Balsamic Green Beans
These Balsamic Green Beans with Walnuts are one of my favorite vegetable side dishes of all times! Simple, quick, elegant and delicious and they only take 15 minutes to make!
I originally shared this recipe on August 2, 2012. I have updated the images and some of the text today.
Table of contents
Why We Love This Green Beans and Walnut Recipe
This balsamic-glazed green beans 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 tangy balsamic vinegar take regular green beans to a whole new level.
With just 6 simple ingredients and 15 minutes, these Green Beans and Walnuts will be your favorite way to prepare green beans. They will become your go-to easy side dish for any weeknight meal or even for a more elegant affair like a holiday meal!
And if you are like me, you cannot get enough green bean recipes, so make sure to check out my Simple Skillet Green Beans too. They are sauteed and so easy to prepare! And don’t miss this guide How To Cook Green Beans.
Ingredients For Green Beans With Walnuts
- Green Beans: Fresh whole green beans contain vitamins A, C and K, as well as folic acid and fiber. Steaming them just until they are crisp-tender maximizes their health benefits and also the crunchy texture is best for this side dish.
- Olive Oil: Extra Virgin Olive Oil has more monounsaturated fat than other oils, so it is a good option for heart-healthy cooking.
- Garlic: Garlic is in the onion family and adds a slight spicy warmth to the fresh green beans.
- Walnuts: Toasting the walnuts brings the oils to the surface and intensifies the nutty flavor. They add an awesome sweet nutty flavor and great meaty texture to this healthy side dish.
- Aged Balsamic Vinegar: Aged balsamic vinegar is much sweeter and thicker than regular balsamic vinegar. It adds the perfect sweet tangy flavor to this dish and the thicker consistency will perfectly coat the green beans.
- Kosher Salt: The coarser grains of kosher salt actually amplify the flavor and texture of the the dish without making it taste salty. And a little bit goes a long way.
How To Make To Make Balsamic Green Beans
Step 1: Sauté the garlic
The key to seasoning steamed green beans is to cook the seasonings separately then toss them with the cooked green beans afterwards. So to begin, you’ll heat your oil in a small skillet and add the garlic to it. Cook the garlic in the oil over medium heat until the garlic is just barely showing signs of turning brown. Immediately pour it into a large mixing bowl to stop cooking.
Step 2: Steam the green beans
Add 1 to 2 inches of water to a large pot fitted with a steamer attachment, cover and bring to a boil over high heat. Add green beans to the steamer, and cook, covered until the beans are crisp-tender.
Step 3: Transfer the green beans to the bowl
Place the green beans in the bowl with the garlic.
Step 4: Add the remaining ingredients
Add walnuts, balsamic and salt and toss to coat.
FAQ’s and Expert Tips
Steaming green beans is better than boiling because it helps to preserve their nutrients. Boiling quickly and blanching in ice water is a great way to prepare green beans in advance. But it is easy to overcook them so shocking in the ice bath is necessary.
When green beans are picked past their prime they can often be fibrous and stringy, so try to find the freshest greens beans you can. Also, undercooked green beans can be still crispy or a little tough, so cook them until they are crisp-tender.
Store leftover balsamic green beans in the refrigerator in an air-tight container up to 3 days. Reheat them in the microwave, covered with parchment, until steaming hot (about 40 seconds on high per serving.) Alternatively to reheat them on the stovetop, place the leftover green beans and walnuts in a small non-stick skillet with a little olive oil or broth and heat over medium heat, stirring occasionally until they are heated through, about 4 to 5 minutes.
Additional Green Bean Recipes To Try
- This recipe for roasted green beans with almonds and thyme is like a cross between Green Bean Almondine and roasted green beans.
- Make it one of your New Year’s resolutions to try these amazing Asian-inspired Green beans with fermented black beans.
- In the summer, serve this green bean recipe chilled: Green beans and corn
- Another chilled green bean dish option for summertime: green beans with basil vinaigrette
- This absolutely delicious and easy Green Bean Casserole with Cheese is the perfect make-ahead green bean recipe for thanksgiving dinner.
- This luscious Tomato and Green Bean Salad is just a riot of color and juicy summertime produce side-dish mayhem!
- Check out these 25 healthy and inspired green bean recipes for all of your special occasions!
At Healthy Seasonal Recipes, we specialize in cooking with fresh veggies and creating weeknight meals. Sign up HERE to get more produce-forward dinner ideas for FREE! If you make this recipe, please come back and leave a star rating and review. I would love to hear what you thought! Happy Cooking! ~Katie
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Balsamic Green Beans With Walnuts
- Total Time: 15 minutes
- Yield: 6 cups 1x
Description
These Balsamic Green Beans with Walnuts are one of my favorite vegetable side dishes of all times! Simple, quick, elegant and delicious.
Ingredients
- 4 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 4 teaspoons minced garlic
- 1/2 cup chopped walnuts, toasted
- 2 teaspoons aged balsamic vinegar
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 pound green beans, trimmed (about 8 cups)
Instructions
- Heat oil in a small skillet over medium heat. Add garlic and cook, stirring until the garlic is just barely showing signs of turning brown, 30 to 90 seconds. Immediately pour into a large mixing bowl to stop cooking.
- Meanwhile, add 1 to 2 inches of water to a large pot fitted with a steamer attachment, cover and bring to a boil over high heat. Add green beans to steamer, and cook, covered until the beans are crisp tender, 4 to 5 minutes.
- Transfer the green beans to the bowl. Add walnuts, balsamic and salt and toss to coat.
Notes
These green beans are best prepared and served immediately, though they can be reheated. For best results, reheat in the microwave, covered with parchment only until steaming hot. They may discolor due to the balsamic vinegar.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 5 minutes
- Category: Side Dish
- Method: Steamed
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 cup
- Calories: 125
- Sugar: 1 g
- Sodium: 94 mg
- Fat: 10 g
- Saturated Fat: 1 g
- Carbohydrates: 7 g
- Fiber: 3 g
- Protein: 3 g
Perfect Thanksgiving Green Beans- a huge hit!
My family loved this recipe – it was a hit with adults and kiddos alike – my partner loves walnuts and ‘al dente’ beans, and who doesn’t love garlic!? This was a perfect combo of favorites combined in a way we hadn’t seen before. I was so glad I found this recipe after scanning the fridge and realizing we had some French beans that needed to be cooked.
To speed things up, since it was a weeknight, I rinsed the beans and steamed them in a microwave safe bowl in the microwave while I sautéed the garlic. Poured off the tiny bit of water in the bowl and added the oil/garlic, did a quick toast of the walnuts we had for baking in the toaster oven and rough chopped them… everyone loved them. My partner even said “put these on the potential sides list for when we have company!” – thank you for the introduction to this dish that I’m sure we’ll make many more times!!
What a wonderful review! Thank you so much, Michael. I am so happy that everyone enjoyed my recipe. Have a great weekend!
This recipe was amazingly delicious