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Jun 19, 2024

We spill the beans: Green beans are in season!

Sign up for our free newsletter to have Evanston news delivered directly to your inbox every weekday! String beans, green beans, runner beans, haricots verts, bush beans, pole beans. Whatever you call

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String beans, green beans, runner beans, haricots verts, bush beans, pole beans. Whatever you call them, fresh beans are filled with nutrients and vitamins, are fat-free, and low in calories. They’re high in vitamin C and fiber, great for snacking (blanch them first), pickling (throw them in a bloody mary), sautéing, and of course, tossing together with mushroom soup and french-fried onions in the ubiquitous Thanksgiving casserole.

Here are some recipe ideas that take advantage of these summer veggies at their freshest:

Use them in a Niçoise salad. The perfect summer meal! Make a mustardy vinaigrette with lemon juice, olive oil, Dijon mustard, a little honey, chopped parsley, salt and pepper. In a medium pot of boiling salted water, put in a half pound of new potatoes and cook for 10 minutes. Add in a half pound of trimmed and rinsed thin green beans or haricots verts. Remove beans after 4 minutes and place in an ice bath to stop cooking. Check potatoes for doneness. Once they are easily pierced with a fork, remove and place in an ice bath. Build your Niçoise salad on a large serving platter. Toss some mixed greens with some dressing. It forms the base. Then layer in stripes across: green beans tossed with a little dressing, sliced cooked new potatoes, some drained oil-packed tuna, oil-cured black olives and cherry tomatoes. Place halved, hard-cooked eggs around the edge, sprinkle the whole thing with drained capers and drizzle the dressing over. Serve at the table or on a buffet and everyone can get just what they’d like.

Air-fry them. Seemingly everyone is making the viral TikTok air-fried green beans, and that’s no surprise, because they are pretty darn tasty. Throw a pound or so of trimmed and rinsed green beans into your air-fryer basket. Spray them with avocado or olive oil, then season with salt, pepper, garlic powder and onion powder. Air-fry them at 400 F for 6 minutes. Remove and shake basket, then spray again and sprinkle with a generous amount of Parmesan cheese. Return to air-fryer for another 5 minutes and remove. Serve immediately.

Toss them in a warm bacon vinaigrette.

I’ve got your attention now, I’ll bet. Blanch or sauté your green beans, then make the dressing. In a small skillet, cook 2 strips of chopped bacon until crisp; carefully transfer bacon to a paper towel-lined plate to drain using a slotted spoon. Pour off bacon drippings, reserving 1 tablespoon. Mix in a tablespoon each of olive oil, red wine or apple cider vinegar and whole-grain mustard. Heat gently, whisking to blend. Pour over cooked green beans, toss, season to taste with salt and pepper and top with chopped cooked bacon.

Add to your pasta with pesto.

It almost seems like a no-brainer. In the classic Ligurian trenette al pesto, green beans share pride of place with potatoes and pesto, either store-bought or homemade. Bring a large pot of well-salted water to a boil. Add in a peeled potato that has been cut into 1-inch cubes and cook for 3 minutes. Add in 1 pound of long pasta, like spaghetti or bucatini, and give the pot a stir. After 5 minutes, add a half pound of trimmed green beans cut in 2-inch pieces. When everything is cooked through – another 5 minutes or so – you will reserve a cup of the cooking water and drain the pasta and veggies in a colander or strainer. Return pot to the stove and pour in 1 cup of pesto, ½ cup of reserved pasta water, the pasta and veggies. Toss well and season with salt and pepper to taste. Add more pasta water if needed, or a little more pesto. Top with grated Parmesan or pecorino cheese. Serve this with a caprese salad, and you will be a star!

Try one of these tried-and-true recipes.

The internet is an infinite recipe resource, but how do you know which to trust? Not all recipes are created equal. Here are some I return to over and over that showcase fresh beans.

The Food Network’s Almost-Famous Green Bean Fries

Smitten Kitchen’s Green Bean Casserole with Crispy Onions

Delish.com’s Ginger Beef Stir-Fry with Ramen

Molly Yeh’s Green Beans with Potato Chip Crunch

Yummly.com’s Tomato-Braised Yellow Wax Beans

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Julie Chernoff is Food Editor at the RoundTable and a longtime food and culture writer. She loves all things Evanston and has lived here since 1989. Contact her at [email protected]. More by Julie Chernoff