In wintertime, when fresh green beans are impossible to get, how do you prepare canned easy green beans for dinner? Well, here's THE recipe!
How to Cook Green Beans from a Can
OK, what happens when you can't get fresh green beans?
Yes, in the dead of winter in the Rocky Mountains, it's a hard ingredient to source.
Green beans in a can to the rescue! Now the green beans I buy have only green beans, water and sea salt in them. That's it.
And, if you your budget allows, buy organic green beans in the can. And, even if your budget is tight, cut back on other grocery expenses and buy organic green beans.
Canned Green Beans and Onions
There's nothing better than green beans and onions. In fact, when summer green beans come in, we love to simply steam green beans, season them and then serve with raw thinly sliced onions very much like these picnic green beans!
What Can I Add to Green Beans for Flavor
Like many things you want to flavor, sauteing sweet onions and garlic in olive oil is a perfect seasoning agent. And, if you have bacon drippings for these green beans, oh, yes, that's liquid gold. You can sauté the garlic and onions in those flavorful drippings!
Another great flavoring spice mixture for green beans? Old Bay seasoning. Yes, the kind you use on seafood! Check out my Old Bay Green Beans recipe.
Canned Cut Green Bean Recipes
I used regular cut green beans for this recipe. However, another bean that I absolutely love canned is Italian green beans. Long in flat they grow on bushes rather than poles.
They're generally known as Romano beans. I've not had much luck sourcing them fresh, so I have to settle for the canned version.
Taste wise they're a tad bit sweeter and a bit more delicate. It's important to not overcook them (especially the fresh ones).
Great Canned Green Bean Recipes
There are a number of brands that produce canned green beans. Basically, you want those that are simply green beans, water and sea salt (you can drain the liquid).
And, as I said, if your budget can manage, always buy canned green beans organic. Why? Because green beans are one of those vegetables that can get a lot of pesticide spraying during grow season.
Canned Green Beans with Bacon
Bacon drippings are universally one of the best seasoning oils out there. Yes, liquid gold. And, growing up in West Virginia, on about every coal miner's stove top, there was a can of bacon drippings.
Bacon is perfect for seasoning green beans. You can throw in a few slices of bacon if you don't have drippings.
Green Bean Seasoning
As I said, Old Bay Seasoning makes a fabulous flavor mixture for green beans. Another spice, smokey hot paprika! Check out this recipe with green beans and tomatoes.
Green Bean Side Dishes
The quintessential side dish, green beans are perfect with so many things. They're big hits during holiday meals. And, in the summer when you can find fresh ones, stock up!
I remember as a little girl, when that green bean harvest would come in, we'd all sit out in lawn chairs in the back yard. There'd be a few bushels of green beans. Yes, it's like back breaking work to pick green beans!
The evening's entertainment was to string and snap beans. Neighbors would help neighbors. Kinda like a barn raising back in the 1950s and 1960s. Then the next day, Mom would go to work. Canning. Our dark dank basement shelves were filled with garden-fresh canned vegetables, green beans, corn, tomatoes, squash and more. Oh, those were the days, my friend. And, boy did we eat well.
