so easy. But so dang good.
Please don’t ever just dump a can of green beans into a pot, heat them up, and serve them. Your kids probably won’t eat them.
And your husband probably won’t either.
And then you’ll be mad and never want to make dinner again.
And that’s just way too sad!
Instead, make this canned green bean recipe. There are only a few ingredients: butter and onion powder with salt and pepper. Simple but magical!
The first time I made these to go with our dinner, Andy was still pretty apprehensive about anything I cooked {newlyweds}. Especially vegetables. This is a direct quote from that evening, “Those smell like they’d taste good.” But he wouldn’t try them. HA.
The trick to this recipe is to let the liquid simmer completely out. This lets the butter and seasoning stick to the green beans, which results in deliciousness every bite. If you leave the liquid in the beans, all the good stuff you add just gets left behind when you serve them.
A great addition to this recipe is some bacon. Because everything is better with bacon. Especially veggies. Is that an oxymoron? Never mind, don’t answer that. If bacon + veggies = wrong, I just don’t wanna be right.
I’ll just list Cooking Veggies with Butter and Bacon under the growing list that is titled Reasons from the Kitchen: Why Alli Must Exercise Regularly. Also, if you are nerdy like me you can read this awesome article about the chemistry of why bacon is so good.
I’m not embarrassed. Ahem.
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Easy Canned Green Bean Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 can green beans any cut, see note
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper
Instructions
- Drain half of the liquid out of the green beans.
- Pour the green beans and the reserved half of the canning liquid into a skillet.
- Add butter, onion powder, salt and pepper.
Simmer, uncovered and stirring occasionally, until almost all of the cooking liquid has evaporated.
- Taste and adjust seasonings if necessary.
Recipe Notes
You can scale this recipe up as needed, we usually make 2 or 3 cans at a time and just adjust the seasonings accordingly.
Carolyn olguin says
Really delicious my family enjoyed ever bite . Will be making it next year
Alli says
Thanks so much, Carolyn! So glad they were a hit with your family.
Catherine Redmon says
So if you are using 4 cans of beans, would you leave 1/2 the liquid from each can?
Alli says
Hi Catherine! If you use 4 cans of beans, drain two and leave the liquid in two 🙂 You just want to use 1/2 of the total liquid. Does that make sense?
Vonda says
Just made a yr on the vegan journey so always looking for easy after work recipes. Always looking for ways to get more green into my diet so I decided to try this one. Definitely will try again..probably adjust the seasoning some but love the quickness/simpleness.
Alli says
Glad you liked it, Vonda!
Patricia Jones says
I love fresh green bean and most of the times I made some recipes with this. My family, as well as my sons, love bean recipe. Tried these yesterday. They were so good. Followed recipe as written. Thanks for giving me a quick & easy take on green beans!
Alli says
So glad you liked them, Patricia!
Shelly R. says
Add a half of beef bouillon cube and it will take it over the top!
Alli says
Great suggestion!
Phil says
This is my favorite way to eat green beans. And the bacon tip in an earlier comment is a great idea.
Alli says
Such a great idea, we should make it like that more often!
Maddison says
I love how simple and delicious this recipe is. Plus it’s kid approved. My 10 year old sister will not eat vegetables but she loves these! She even goes for seconds.
Alli says
I love hearing that! Thanks, Maddi!! 🙂
Mrs. Williams says
Do you simmer with a lid on or off. Also can you cook in sauce pot like 3 quart size instead of skillet. I am vegan and can’t use butter or bacon. Any suggestions or alternatives to butter or bacon.
Alli says
Hey! I simmer uncovered the whole time. You can make it in a sauce pot, just stir frequently so everything gets evenly coated. The original recipe doesn’t call for bacon, so don’t worry about adding that. As far as butter goes, you could use any oil in its place but it will be less flavorful. Hope that helps!
Sadiya says
Hi there! This worked out great with some leftover brown rice. Thanks for the super easy recipe! It was just what I needed on a day when I got home from work and really didn’t want to put any effort into cooking!
Alli says
So glad to hear you liked it!! Thanks for letting me know 🙂
Timothy Frank Boerste says
Would you add the bacon in step 3 if you had bacon?
Alli says
Hi Timothy! I’d cook the bacon very first thing, before step 1. After it’s cooked, remove most of the grease but leave any browned bits on the bottom of the pan. Proceed with the recipe as written and then yes, add the cooked bacon back in at step 3! Then be sure to scrape up those good flavorful bits in the bottom of the pan as the beans simmer. Thank you for asking! I’ll have to add more clarity to the post.
Kody says
Was just what I was looking for! My fiancee and 16 month-old daughter loved it. Thanks
Alli says
Thank you so much, Kody!! I’m glad you and your family enjoyed it 🙂
Corlette says
This was yummy and my kids loved it.
Alli says
Yay!! So glad to hear that Corlette! Thank you for letting me know.
Stephanie says
Really simple, really easy and it was a hit with the whole family. It definitely took the guilt out of only having plain old green beans in a can lol.
Alli says
I’m so glad you and your family liked it Stephanie! Thank you for trying the recipe! Definitely no guilt for canned food 🙂
Melissa says
Really good. I was looking for an easy way to spice up canned green beans with ingredients I already have. Will make again. Thanks!
Alli says
Hi Melissa! I’m so glad you liked the recipe, thank you for letting me know!!
Tammy Wilson says
The recipe shows onion powder but in your blog you say garlic powder. Just want to makes sure which is correct.
Thanks
Alli says
Hey Tammy! AH! You are right. Thank you for pointing out that typo! It is onion powder and is now fixed in the post. I appreciate it!