balsamic green beans with walnuts

Name: balsamic green beans with walnuts
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 5 min
Total time: 15 min
Yield: 6 cups
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: 4 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil; 4 teaspoons minced garlic; ½ cup chopped walnuts, toasted; 2 teaspoons aged balsamic vinegar; ½ teaspoon kosher salt; 1 pound green beans, trimmed (about 8 cups)

by Katie | Jun 11, 2018 | Side Dishes | 14 comments

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These Balsamic Green Beans with Walnuts are one of my favorite vegetable side dishes of all times! Simple, quick, elegant and delicious. {Naturally gluten-free and vegan!}

I originally shared this recipe on August 2 2012. I have updated the images and some of the text today.

A lot of people ask me about tips for picky eaters and how to get kids to eat more healthy foods and particularly thier vegetables. These balsamic green beans are the perfect opportunity to talk about that. I call them a gateway vegetable. Read on to find out why!

Let’s start with my mom and how she got my sister and me to eat spicy chili, steamed artichokes with hollandaise and chopped salad with olives and tomatoes like it was no big deal.

She told me that what she served was the only option. She fed us dinner and we ate it. That was the menu. Sure there were moments when we genuinely didn’t like something. She didn’t make us another meal. That was it. That’s the model I’ve adapted too, and it actually has worked for the most part.

Another pivotal discussion that has influenced my attitudes about picky eating was when I had the wonderful fortune to interview Craig Johnston, Assistant Professor Department of pediatrics in Children’s Nutrition research center Baylor College of Medicine. Got all that? He’s a kids’ nutrition guy. I wrote about him here too.

Basically, he said that if parents are trying to get kids to eat more vegetables they can start with a vegetable kids don’t mind so much. Like for my kids that would be green beans. For others it may be peas or carrots. He says those easy veggies are like a “gateway vegetable.” When the kids eat them, make sure to praise the heck out of them. So with little ones, make it fun and rewarding to make healthy choices. Say things like “Oh my goodness you’re the green bean monster!” Or “Look at you, eating your vegetables!”

Johnston said parents can say something like “your taste-buds are growing up” when their kids eat even a little bite. And then you can move on to the next level of vegetable, like zucchini. Start off adding a little zucchini, maybe it’s nine parts green beans and one part zucchini to begin with, Johnston says. And if you see them eat even a tiny bite, praise them.

Johnston says instead of the “stealth health” you ultimately want to get the kids eating the vegetables and tasting the vegetables. I couldn’t agree more. And with green beans tasting this good who wouldn’t want to call themselves a green bean monster?!

This balsamic green beans with walnuts recipe is so simple, but the flavors are complex in the best way. The nutty sweetness of the garlic paired with the meatiness of the walnuts and the bright tanginess of the aged balsamic take green beans to a whole new level.

With just 6 ingredients and 15 minutes you can make these Green Beans with Walnuts and Balsamic your gateway vegetable and everyone will be thrilled!