French Style Green Beans

Ingredients

See recipe card for exact amounts. 

Ingredient Notes

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

1. 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.
2. 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. 
3. 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. 
4. 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.
5. Pour into a serving dish and top with grated Parmesan cheese, or add to individual servings. 

Tips

• *Be extremely careful when you are measuring hot bacon grease. You can carefully pour the hot oil into a glass measuring cup on a heatproof surface and then measure out 1 tablespoon. The grease is hot so you need to use a heatproof measuring device or it will melt. Also, be sure to carefully clean any excess bacon grease off of the bottom of the skillet so it doesn’t burn when you put it back on the heat. 
• I open the cans of green beans and leave the lid attached a little, then I pour the canning liquid out while holding the lid in place, this way I don’t have to dirty a strainer. 
• This is a good recipe to make in the slow cooker (to free up valuable stove top space if you are making it for for a big meal such as Thanksgiving dinner), just pre-cook the bacon and add all of the ingredients into the crock pot and cook on low 2-3 hours or until hot. 

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 1/2 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

• Don’t have fresh garlic? Use 1/4 teaspoon of garlic powder instead. 
• If you don’t have balsamic vinegar you can use 2 teaspoons of red wine vinegar or apple cider vinegar mixed with about 1/4 teaspoon of sugar or brown sugar. Very Well Fit gives you a few ideas using either soy sauce or Worcestershire sauce, so check that out if you don’t have one of the vinegars.
• Red pepper flakes would be a great addition for a little kick, anywhere from 1/8 – 1 teaspoon, depending on how hot you like it. 

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. 

Try these green bean recipes next!

Pan Fried

Parmesan Roasted

Garlic Lemon