These easy French Style Green Beans turn canned green beans into a flavorful side dish with bacon, onion, garlic, maple syrup, Dijon mustard, balsamic vinegar, and Parmesan cheese. They’re ready in about 25 minutes and make an easy side dish for weeknight dinners or holiday meals.
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Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- It’s a tasty side dish that uses simple ingredients.
- A delicious way to spruce up canned green beans.
- This recipe is great with fresh or canned beans.
Ingredient Notes
See recipe card for exact amounts.
- Canned Green Beans: We typically use French-style green beans because Lee likes those best. You can use any regular canned green beans, or even fresh green beans. The cooking process for fresh will be a little different, see below for instructions.
- Bacon: We use a few strips of bacon and a bit of the grease to give our beans delicious smoky flavor.
- Onion: I like white onion or yellow onion for this.
- Sweet & Tangy Sauce: The sauce is made by adding maple syrup, Dijon mustard, balsamic vinegar, salt and black pepper right into the skillet.
- Parmesan Cheese: I like to freshly grate Parm, and for this recipe we like to grate it on the large holes of the grater. You can use pre-shredded or shaved if you prefer.
How to make French Style Canned Green Beans
- Cook the bacon until crispy in a large skillet over medium heat (turn the heat down if necessary), this will take about 10 minutes. Remove the bacon and set aside, chop when cool. Discard all but one tablespoon of the bacon grease, *see note below.
- Add the onion and cook over medium heat it until it is translucent, soft, and beginning to brown, about 3-5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook another minute.
- Next, add the maple syrup, Dijon mustard, balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper and cook until heated through, scraping up any bits on the bottom of the pan.
- Drain the green beans; add the green beans and bacon into the sauce, stirring to coat. Cook stirring occasionally until heated through, about 3-5 minutes.
- Pour into a serving dish and top with grated Parmesan cheese, or add to individual servings.
Tips
- Bacon grease: Be careful when measuring hot bacon grease. Pour it into a heatproof measuring cup, measure 1 tablespoon, and wipe any grease from the bottom of the skillet before returning it to the heat.
- Draining the beans: Leave the can lid partially attached and hold it in place while draining the liquid—no strainer needed.
To make this recipe with pre-cooked bacon
Making the bacon ahead of time or using store bought is a great way to make this dish quicker on busy nights. Start where you add the bacon grease and proceed from there. If you are using pre-cooked bacon or packaged bacon pieces and don’t have bacon grease you can use canola oil, olive oil, vegetable oil or butter instead of the bacon grease called for.
To make this recipe with fresh beans
Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add green beans and ½ cup water, bring to a boil then reduce heat to medium, cover and cook for 8-10 minutes or until beans are tender, stirring occasionally. Take the lid off and allow the water to cook out.
Remove green beans and proceed with the recipe as directed above, adding the beans back in to heat through after you cook the bacon and onion, and make the sauce.
Substitutions and additions
- Garlic: Substitute ¼ teaspoon garlic powder for the fresh garlic.
- Balsamic vinegar: Substitute 2 teaspoons red wine vinegar or apple cider vinegar mixed with about ¼ teaspoon sugar or brown sugar.
- Red pepper flakes: Add ⅛–1 teaspoon for a little heat, depending on your preference.
Storage and reheating
Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. Reheat on the stove top or in the microwave.
More Easy Vegetable Side Dishes:
- Pan Fried Green Beans – Quick and crispy!
- Parmesan Roasted Green Beans – A family favorite.
- Garlic Lemon Green Beans – A family favorite.
This beans are also included in my What to Serve with Mac and Cheese meal guide, so check that out for ideas for what to serve with these beans.
Love this recipe?
Leave a comment and a ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ rating below!
French Style Green Beans with Bacon
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Ingredients
- 3 strips thick cut bacon
- ¼ cup onion diced
- 1 teaspoon garlic
- 1 tablespoon maple syrup
- 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
- 2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ⅛ teaspoon black pepper
- 2 cans green beans 14.25 ounces each
- 2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
Instructions
- In a large skillet over medium heat cook bacon until crispy, this will take about 10 minutes (turn heat down if necessary). Remove bacon and set aside, chop when cool. Discard all but one tablespoon of bacon grease, *see note below.3 strips thick cut bacon
- Add onion and cook over medium heat until it is translucent, soft, and beginning to brown, about 3-5 minutes. Add garlic and cook another minute.¼ cup onion, 1 teaspoon garlic
- Add maple syrup, Dijon mustard, balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper and cook until heated through, scraping up any bits bottom of pan.1 tablespoon maple syrup, 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard, 2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar, ¼ teaspoon salt, ⅛ teaspoon black pepper
- Drain green beans; add the green beans and bacon into the sauce, stirring to coat. Cook stirring occasionally until heated through, about 3-5 minutes.2 cans green beans
- Pour into a serving dish and top with grated Parmesan cheese, or add to individual servings.2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
Tried this recipe and I’m in LOVE! Perfect recipe for me finding a can in my cabinet and wanting to elevate them. Thanks so much
I’m so glad you love them! Thanks for commenting and reviewing!
I loved this recipe and so did my husband! Best recipe I have ever had using canned beans.
That’s awesome, I’m glad you both like it. Thanks for commenting and rating!