This easy green bean recipe makes perfectly tender beans coated in an incredibly flavorful garlic butter sauce in just 15 minutes!
My favorite way to cook green beans is in a skillet on the stovetop. It is so quick and easy. They’re seriously delicious, especially with that incredible garlic butter. Yum!
Sautéing is one of the best ways to cook fresh green beans, and it’s also fast, so we make this recipe often!
Key Ingredients
- Green Beans: I prefer to use fresh green beans over frozen beans. They should look vibrant green and feel firm. If you bend them, they should snap. String beans, haricot verts, and wax beans also work.
- Olive Oil and Butter: I start cooking the beans with a tiny bit of olive oil, and then add that delicious garlic butter at the end. Plant-based butter is a great alternative to keep this recipe vegan.
- Garlic: I use three cloves of garlic for this sautéed green beans recipe and love it. You can increase or decrease the garlic based on your tastes. You can also swap the garlic for ginger, like I do for these ginger green beans.
- Lemon: I love adding lemon to most dishes! A little lemon zest and juice keep these green beans tasting bright and fresh.
Find the full recipe with measurements below.
How to Cook Green Beans (My Favorite Way)
Tip 1: Start by blistering. I like my beans to be bright green with a few blistered spots on the outside and tender and flavorful in the middle. To achieve this, we start by cooking them in a wide skillet with oil and salt, and toss them every few minutes. The beans won’t cook through at this stage, but you should see a few blistered spots.
Tip 2: Add a bit of liquid. To cook them through so they are tender, I pour in a small amount of liquid (like water or stock) and cover the skillet with a lid. This steams them so after about 2 minutes, the green beans will be tender.
Tip 3: Finish with garlic and butter. You can serve these as is or add more flavor with minced garlic and butter. Stir in a bit of butter and garlic, which melt down into a delicious garlic butter sauce that coats the beans. We use the same method when sautéing vegetables.
Serving Suggestions
Here are a few of our family’s favorite dishes to serve the green beans with:
- Turkey Meatloaf (see our secret for making sure it isn’t dry)
- Juicy Chicken Breasts
- Baked Lemon Chicken Breast
- The Best Juicy Skillet Pork Chops
- Easy Chicken Parmesan
- Lemon Dill Baked Salmon
More Easy Vegetable Recipes
- Perfect Sautéed Kale
- Easy Sautéed Vegetables
- Easy Sautéed Zucchini
- Green Bean Casserole
- Fresh Green Bean Salad
Garlic Sautéed Green Beans
- PREP
- COOK
- TOTAL
These easy sautéed green beans are perfectly tender, and taste incredible thanks to the garlic butter stirred in at the end. You can make this flavorful side dish in 15 minutes! Our family loves them and I think yours will, too!
Watch Us Make the Recipe
You Will Need
1 pound (450g) fresh green beans, stem ends snapped off
1 teaspoon olive oil
¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
¼ cup (60ml) water or stock
1 tablespoon butter or vegan butter
3 medium garlic cloves, minced, about 1 tablespoon
½ teaspoon lemon zest
¼ teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
Lemon wedges, for serving
Directions
1Add oil to a wide skillet over medium-high heat. Add the green beans and ¼ teaspoon of salt.
2Cook for about 5 minutes until lightly blistered, tossing the beans around the pan so they cook evenly.
3Pour in water (or stock). Cover the skillet (or use foil if needed) and cook for 2 minutes.
4Uncover, reduce heat to medium-low, and cook until the remaining liquid evaporates.
5Stir in the butter, garlic, lemon zest, and pepper. Cook for another minute, stirring the garlic. Serve!
Adam and Joanne's Tips
- Storing: Allow the green beans to cool, then store them in an airtight container in the fridge for 3 to 4 days. Gently reheat them in a skillet over medium heat and enjoy.
- The provided nutrition facts are estimates. Garlic butter is included.
I needed a recipe to saute green beans and did a search on your website, and as always, didn’t disappoint! Might I add, I looked on the NY Times app and couldn’t find anything I wanted to use. Your recipes are easy to make, and always turn out fantastic.
This comment and review made our day! We will be smiling for days now 🙂
Fantastic and delicious. I followed the recipe exactly. It’s an easy technique that resulted in perfectly cooked and tasty greens beans.
Delicious and easy recipe. Fresh green beans are one of my husbands favorite vegetables. Thanks for sharing.
You are so welcome!
Honestly, I wish I had learned this easy method years ago! I love green beans just about any way, but my husband is very picky and only likes like them sauteed. This was a hit with the whole family, even my son, who doesn’t care for green beans, ate them! Thanks for the recipe!
We are so happy that your family loves the recipe! 🙂
I made these tonight as a test run for our Christmas meal. Excellent. Just excellent. I didn’t have stock and did not want to use water so I mixed a bit of chicken bullion and water together and omitted the salt and lemon ( the bullion is already salty). My 15yo granddaughter and I are fighting over the few remaining beans :) Thank you for such an easy and delicious recipe.
Love it! 🙂
Absolutely delicious! I served these up to accompany a pasta dish for my family and some visiting friends, and everyone loved them. So easy to do and incredibly tasty. I made them using vegan butter, as I’m vegan, and it worked really well. I will definitely do this again. Really, REALLY good!
Absolutely delicious! I served these up to accompany a pasta dish for my family and some visiting friends, and everyone loved them. So easy to do and incredibly tasty. I will definitely do this again. Really, REALLY good!
You made our day with this comment/review 🙂
Just made these green beans to go with Inspired Taste “Best Meatloaf We’ve Ever Made”. My husband I love how the green beans came out, complimented the main dish, had great flavor, love veggies that dont turn out mushy and have lots of flavor. What a quick, easy and tasteful way to use fresh green beans – a new go to side dish!
Yay! 🙂
These were delicious! I used the chicken stock and my very favorite French butter, omitted the lemon as not a fan. Very good recipe! Much appreciated.
Would this green bean recipe be ok making in advance?
Hi Diane, Yes, these are great for making ahead of time.
I made these last night, it was so easy to make and so delicious, this is definitely my go to recipe for fresh green beans
I’ve made these before and they are delicious! Wondering, though, if I could make them ahead of time and reheat in a skillet?
Hi Darcy, we are thrilled you enjoy the recipe. Yes, you can definitely make these and then store in the fridge for a few days. To reheat, toss them back into a skillet and warm over medium heat.
I didn’t have green beans, but used the sauce on asparagus and it was soooo good. Can’t wait to try it with the green beans.