Smothered Green Beans with Bacon
Smothered Green Beans with Bacon – It doesn’t get much better than this. Roasted green beans with a savory-sweet sauce and crispy bacon. Perfect for a holiday meal and easy enough for a weeknight.
I’ve been well into the throes of making over some of our old favorite recipes as we move into the holiday season. It’s been such a delicious experiment. Basically, it’s been getting to enjoy holiday food during the week just because! Some experiments have been better than others (I made some utterly disastrous slow cooker mashed potatoes), but these green beans? They were definitely a success.
I couldn’t think of a better or different name than smothered green beans. These are definitely All The Good Things–savory, salty, a little sweet, with some smoky notes from the bacon. (So I guess that’s just all the ‘S’ things.) We absolutely loved them. They’re a great alternative to green bean casserole during the holidays, yes, but they can elevate a weeknight meal beautifully, too.
As far as the roasting step goes, you could certainly skip it and simply blanch the beans a bit longer or steam them. I prefer roasting them in the oven so that I can make everything ahead of time and the bacon can crisp up again in the oven. It’s just got such lovely texture!
Notes on the Recipe:
Make it ahead! If you’re trying to prep ahead of time for a holiday meal, you can prep this dish ahead of time up until the baking point. Cook the bacon, blanch the green beans, and put them (the bacon and beans) into your baking dish along with the garlic. Cover and refrigerate. Mix up the sauce ingredients and store them separately in a small container or bowl in the refrigerator until right before baking time. Then, simply add the sauce to the beans and pop it all in the oven!
If you’re vegan or vegetarian, you can omit the bacon and use olive oil instead. Bacon is super amazing, but the sauce is still absolutely delightful on these beans even without it.
Don’t have coconut sugar on hand? No worries! Brown sugar will do. I tried using honey or maple syrup and found the consistency was just too runny for my liking.
Prefer a thicker sauce? You can thicken the sauce with 1/2 tsp cornstarch and 1 Tbsp water. Mix cornstarch and water and stir into sauce ingredients. Heat in a small saucepan over medium heat and stir until thickened. Pour over blanched green beans and bake as directed.
Like this recipe? You might also like…
- Green Beans with Balsamic and Bell Pepper Relish
- Paleo (or Vegan!) Sweet Potato Casserole
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Smothered Green Beans with Bacon
- Yield: 6-8 1x
Description
For a thicker sauce, mix cornstarch and water in with the other sauce ingredients. Heat in a small saute pan over medium heat and stir until thickened. Pour over green beans and bake as directed.
Ingredients
- 1 1/2–2 lbs. green beans, ends trimmed and beans cut into 1” pieces
- 3 Tbsp gluten free tamari, soy sauce, or coconut aminos
- 3 Tbsp coconut sugar
- 1–2 Tbsp bacon grease (or butter or olive oil), melted
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 8–12oz bacon, cooked and crumbled
- Optional: 1/2 tsp cornstarch + 1 Tbsp water (for thicker sauce)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350
- Bring a large saucepan of water to a boil over medium-high heat. Add green beans and blanch 2-3 minutes. Drain and transfer to an 8×8 (or 2 quart) baking dish.
- Meanwhile, stir together sauce ingredients: whisk together tamari, coconut sugar, bacon grease, and garlic. Pour over green beans in baking dish. Sprinkle crumbled bacon over top.
- Bake 15-20 minutes.
Beautiful dish! Your bacon looks so good. It’s meaty and not all fat. What kind is it?
What can you use instead of coconut sugar? Brown sugar??
Yes! Brown sugar is a great sub.